Odalisques in 19th and 20th Century Art

Paintings by Ingres, Renoir, Roybet and Matisse

Nov 1, 2009

The image of a sensual harem woman--or odalisque--graced many a canvas in the 19th and even early 20th centuries.

In the 19th century, certain European and American artists made their way to countries like Turkey, Morocco, Egypt and Persia (now Iran) and, through their depictions of the foreign landscape and cultures they encountered, collectively formed a school of painting known as Orientalism. Many scenes painted by Orientalists were true to life, while others were more romanticized. In the case of the often-depicted odalisque or reclining harem female figure, however, reality tended to be overwhelmed by imagination.

Odalik and Odalisque

The literal meaning of the word odalisque breaks down to the Turkish oda, meaning room or chamber, and the functional suffix lik. In Ottoman Empire harem society, odalisques were female slaves who worked as chambermaids and tended to the harem’s wives and concubines. They were generally at the lower end of the hierarchy and not sexually involved with the sultan in charge, but there was always a chance that they might distinguish themselves and join the concubine realm.

In terms of odalisques becoming objects of inspiration, it would seem that the notion of harems not surprisingly fascinated the male artists of the Orientalist school. These artists began to combine primarily European standards of beauty with the captively exotic concept of a harem woman, with the result being many paintings bearing the title of Odalisque.

Ingres’ Odalisques

One of the best known odalisque works is French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ 1814 The Grand Odalisque. The painting was a royal commission for Ingres, who produced with his usual stunning clarity a reclining nude with her long back turned toward the viewer as she glances calmly over her shoulder. Rich blue fabrics contrast against creamy flesh tones, and she wears a turban and lies upon a divan. The model looks, however, more like a classic French beauty than an odalisque of truly Middle Eastern descent.

Ingres also painted another notable odalisque in 1842, with the help of his assistant Jean-Paul Flandrin. Nearly thirty years later the odalisque concept was still inspiring Ingres, who reportedly visualized this Odalisque with a Slave after reading the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Lady Montagu had traveled to Istanbul in the early 1700s with her husband, England’s then-ambassador to Turkey. Her letters from the trip were said to be entertaining and insightful, particularly regarding the character and customs of Turkish women.

In Odalisque with a Slave, despite the nearby hookah and Middle Eastern backdrop, Ingres’ central figure has milky white skin and light hair. She appears to be an utterly passive sensual object, bringing the question to mind as to how this painting might have been received at the time had the setting been a European bedroom. It would seem that by this point, the odalisque theme might have allowed for more erotic portrayals of women than would normally have been accepted, primarily because of the very word odalisque, which suggested foreign and exotic behavior.

International Odalisques

Other French artists like Eugène Delacroix and Jules Joseph Lefebvre created odalisque portraits as well, along with British painters Lord Frederic Leighton and Richard Parkes Bonington, American Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Italian Ignace Spiridon and Spaniard Mariano Fortuny—to name a few.

Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir also painted odalisque figures, opting for both clothing on and off in his versions. Ferdinand Roybet depicted clothed and nude odalisques too, with one particular work perhaps coming close to what an actual odalisque might have looked like. Common themes in many of the paintings were turbans, striped harem pants, embroidered or beaded slippers, fur pelts, tasselled pillows and expressions or poses of willingness.

Matisse’s Odalisques

By the time the Ottoman Empire fell in 1923, Orientalism had receded as more modern schools of art came to the forefront. Odalisque portaits were not as prevalent as they had been in the 19th century, though Post-Impressionist Henri Matisse did produce a group of odalisque paintings in the 1920s through the 1930s. Matisse had taken a more experimental approach to his work with his model Lorette in 1917, encouraging Lorette to dress in costumes and act out roles while she posed. Matisse’s odalisques were also painted in that spirit, with Matisse setting up a harem-like atmosphere for his models. The results were colorful and invitingly provocative, and an interesting reminder that even though Orientalism had run its course, the odalisque fantasies seemed to live on.

Sources

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