Page 105 - Orient Collection

46. A Harem Still Life

Artist: Alfred STEVENS, Belgian, (1823 – 1906)
Execution date (approximate): 1878
Téchnique: Oil on Panel, (signed lower right)
Measures: 53 x 36.5 cm.
Description: Nacre box, Huka, perfume bottle, Scarves, Slippers….For the Harem.
A beautiful gathering of oriental object painted by A.STEVENS in a sublime manner, of
which we can distinguish the Nacre box, the vases, a pair of slippers, the Huka (water-
pipe), and others.

Exhibitions
Royal Academy of Arts in London, in 1876, Dictionary of Contributors and their work from
its foundation in 1769 to 1904,Vol. VII, p.255.
Austria, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems-Stein: 14.08.2005 - 13.11.2005. “Harem Des Orient.”
Bremen (Alemania), Übersee museum Bremen: 18.11.2006 - 30.07.2007. “1001 Nacht Wege
Ins Paradies.

Publications
• Harem Des Orients, p.46.
• 1001 Nacht Wege Ins Paradies, p. 2 (Introduction)

Biography
Alfred Stevens studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels with François Navez,
the neo-classical painter and student of Jacques-Louis David who was its director and an old
friend of Steven’s grandfather. He became immensely successful during the 1860s and known for
his paintings of elegant modern women. His exhibits at the Salons in Paris and Brussels attracted
favorable critical attention and were a commercial success with buyers. An excellent example of
his work during this time is La Dame en Rose or Woman in Pink (Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de
Belgique, Brussels), painted in 1866, which combines a view of a fashionably dressed woman in an
interior with a detailed examination of Japanese objects, a fashionable taste known as “japonisme”
of which Stevens was an early enthusiast. In 1863, he received the award of Knighthood of the
Legion of Honor from the Belgian government before being promoted to officer a few years later.
In 1867, he won a first-class medal at the Universal Exposition in Paris where he and Jan August
Hendrik Leys were the stars of the Belgian section.
His friends included Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Charles Baudelaire, Berthe Morisot, James
Abbott McNeill Whistler, Frédéric Bazille, and Puvis de Chavannes and he was a regular in the
group that gathered at the Café Guerbois in Paris.
Stevens continued to achieve critical acclaim as well as great success with collectors. In 1878, he
was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor and received another first-class medal at the
Salon. In 1895, a large exhibition of his work was held in Brussels. By the final years of the 19th
century, Orientalism was the most aesthetic discourse, challenging minds and talents as diverse
as Stevens, Ernest Fenellosa, Van Gogh and Tissot.

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