Paul Pascal

PAUL PASCAL (France, 1839-1905).
"Bedouin Camp". 1894
Gouache on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Important painting in the artist's oeuvre because of its size, since Pascal usually worked in small format.
Measurements: 41.5 x 58 cm; 56 x 72 cm (frame).

In this gouache, Pascal offers a calm and contemplative vision of the Orient. In the foreground, a group of Bedouin men and women sit on a carpet of bright colors, conversing or sharing tea around a samovar placed on a chest or improvised table. The figures, wrapped in white and sky-blue robes, stand out against the warm tone of the arid desert.

Near them, camels rest placidly, while beyond a tent or canvas tent can be distinguished, a sign of their nomadic life. On the horizon, a group of camel riders advance across the desert, insinuating movement and depth. The composition closes with a low mountain range that delimits the valley, under a light blue sky with faint clouds, treated with the delicacy typical of the author.

The artist captures here the calm, everyday atmosphere of Bedouin life. The soft tones, the clean light and the precision of the textile and gestural details reflect the ethnographic and aesthetic interest of 19th century European Orientalism, in which Pascal fully inscribes himself: a serene, idealized Orient, where meticulous observation is combined with a poetic sensitivity for light and color.

Paul Pascal was a French landscape painter. He painted landscapes of the Near East and the Mediterranean coast with gouache. After emigrating to the United States in 1893, he painted pictures of American nature with Native Americans. His works are exhibited in museums in France. A. Pascal was born in 1839 in Toulouse, France. His family were cabinetmakers. He grew up in North America, but returned to France, where he graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He began his career as a painter in Toulouse in the 1870s. In the 1880s he moved to Paris, where he became a landscape painter. A. Pascal painted mainly landscapes of the Near East, but also of Italy, the Mediterranean coast and the Pyrenees. He painted only with gouache. A. Pascal emigrated to the United States in 1893. He continued to paint landscapes, some of them of American Indians. Pascal's paintings are exhibited at the Paul Dupuy Museum in Toulouse, the Museum of Art and History in Narbonne and the Museum of Fine Arts in Agen, in southwestern France.