Alexandre Bida

This precise and carefully finished work reflects an unusual technique. Building up the entire area with ink and graphite over white chalk, Bida used a stylus to scratch a comprehensive network of tiny lines, providing highlights and picking out details. For his Orientalist subjects, Bida traveled repeatedly to the Near East-the first time in 1843 when he went to Constantinople and Syria from Venice. Although he closely observed the costumes and people encountered overseas, the decorative arrangements and symmetrical space in this draw-ing exemplify the theatrical aspects of Bida's art.

<i>French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).

French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin

a. At least since the purchase of the drawing from Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener in 1978, it has been identified as one of the two drawings Bida exhibited in the 1847 Salon: no. "1678 - Café à Constantinople; dessin." (The other, no. 1679, was "Café sur le Bosphore.") The references in the Literature section here are to the Salon drawing. It should be noted that an entry on the artist by Josette Galiègue mentions a "Café à Constantinople" being bought by the French government during Bida's life; see Association Générale des Conservateurs des Collections Publiques de France, Dessins français du XIXe siècle dans les musées de Picardie, exh. cat., Musée Boucher de Perthes, Abbeville et al. (1994), 43. No such drawing, however, is included in the Bida list in the Musée du Louvre et Musée de Versailles, inventaire général des dessins de l'école française (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1933).

A vertically oriented ink and graphite drawing depicts a somber interior through dense cross-hatching. In the foreground, a man in a dark robe strides left, while centered, four figures cluster around a hookah and table. Behind them, through a bright opening, a silhouetted man kneels in prayer with his head tilted back. Fine lines define the textures of heavy robes as they emerge from the deep shadows.

Café in Constantinople

Alexandre Bida

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Café in Constantinople

Alexandre Bida

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Café in Constantinople

Alexandre Bida

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Café in Constantinople

Alexandre Bida

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