Gordon B. Coutts

A Very Fine and Large Oil on Canvas "Ashura Rituals in Tangier, Morocco"

Circa: 1920

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936) A very fine orientalist oil on canvas "The Slave Market", depicting a desert scene with the offering of two female slaves. Signed and Dated (l/r): Otto Pilny, 1910. Canvas height: 31 1/2 inches (80 cm). Canvas width: 47 1/4 inches (120 cm). Frame height: 37 inches (94 cm). Frame width: 52 inches (132.1 cm). Previously offered at Christie's New York, 19th Century European Art, Sale 2521 on October 12...

A very fine and Large Italian 18th-19th century oval-shaped oil on canvas titled "The Triumph of Venice" After the original work by Paolo Veronese (Venice, 1528-1588). The original of this painting hangs in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice. The 'Ricci' coloration suggests a late 17th-early 18th century date. In 1715 Charles de la Fosse advised Ricci to paint only "Veroneses and no more Riccis", Venice, circa 1800. Measures: Height: 45 1/4 inches (115 cm). Width: 29 inches (73.7 cm). Frame height: 58 1/4 inches (147.9 cm). Frame width: 43 1/4 inches (109.9 cm). Frame depth: 5 1/4 (13.3 cm). Provenance: Royal Academy of Scotland. Paolo Veronese (Born 1528, Verona, Republic of Venice - died April 9, 1588, Venice) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at...

Gordon B. Coutts (Scottish/American, 1868-1937) A very fine and large orientalist oil on canvas titled "Ashura Rituals, Tangier" (Arabic: عاشوراء‎ ʻĀshūrā’ - Urdu: عاشورا‎ - Persian: عاشورا‎ - Turkish: Aşure Günü). Signed and inscribed: 'Gordon Coutts/TANGIER' (lower right), circa 1920. Provenance: The Fisher Art Museum, University of Southern California. Gordon Coutts led a peripatetic career, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he then studied and travelled to Glasgow, London, Paris and Rome before settling in Melbourne, Australia in 1891. In 1896 he moved to Sydney, where he taught at the Art Society of New South Wales, before returning back to Europe in 1899. With the climate of northern Europe detrimental to Coutts' poor health, he moved with his wife, Alice Grey, to the United States where he became a frequent exhibitor at the Bohemian Club in San Francisco. In 1920 he travelled to Tangiers, Morocco where, dressed as an Arab, he passed from tribe to tribe observing the lifestyle, customs and practices of the the village people and Bedouins. The present work depicts the celebration of Ashura. The day of Ashura is commemorated by Shi'ite Muslims; "A day of pain, pilgrimage and pageantry, it is one of the holiest in their religion. The word Ashura means 10, and refers to the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. This is a period of mourning and cleansing, which marks the martyrdom of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad...

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936) A very fine orientalist oil on canvas "The Slave Market", depicting a desert scene with the offering of two female slaves. Signed and Dated (l/r): Otto Pilny, 1910. Canvas height: 31 1/2 inches (80 cm). Canvas width: 47 1/4 inches (120 cm). Frame height: 37 inches (94 cm). Frame width: 52 inches (132.1 cm). Previously offered at Christie's New York, 19th Century European Art, Sale 2521 on October 12, 2011, Lot 84. Latest Otto Pilny Sale: Christie's London - The Orientalist Sale including Works from the Najd Collection on 30 March 2021 - Lot 49 "Dance in the Desert" was sold for £100,800 ($138,500) There is not that much information about Otto Pilny who began his artistic education in Prague. Pilny also lived in Vienna and ended up settling in Zurich. Just like Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935), Rudolf Ernst (1854-1932), and Carl Leopold Müller (1834-1892), Pilny was encouraged to travel abroad. During his two trips to Egypt, a favorite destination of the Austro-Hungarian school, the first one in 1889 and later en 1892, he acquired the taste of painting Orientalist scenes of Middle Eastern landscapes...