FEATURES ARCHIVE

Was there a defining moment when you realised you wanted to work with Orientalist art?
My first encounter with Orientalist art was as a graduate student at New York University during one of Linda Nochlin’s seminars on the ‘Imaginary Orient’. I was fascinated by the incredible paintings that she showed by Jean Léon-Gérôme: The Snake Charmer, The Turkish Bath, The Slave Market, The Clothes merchants of Cairo... At the time, Orientalist paintings were very often relegated to Museum storehouses as a secondary genre so this was an important revelation for me as I realised it was an area where there was much to be discovered.

What would you say is the best discovery you have made in your time as a specialist at Christie’s?
In 2006 I came across a pastel work depicting a lion that had been neglected and attributed to Antoine Louis Barye. After doing some research I discovered that it was actually by Eugène Delacroix. It was sold in London and fetched £1,744,000, a world record price for a work on paper by the artist at auction.

What is your proudest professional achievement?
In 2005 our inaugural Orientalist Art auction in Paris saw the very successful sale of a collection of paintings by the French Orientalist, Etienne Dinet. It was a wonderful moment to commemorate the creation of an entirely new sale category. We are delighted to be selling another outstanding work by Dinet in our forthcoming sale entitled Jeu de fillettes. Making its first appearance at auction, the subject clearly demonstrates the artist’s familiarity with daily life in the Oasis of Bou Saâda, Algeria, where he lived and worked.

In collaboration with Christie’s Dubai you introduced modern Arab and Iranian art to your Paris sales in June 2008. Do you have your eye on any contemporary artists in particular who you think might be the next hot ticket?
There are many talented young Arab and Iranian artists who are just starting to enjoy a more widespread recognition and there are excellent buying opportunities in works from the 1950s and 1960s. The 16th June sale in Paris features an ensemble of drawings from the 1960s and 1970s by the Syrian artist Louay Kayali estimated at €1,000 each.They are simply wonderful! There is also a great calligraphic painting by Hossein Kashian for €4,000 to €6,000 and a photograph by the young Shahrzad Changalvaee estimated at €1,000 to €1,500. I think all of these artists noticed will become increasingly popular over the coming years.

What would be your advice for someone looking to start a collection of Orientalist art?
My best advice for new collectors is to focus on quality rather than quantity. Whilst 18th and 19th century works can cost millions of euros, the 20th century Orientalists are still very reasonable and there are many wonderful paintings available. Orientalist drawings and watercolours are also very appealing, and have been somewhat neglected. In fact, this is a category on which we are putting much more emphasis now.

If you could have dinner with any artist who would you choose?
I would have liked to meet with John Frederick Lewis who spent 11 years living in the Orient, in a beautiful house in Cairo. I am very interested by those artists who actually travelled to and lived in the countries they chose to depict.To the Orientalist in me, life in 18th century Istanbul or 19th century Cairo must have been utterly captivating.