ORIENTALIST AESTHETICS Orientalist Aesthetics ART, COLONIALISM, AND FRENCH NORTH AFRICA, 1880–1930 Roger Benjamin UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley / Los Angeles / London University ofCalifornia Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University ofCalifornia Press, Ltd. London, England © 2003 by the Regents ofthe University ofCalifornia Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Benjamin, Roger, 1957– Orientalist aesthetics : art, colonialism, and French North Africa, 1880–1930 / Roger Benjamin. p. cm. “Ahmanson Murphy fine arts imprint.” Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn0-520-22217-2 (alk. paper) 1. Orientalism in art—France. 2. Orientalism in art—Africa, North. 3. Painting, French—19th century. 4. Painting, French—20th century. 5. Africa, North— In art. I. Title. nd1460.e95 b46 2003 758'.995—dc21 2002022627 Printed in Canada 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements ofansi/niso z39-48-1992 (r1997) (Permanence ofPaper).8 For Kate, Sophia, and Stuart Contents Acknowledgments / ix List of Illustrations / xiii Introduction / 1 1. Orient or France? Nineteenth-Century Debates / 11 2. Renoir and Impressionist Orientalism / 33 3. A Society for Orientalists / 57 4. Orientalists in the Public Eye / 79 5. Colonial Panoramania / 105 6. Traveling Scholarships and the Academic Exotic / 129 7. Matisse and Modernist Orientalism / 159 8. Advancing the Indigenous Decorative Arts / 191 9. Mammeri and Racim, Painters of the Maghreb / 221 10. Colonial Museology in Algiers / 249 Conclusion / 275 Notes / 283 Selected Bibliography / 325 Index / 337 Acknowledgments T he story of this book’s long preparation has been a péripatieundertaken in diverse corners of the globe. Despite the disembodying facilities of electronic mail, I think of the friends and colleagues who have contributed so much as located in specific places. The project was devised at the University of Melbourne, where Margaret Manion, Margaret Rid- dle, Chris McAuli¤e, and the late John Pigot gave initial encouragement and advice. It became a re- ality thanks to the award of a J. Paul Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship, which took me to Baltimore, New York, and Paris. My work at Johns Hopkins was facilitated by Charles Dempsey, while Maria Gough, Judith Butler and Yve-Alain Bois were valued interlocutors. A visit to the University ofTexas at Austin gave me the benefit of Richard Shi¤’s guidance and support. In New York the discovery at the Frick Art Reference Library of the catalogues of the Society of French Orientalist Painters shaped my research in unforeseeable ways. My colleagues Christopher Robinson, the regrettéRobert Boardingham, Fred Bohrer, John Klein, and Elizabeth Childs were the source of excellent research clues. Two summer months in London provided some serendipitous ac- quaintances, including Perry and Benedict Anderson, Gill Perry, Kathy Adler, and John House. In France the Getty funds supported work at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Musée Na- tional des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, and an all too brief journey to Tangier, Fez, and Meknès. Robert Simon, Laurie Monahan, Barbara Comte, and Hélène Hourmat were most helpful, as were ix