DOI Heft:
No. 83 (February, 1900)
DOI Artikel:Tomson, Arthur: A Dutch etcher: M. Bauer
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19784#0052
A Dutch Etcher
we look at a drawing by him of a ba/.aar, a deep
shadowed archway, a darkened staircase leading
from some lightened chamber, what beautiful
or fantastic women, what men of noble or ignoble
mien, what Jinns or Jinniyas, 'Efrits or 'Efrittas
may not appear before us ! And when he himself
adds figures to his little scenes, are they not
always of the right importance? Bauer, indeed,
takes us away from the world we live in into
a region different from any created by latter-day
artists, from anything invented recently by painters,
draughtsmen, writers, or other sort of magician.
He gives us the Orient of our dreams. With his
assistance, we live again through fateful stories of
love and intrigue ; with his help, we stand aside
and watch processions streaming out of palaces
and mosques, or pacing through a narrow street
or along some open causeway, patterning the sky
with spears and banners. His people are no
models, wrapt in the costumes of the past, but
the makers themselves of those beautiful eastern
cities, presented to us by the cunning of the
artist in all their pride, in their gorgeous array,
and intent upon the common concerns of their
daily life. His sultans are real sultans, men without
fear and of splendid stature, and of absolute im-
portance among their followers. I know of one
such figure standing in an arched doorway; so
regal is the bearing of this person that the whole
world might be his heritage. With what subtle
charm are indicated his women-folk, his princesses,
ladies of the harem, his slave girls ! No costume
is necessary to assure us that they are of Oriental
blood from head to foot; their mien alone pro-
claims that fact. Like his sultans and warriors,
they take their places in his scenes as persons
who belong to their background. But every sort
of person figures in one or other of Bauer's
pictures ; he makes his contrasts with as different
elements as the tellers of the Arabian stories.
Near a group of tenderly shaped women will be
found a row of mounted warriors, armour-clad,
ferocious in aspect, and of infinite daring. In
front of a procession which is a dazzling mass of
' ENTRANCE TO A MOSQUE "
FROM AN RTCHING BY M. BAUER
39
we look at a drawing by him of a ba/.aar, a deep
shadowed archway, a darkened staircase leading
from some lightened chamber, what beautiful
or fantastic women, what men of noble or ignoble
mien, what Jinns or Jinniyas, 'Efrits or 'Efrittas
may not appear before us ! And when he himself
adds figures to his little scenes, are they not
always of the right importance? Bauer, indeed,
takes us away from the world we live in into
a region different from any created by latter-day
artists, from anything invented recently by painters,
draughtsmen, writers, or other sort of magician.
He gives us the Orient of our dreams. With his
assistance, we live again through fateful stories of
love and intrigue ; with his help, we stand aside
and watch processions streaming out of palaces
and mosques, or pacing through a narrow street
or along some open causeway, patterning the sky
with spears and banners. His people are no
models, wrapt in the costumes of the past, but
the makers themselves of those beautiful eastern
cities, presented to us by the cunning of the
artist in all their pride, in their gorgeous array,
and intent upon the common concerns of their
daily life. His sultans are real sultans, men without
fear and of splendid stature, and of absolute im-
portance among their followers. I know of one
such figure standing in an arched doorway; so
regal is the bearing of this person that the whole
world might be his heritage. With what subtle
charm are indicated his women-folk, his princesses,
ladies of the harem, his slave girls ! No costume
is necessary to assure us that they are of Oriental
blood from head to foot; their mien alone pro-
claims that fact. Like his sultans and warriors,
they take their places in his scenes as persons
who belong to their background. But every sort
of person figures in one or other of Bauer's
pictures ; he makes his contrasts with as different
elements as the tellers of the Arabian stories.
Near a group of tenderly shaped women will be
found a row of mounted warriors, armour-clad,
ferocious in aspect, and of infinite daring. In
front of a procession which is a dazzling mass of
' ENTRANCE TO A MOSQUE "
FROM AN RTCHING BY M. BAUER
39