Important Notice

“The attention to architectural detail and the deep and genuine interest in Indian monuments it reveals is an enduring characteristic of Weeks both as an artist and as a writer. His exact and convincing architectural contexts contribute greatly to the believability of his scenes.”
- (Ulrich W Hiesinger, Edwin Lord Weeks: Visions of India, New York: Vance Jordan Fine Art Inc., 2002, p. 36)

Edwin Lord Weeks’ life and work was... “The attention to architectural detail and the deep and genuine interest in Indian monuments it reveals is an enduring characteristic of Weeks both as an artist and as a writer. His exact and convincing architectural contexts contribute greatly to the believability of his scenes.”
- (Ulrich W Hiesinger, Edwin Lord Weeks: Visions of India, New York: Vance Jordan Fine Art Inc., 2002, p. 36)

Edwin Lord Weeks’ life and work was deeply rooted in twin passions for art and travel. His exceptional artistic skill and boundless sympathetic curiosity about the world led him to become one of the most celebrated American Orientalists of his lifetime. Born to an affluent mercantile family in Boston, he made his foray into Orientalist paintings in 1872, the same year as his first transatlantic journey to Europe, North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. He was drawn to India through the images of its landscapes-disseminated by the India Museum and the Archaeological Survey of India in addition to private photographers-drawing comparisons between the scenes he encountered in Morocco and similar images he had seen come out of the Subcontinent. He embarked on his first voyage to India in 1882 after years of planning, revisiting the country during two months-long expeditions in 1886-1887 and 1892-1893.

The present lot from 1883 is the result of the very first of Weeks’ trips to the country. Just before setting sail, Weeks expressed his interest in capturing the rich landscapes and street scenes of the country in a letter. “I intend to pass some months in studying Northern India, its types, architecture particularly and the life in its cities; we shall hope to return here in time to see the Salon next May… I shall hope to have some large and important work after my Indian campaign.” (The artist quoted in Ulrich W Hiesinger, Edwin Lord Weeks: Visions of India, New York: Vance Jordan Fine Art Inc., 2002, p. 22)

Though the astounding realism of the painting would suggest that Weeks made it en plein air, he would create his works in his studio. Weeks generated an astounding inventory of studies and sketches in the field from which he later created composite images. He reported in a letter sent from India in 1883 that “all my days were occupied in painting and my evenings in developing photos.” (The artist quoted in “Edwin Lord Weeks”, Gerald M Ackerman, American Orientalists, Courbevoie/ Paris: ACR Édition, 1994, p. 238). Weeks doggedly pursued absolute fidelity in recreating the brilliant yellow glow of the tropical sun, painting his models from life in the crackling heat which drove the English indoors.

Fierce golden sunlight illuminates a Mathura ghat in this painting. The canvas is dotted with people carrying about their business, bathing or simply lounging. The densely packed buildings of the ghat dominate the canvas in keeping with Weeks’ keen interest in architecture. He was captivated by Indian architecture and paid close attention to it in the numerous large architectural studies he made during his time here. Using them as a reference, Weeks painstakingly represents the intricate details on panelled outer walls and the elegant repeating arches characteristic of the local architecture. The artist described being awed by the accomplished design and craftsmanship on display in the buildings of Mathura in his travelogue: “In the town of Muttra alone there are several noteworthy public buildings, like the ‘Hardinge Gate’, giving access to one of the principal bazaars, of noble proportions, and built of the pale clay coloured stone of the country, which is admirable material for the delicate and sharply-cut work of Hindoo sculptors. There is also a small museum on the outskirts of the city, which, although not imposing in size, is remarkable for its exquisite workmanship. Wherever a blank outer wall occurs, it has been made interesting down to the ground, by dividing the lower spaces into arched panels and by carving on these centres masses of fruit or flowers, vigorously treated, and with only a slight degree of conventionalization. These examples, were others lacking in Muttra, would show conclusively that there is some vitality left in Hindoo art.” (“Notes on Indian Art”, Edwin Lord Weeks, From the Black Sea Through Persia and India, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1896, pp. 342-344)

Weeks’ art is a rare sympathetic depiction of India, its vistas and inhabitants. His work, charged with an uncompromising realist principle, thoroughly eschewed sensationalism common among artists of his cohort. American art critic S G W Benjamin appraised the skill and sensitivity of Weeks’ art with, “The art qualities in which Mr. Weeks excels are light and color. He has a passion for brilliant effects but renders them so skillfully that his pictures do not seem either crude or sensational… He is in such direct sympathy with the oriental subjects he loves, that one would not imagine on looking at his pictures, that they were painted by one who was born and brought up under the cold skies, and amid the rigid social customs of New England.” (Hiesinger, p. 20)

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