Lot 212: Juan Gimenez y Martin , Spanish 1858-1901 The Dance oil on canvas

signed Gimenez Martin and inscribed Roma (lower left) oil on canvas

measurements 23 1/4 by 44 in. alternate measurements 59 by 111.7 cm

Private Collection (from circa 1975)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Without doubt, the two greatest sources of fascination for early European travelers to the Middle East were the harem and the dancing girl. Eyewitness accounts of the former institution were rarely possible, due to its sacrosanct nature, but opportunities to view the performances of local dancers abounded. (Indeed, by the middle of the nineteenth century, a trip to the region was considered woefully incomplete without an evening of raqs sharqi, or Middle Eastern dance.) In literature, the figure of the dancing girl took on an almost superhuman role: tales of her extraordinary performative feats left readers breathless with enthusiasm and (suspended) disbelief. Though the subject was equally popular in paint, seldom did it evoke such intense emotion. Dancers' poses were often stilted, or resembled too closely the well-known printed sources from which they were derived. In the present work, however, Juan Gimenez y Martin effectively captures the exuberance, the energy, and the wonder of the woman's solo dance. Puffs of incense seem to lift the dancer from the floor, leaving her slippers to dangle in mid-air - and the spectators in awe. The artist's obvious passion for his subject, and his valiant effort to include all those exotic, incidental details that contemporary audiences craved, seems to have overridden factual care: a Qur'an stand on the right hand side of the composition has been improbably repurposed as a convenient hold-all. This catalogue note was written by Dr. Emily M. Weeks.