21 Works, June 28th. is Otto Pilny's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #175

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Rest in the desert

Oil on canvas

I have no further description, at this time

Otto Pilny (28 June 1866 – 22 July 1936) was a Swiss painter who specialized in Orientalist genre scenes.

Some of the first nineteenth-century Orientalist paintings were intended as propaganda in support of French imperialism, depicting the East as a place of backwardness, lawlessness, or barbarism enlightened and tamed by French rule.

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Oriental bazaar, c. 1936

Oil on canvas

100 x 80 cm

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The Carpet Seller, c. 1903

Oil on canvas

82,3 x 63,2 cm.

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

MARKET SQUARE, CAIRO

Oil on canvas

51 by 75cm., 20¼ by 29½in

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Morning Prayers

Oil on canvas

80 x 120cm (31 1/2 x 47 1/4in).

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Arab rider in steppe landscape, c. 1900

Oil on canvas

47 x 78.5cm (18 1/2 x 30 7/8in).

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Attack, c. 1899

Oil on canvas

48.2 x 64.3 cm. (19 x 25.3 in.)

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Evening prayer, c. 1904

Oil on canvas

92.5 x 158.5cm (36 7/16 x 62 3/8in)

Private collection

Otto Pilny

Portrait of an Oriental Woman, c. 1921

Oil on canvas

46.5 x 31.5 cm

Private collection

Born in Budweis in 1866, his family moved to Prague in 1873, and he presumably received his artistic education there; but the details are unknown. He took his first painting trip to the Orient when he was nineteen, and travelled the caravan route from Cairo to Tripoli, accompanied only by his dog. After a brief stay in Prague, he was back in Egypt from 1889 to 1892.

Some of the most popular Orientalist genre scenes—and the ones most influential in shaping Western aesthetics—depict harems. Probably denied entrance to authentic seraglios, male artists relied largely on hearsay and imagination, populating opulently decorated interiors with luxuriant odalisques, or female slaves or concubines (many with Western features), reclining in the nude or in Oriental dress. 

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Trade in the desert, c. 1913

Oil on canvas

Private collection

The Orientalist concern to create erotic idealisation rather than sociological fact had a profound affect on European perceptions of the region because of the belief that the mysterious Near East could “…satisfy the West’s urge for exotic experience.” (Stevens, 1984).

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

A Caravan

Oil on canvas

180 x 120 cm, 

Private collection

Orientalists portrayed scenes of contemporary ‘Oriental’ slavery that allowed their viewing public to feast their eyes on the barbarity of the slave trade. Slave-market scenes, as essentially harem scenes, and sensualised images of female slaves were seen as highly erotic.

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Caravan with female slaves

Oil on canvas.

111 x 161 cm.

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

Slave traders, c. 1919

Oil on canvas

75.5 x 110.5cm (29 3/4 x 43 1/2in).

Private collection

Prior to 1800 some 3000 to 4000 slaves were imported into Tunis annually, being transported from Nigeria via Timbuktu across the Sahara. The trade to Tripoli was prosperous with hired French, English and Venetian vessels selling extensively to Constantinople, Chios and Smyrna.

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The harem girl

Oil laid down on board

54 x 73.2cm (21 1/4 x 28 13/16in)

Private collection

Women were forcibly seized, passed across the desert, and up the Nile where they were confined in great Cairene Okels or caravanserais. Other Abyssinians were transported to Red Sea ports. Some 750,000 slaves were taken into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan during the 19th century, many between 1850 and 1900. 

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The horse or the slave

Oil on canvas

32.5 x 40cm (12 13/16 x 15 3/4in)

Private collection

The Tunis slave-market was closed when the Ottoman Sultan prohibited the white slave-trade – mainly Circassian women – in 1854-55, and the black slave-trade in 1857. Nonetheless the trade still persisted into the 20th century.

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The slave market, c. 1927

Oil on canvas

43½ x 63 in. (110.5 x 160 cm.)

Private collection

Women in large Ottoman harems were of slave origins and the concubines within were mainly Georgians, Circassians and Armenians. All women in Orientalist slave-market paintings are shown naked, especially Circassians. In scene after scene slave-market proceedings supposedly brought to life, with vivid images, the so-called ‘timeless cruelty of the East’

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The slave market

Oil on canvas

70x90.5 cm

Private collection

Following a short stay in Vienna, probably to continue his studies, he moved to Zürich in 1895, married and received Swiss citizenship. His first exhibition was in 1900. While in Egypt his work had pleased the Ottoman authorities in Egypt and he was appointed a Court Painter. In 1906, the last Khedive, Abbas Hilmi II awarded him the Order of the Medjidie, 4th class.

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The best dancer, c. 1913

Oil on canvas

120.5 x 185.5cm (47 1/2 x 73in)

Private collection

The best dancer is a particularly virtuoso representation of one of the artist's favourite themes. This painting is a fine example of the luminosity which is so typical of Pilny's work. As the sun sets, the silhouette of the dancer and her audience become clearer. The orange tones, unique to the desert sun, were of particular interest to the artist. Pilny retells the simplicity of Bedouin life by illustrating the enjoyment of the viewers. He also invites us to watch the almost life-size dancer by creating a direct line of sight to the performance without any obstructions. He was a prolific painter and fuelled by his love for the Orient he left behind a wide oeuvre in which the warm tones and vibrant atmosphere of tribal desert dominate the scene. More on this painting

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

A dance in the desert

Oil on canvas

110 x 160 cm. (43 1/4 x 63 cm.)

Private collection

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866–1936)

Dance of the seven veils, c. 1916

Oil on canvas

130 x 160 cm. (51.2 x 63 in.)

Private collection

Like many of his contemporaries, Pilny was captivated by the North African landscape, people as well as their customs. He was particularly interested in the Bedouins and often travelled with them into the desert where he could sketch the evening entertainments. His experiences in North Africa provided the inspiration for his paintings for the rest of his life, and he was one of only a few Orientalist painters who depicted Muslims in prayer.

Otto Pilny (Swiss, 1866-1936)

The Favorite

Oil on canvas

80 x 120 cm (31½" x 3' 11.24")

Private collection

The artist depicts a moment of a young Arab man picking out his favorite girl from the lot provided by the old man.

The scene is taking place in the middle of the Arab desert where, after the whole day’s scathing heat, the temperature is soothing to a bearable level and which will soon come down the point of shivering cold when it is the middle of the night. The camels and tents in the middle of the desert indicates them to be vagabonds of the deserts. We can imagine them relying solely on the trade shown in the painting as there are already five women present in the picture as the offerings for the probable customers. The old people in the background could be the partners of the business. More on this painting

Pilny died in 1936 in Zurich. His son, Otto Alexander (22 March 1897 – 17 March 1958) was also a painter of Zürich, but specialized in vedute. His works have often been incorrectly attributed to his father. More on Otto Pilny

Citation: Meagher, Jennifer. “Orientalism in Nineteenth-Century Art.” 

Citation: The Image of Slavery in Orientalist Painting

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