Fumée d'Ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris)

We present today's paintings thanks to The Clark Art Institute. :)

Fumée d'Ambre Gris is a very different kind of Orientalist image. Fresh from studying in Paris, John Singer Sargent visited North Africa in 1879–80. This painting is a composite image that combines architecture from one part of North Africa with a costume and jewelry from other locations. The figure stands like a statue in a niche, holding a shawl above her head to catch the aromatic smoke that rises from an incense burner. This may be a religious ritual, or the woman might be preparing herself for a romantic encounter—ambergris was used to make perfume and was thought to have aphrodisiac properties. Though the meaning of the painting may be ambiguous, perhaps deliberately so, the artist’s technique is undeniable and extremely accomplished. The image is a magical confection of white, off-white, and cream, accented by touches of red and orange, like a Symphony in White by Whistler or a 20th-century abstraction in which color and paint are themselves the subjects of the work.

John Singer Sargent is one of the most renown portraitists. Watch his beautiful portraits here.