The Kremlin

The recent revival of interest in Orientalism has led to the rediscovery of the technically outstanding but unfairly sidelined Dutch painter and printmaker Marius Bauer (1867-1932). Bauer was an inveterate traveller, going off to India, Indonesia, Turkey, Palestine and Morocco among other destinations. In 1888 he was given the opportunity to make his first trip east, to Istanbul (then Constantinople) by the art dealer E.J. van Wisselingh. He returned with more than 100 drawings and several full sketchbooks. This pattern repeated itself again and again.

Among the cities he visited were Cairo, Luxor, Jerusalem, Agra, Benares and here, off  the 'Orientalist' circuit, Moscow. In late 2017 the Pulchri Studio in The Hague held an exhibition commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Bauer, "Marius Bauer: Verslaafd aan het Oosten".

This is one of Bauer's more minimalist - and with it highly effective - drypoints. In a view of the Kremlin from outside the walls, we see three towers connected by a wall on the left, a group of men and horses in front of it who are suggestive of Cossak soldiers in their headgear and great coats, another group of figures and a church in the right background. The Kremlin dates from 1900, the year in which Bauer was awarded the Grand Prix for etching at the Paris Exposition Universelle, an honour which he shared with Anders Zorn and James McNeill Whistler.

See:

https://www.codart.nl/guide/exhibitions/marius-bauer-1867-1932/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marius_Bauer

Dr Mark Stocker  Curator, Historical International Art   February 2018