Extraordinary Gifts: Selected Paintings from The Procter and Gamble Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum February 15, 2003 to September 12, 2004 Extraordinary Gifts: Selected Paintings from The Procter and Gamble Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum Cincinnati Art Museum logo
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Elizabeth Nourse (1859–1938)
Moorish Boy, 1897
oil on canvas
29 x 19 in.

In 1897 Nourse made an adventurous trip with her sister to North Africa, visiting the countries Algeria and Tunisia. Hiring a native guide to accompany them on daily sketching excursions, Nourse tried to capture the bright colors of the land and the beauty of the people she encountered. Fascinated with native dress and costume, Nourse fit into the artistic trend called Orientalism, or the depiction of the “exotic” peoples of North Africa and the Middle East. Writing to her niece, Nourse complained that she was not able to complete many large oil paintings because she could only get her native models to pose for a short time. Moorish Boy was perhaps completed from sketches made on this trip. The vivid orange of the boy’s shirt and the brilliant green background accurately capture the bright colors of North Africa.