Émile Deckers
The Blue Headdress
Oil on canvas, signed lower left, inscribed and dated ‘Algers, 1958’
Image size: 26 x 33 inches (66 x 84 cm)
Handmade Orientalist gilt frame
This triple portrait depicts a young girl in an eye-catching blue headscarf, reminiscent of the bright indigo Algerian Tuareg tagelmust head scarves. The strong shade of blue stands out against the painting’s otherwise muted palette, and draws attention to the magnificent flesh tones and full features of the young girl depicted.
The three-perspective composition - a trademark of Deckers’ portraits - affords the painting an atmosphere of a diligent study of Tuareg dress. The multiple angles provide a strong sense of the individual whilst combining it with an intuitive grasp of the Tuareg culture.
This painting is one of the newest works in this exhibition, painted in 1958, only four years before Algerian independence. This demonstrates Deckers’ reputation as an Orientalist artist - his art is more observatory of Algerian culture, rather than exoticising or generalising. Furthermore, it is possible to see the influence of Luminism on this work, with its subtle colour gradation and privileging of a soft colour palette. This early 20th century movement was a Belgian impressionist movement that Deckers would have been familiar with during his studies in Liège.
Émile Deckers
Deckers studies at the Academy of Fine arts in Liege, then he went onto Paris. He won first prize in anatomy and the first prize for painting in 1904. The Belgian government in 1904 awarded him a travel grant.
At the age of twenty-one, he won first prize for historical composition, and in 1911 he was appointed a member of the Jury of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
He moved to Algiers in 1921 and became known as an ‘Orientalist’ painter, a justified reputation that brought him fame. He painted the local people, including portraits of young Kabyle, Tuareg or Southern and Atlas tribes. He produced large format portraits often of three or more people.
By 1930 he divided his time in the summer between Algiers and Belgium, In 1940 he moved permanently to Belgoum. Deckers exhibited in several places including Algiers and the Paris Salon.
