Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco

Louis Comfort Tiffany, Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco, 1873, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the American Art Forum, 1989.56
Copied Louis Comfort Tiffany, Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco, 1873, oil on canvas, 32 1⁄8 x 56 in. (81.6 x 142.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the American Art Forum, 1989.56
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Artwork Details

Title
Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco
Artist
Date
1873
Location
Dimensions
32 1⁄8 x 56 in. (81.6 x 142.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the American Art Forum
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Cityscape — Morocco — Tangier
  • Architecture Exterior — detail — wall
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial — market
Object Number
1989.56
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1989.56

Artwork Description

In 1867 Mark Twain traveled to the Holy Land and chronicled his adventures first in a series of newspaper articles and, in 1869, in book form as Innocents Abroad. His trip and his travelogue incited a wave of interest in visiting the Middle East. Of Morocco, Twain wrote: "We wanted something thoroughly and uncompromisingly foreign --foreign from top to bottom --foreign from center to circumference --foreign inside and outside and all around --nothing anywhere about it to dilute its foreignness --nothing to remind us of any other people or any other land under the sun. And lo! in Tangier we have found it."

Influenced by Twain, Louis Comfort Tiffany visited North Africa in 1870-71, and his travels inspired a series of paintings exploring his new fascination with Islamic art and architecture. Tiffany was one of the first American artists to turn East for inspiration. Here the city's ancient walls and mixture of Classical and Islamic architecture provide a calm backdrop for the city's lively marketplace.