Tangier
Watercolour on paper
1926-
About the work
- Location
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Country: Morocco
City: Rabat
Place: British Embassy
Marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of American writer, William S. Burroughs (1914–1997), this month’s Featured Work is Tangier, a watercolour painting by Edward Wolfe.Subtle shifts of perspective vividly convey the narrow passageways and closely packed white-washed buildings of Tangier’s ancient medina in Edward Wolfe’s painting. With its shutters open, one door on the façade to the right reveals a dark interior, while a shadow of an unseen building falls upon the white wall above. A pathway made of wooden planks winds its way through the scene, disappearing behind another façade. Wolfe’s play with light and shade creates a mesmeric sense of Tangier’s hidden alleys and private spaces.For years, Tangier has attracted notable European artists and writers, from the French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix in the 1830s to artist Henri Matisse and writers, Paul and Jane Bowles, William S. Burroughs and Joe Orton in the 20th century. Associated with the Beat generation of American writers and poets, Burroughs famously wrote most of his well-known novel, Naked Lunch, in Tangier in 1957, shortly after recovering from heroin addiction. In an essay written in 1985 he recounted:As a young child I wanted to be a writer because writers were rich and famous. They lounged around Singapore and Rangoon smoking opium in a yellow pongee silk suit. They sniffed cocaine in Mayfair and … lived in the native quarter of Tangier smoking hashish and languidly caressing a pet gazelle.An inveterate traveller, Wolfe visited and painted in Morocco several times. His first visit was around 1922 while travelling to Spain. He re-visited several times during the 1920s and ‘30s, painting portraits, still life and landscapes inspired by Morocco. While living in Tangier in 1930, he drew a series of illustrations for the Song of Songs, one of the five books of the Hebrew Bible. However, the American Depression prevented the publication of a related book. Wolfe’s romantic style captured 1930s life in Tangier which had changed little since Biblical times. Over 50 years later, lithographs of Wolfe’s original drawings were eventually produced, and in 2004, an exhibition of Song of Songs was held at Y Tabernacl in Machynlleth, Wales. -
About the artist
Born in Johannesburg, Edward Wolfe arrived in London in 1916, having previously acted as a child and worked for a jeweller. On a scholarship in London he studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art, and then the Slade School of Art. There he met the artist, Nina Hamnett who introduced him to artist and critic, Roger Fry. Fry invited Wolfe to join the Omega Workshop, a commercial unit which designed furniture, objects and decorative furnishings made by artists and designers, most notably, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. Wolfe first exhibited with the Omega Workshop in 1918, followed by a show with the London Group in 1919. Wolfe returned to South Africa in 1919–20, but settled in London in 1921. He travelled extensively in Europe, North Africa and Mexico, meeting leading figures such as novelist, Arnold Bennett; Russian avant-garde artist, Natalia Goncharova; and writer, Aldous Huxley. He acted as a BBC censor in the Second World War after which he continued to exhibit his work widely around the world until his death in 1982. Retrospectives were held in London (1967 and 1997) and Wolfe’s works are represented in many museum collections including the Tate in London.
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Explore
- Subjects
- topography, townscape/cityscape, road, house, door, window
- Materials & Techniques
- paper (as artists material), watercolour (as artists materials), watercolour (as object name)
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Details
- Artist
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Edward Wolfe (1897 - 1982)
- Title
- Tangier
- Date
- 1926
- Medium
- Watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- height: 27.00 cm, width: 37.00 cm
- Acquisition
- Purchased from Fieldbourne Galleries, April 1979
- Inscription
- bl: Wolfe
- GAC number
- 14497