African Decorative Art

Gordon B. Coutts (Scottish/American, 1868-1937) A very fine and large orientalist oil on canvas titled "Ashura Rituals, Tangier" (Arabic: عاشوراء‎ ʻĀshūrā’ - Urdu: عاشورا‎ - Persian: عاشورا‎ - Turkish: Aşure Günü). Signed and inscribed: 'Gordon Coutts/TANGIER' (lower right), circa 1920. Provenance: The Fisher Art Museum, University of Southern California. Gordon Coutts led a peripatetic career, born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he then studied and travelled to Glasgow, London, Paris and Rome before settling in Melbourne, Australia in 1891. In 1896 he moved to Sydney, where he taught at the Art Society of New South Wales, before returning back to Europe in 1899. With the climate of northern Europe detrimental to Coutts' poor health, he moved with his wife, Alice Grey, to the United States where he became a frequent exhibitor at the Bohemian Club in San Francisco. In 1920 he travelled to Tangiers, Morocco where, dressed as an Arab, he passed from tribe to tribe observing the lifestyle, customs and practices of the the village people and Bedouins. The present work depicts the celebration of Ashura. The day of Ashura is commemorated by Shi'ite Muslims; "A day of pain, pilgrimage and pageantry, it is one of the holiest in their religion. The word Ashura means 10, and refers to the tenth day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. This is a period of mourning and cleansing, which marks the martyrdom of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad...