HENRI EMILIEN ROUSSEAU (FRENCH 1875 - 1933)
The hawking party
signed and dated Henri Rousseau 28 (lower right)
oil on canvas
54cm x 73cm

After training in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts Henri Emilien Rousseau returned frequently to his home of North Africa from 1901, most notably between 1920 and 1932. It was during this period that Rousseau developed his own style of quick and feverish strokes which recalled his early career as an illustrator in Cairo. Unlike some Orientalist painters who imagined their subjects, Rousseau observed and befriended tribal Caïds and observed lion hunts, falconers and Arabian horses, gaining access to many regions that were otherwise forbidden territory for outsiders.

The Hawking Party was painted in 1928, the year after Rousseau’s notable and successful exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris which featured more than eighty of his Moroccan works. The present oil depicts the sport of falconry, a favourite subject of the artist and one that he returned to repeatedly. Falconry played an important role in the North African way of life and it had regal and sacred associations. The earliest accounts of falconry date back to the Middle Ages and historically it was a symbol of status due to its requirements for money, time and space. Here Rousseau, through direct and close observation, paints a detailed group of horsemen set against the warm hues of the exotic desert landscape successfully capturing this majestic pastime - the most honoured and original 'sport of kings'.