The Dancer of Tanjore (La bayadère de Tanjore)
1914
Medium
etching, drypoint, and printed tone on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 28.3 × 21.9 cm (11 1/8 × 8 5/8 in.) plate: 30 × 23.9 cm (11 13/16 × 9 7/16 in.) sheet: 34 × 25 cm (13 3/8 × 9 13/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Bell, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
1991.28.8
Art Historical Context
Albert Besnard's *The Dancer of Tanj (La bayadère Tanjore)*, in 1914, the exotic allure of a traditional Indian temple dancer from Thanjavur (Tanjore) in Tamil Nadu. As a leading French artist of the Belle Époque, Besnard was renowned for his Symbolist-influenced works blending sensuality, light, and decorative elegance. This print reflects the era's Orientalist fascination with Eastern cultures, evoking the graceful, rhythmic movements of a bayadère—devadasi dancers revered in Hindu temples yet romanticized in Western art. Rendered in etching, drypoint, and printed tone on wove paper, the wo...
About the Artist
Albert Besnard
Paul-Albert Besnard, known as Albert Besnard, was born on June 2, 1849, in Paris to an artistic family: his father, Louis Adolphe Ferdinand Besnard, was a history painter and pupil of Ingres, while his mother, Marie Louise Pauline Vaillant, was a noted miniaturist trained under Lizinska de Mirbel. Precociously talented, he began his training under Jean-François Brémond before entering the École de...