Nasreddine Dinet (born as Alphonse-Étienne Dinet on 28 March 1861 – 24 December 1929, Paris) was a French orientalist painter and was one of the founders of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes ociety for French Orientalist Painters He became so enchanted with North Africa and its culture, that he converted to Islam, and was proficient in Arabic. In addition to his paintings, he translated Arabic literature into French.

Biography

Born in Paris, Alphonse-Étienne Dinet, was the son of a prominent French judge, Philippe Léon Dinet and Marie Odile Boucher.Benjamin, in Edwards and Wood (2004) p. 88 In 1865 his sister Jeanne, who would be his biographer, was born. From 1871, he studied at the Lycée Henry IV, where the future president

Alexandre Millerand Alexandre Millerand (; – ) was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 20 January to 23 September 1920 and President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924. His participation in Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet at the s ...

was also among the students. Upon graduation in 1881 he enrolled in the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Scienc ...

and entered the studio of Victor Galland. The following year he studied under William Bouguereau and

Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...

at the Académie Julian. He also exhibited for the first time at the

Salon des artistes français The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

. Dinet made his first trip to

Bou Saâda Bou Saada ( ar, بو سعادة, ''bu s‘adah'', meaning "place of happiness") is a town and municipality in M'Sila Province, Algeria, situated 245 km south of Algiers. As Arena it was the site of a city and bishopric in Roman Africa, now a C ...

by the

Ouled Naïl Range The Ouled Naïl Range ( ar, سلسلة جبال أولاد نايل, french: Monts des Ouled Naïl) is a mountain range in Algeria, part of the Saharan Atlas of the greater Atlas Mountain System. The range is named after a confederation of nomad ...

in northern

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

in 1884, with a team of

entomologists Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. The following year he made a second trip on a government scholarship, this time to

Laghouat Laghouat ( ar, الأغواط; en, Laghwat) is the capital of the Laghouat Province, Algeria, south of the Algerian capital Algiers. Located in the Amour Range of the Saharan Atlas, the town is an oasis on the north edge of the Sahara D ...

. At that time he painted his first two Algerian pictures: ''les Terrasses de Laghouat'' and ''l’Oued M’Sila après l’orage''. Etienne Dinet Raoucha

He won the silver medal for painting at the Exposition Universelle in 1889, and in the same year founded the

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; en, National Society of Fine Arts) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions. 1862 Es ...

along with

Meissonier Meissonier or Meissonnier is the name of several people: * Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815–1891), French classicist painter and sculptor famous for his depictions of Napoleon, his armies and military themes * Jean-Antoine Meissonnier (1783– ...

Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Bea ...

, Rodin, Carolus-Duran and Charles Cottet. In 1887 he further founded with

Léonce Bénédite Léonce Bénédite (14 January 1859 – 12 May 1925) was a French art historian and curator. He was a co-founder of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français (Society for French Orienalist Painters) and was instrumental in establishing ...

, director of the

Musée du Luxembourg The Musée du Luxembourg () is a museum at 19 rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Established in 1750, it was initially an art museum located in the east wing of the Luxembourg Palace (the matching west wing housed the Marie de' ...

, the

Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français The Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français (; " Orientalist French Painters Society") was an art society founded in 1893 to promote not only Orientalism but also the travel of French artists in the Far East. Formation and early history F ...

. In 1903 he bought a house in

and spent three quarters of each year there. Dinet became so enchanted with North Africa and its culture, that he eventually converted to Islam. He announced his conversion to Islam in a private letter of 1908, and completed his formal conversion in 1913 in Zawiyet El Hamel, upon which he changed his name to Nasr’Eddine Dinet.Benjamin, in Edwards and Wood (2004) p. 89 In 1929 he and his wife undertook the Hajj to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

. In July 1896, he was named Chevalier of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and participated in the international exhibition of the Centenary of Lithography (Paris). The respect he earned from the natives of Algeria was reflected by the 5,000 who attended his funeral on 12 January 1930 in Bou Saâda. There he was eulogized by the former Governor General of Algeria

Maurice Viollette Maurice Viollette (3 September 1870 in Janville, Eure-et-Loir – 9 September 1960 in Dreux) was a French politician, statesman. He was chief-of-staff for Alexandre Millerand in the Waldeck-Rousseau government in 1898, and was elected as a ' ...

Work

Compared to modernist painters such as

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

, who also visited northern Africa in the first decade of the 20th century, Dinet's paintings are extremely conservative. They are highly mimetic, indeed ethnographic, in their treatment of their subject. Dinet's understanding of

Arab culture Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast. The various religions the Arab ...

and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

set him apart from other orientalist artists because as an Arabic speaking visitor, he was able to find nude models in rural Algeria where the 'rule of the veil' was less frequently observed.Edwards, S. and Wood, P. (eds), ''Art of the Avant-gardes,'' Yale University Press, 2004, pp 88-89 Before 1900, most of his works could be characterized as "anecdotal

genre scenes Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

". As he became more interested in Islam, he began to paint religious subjects more often. He was active in translating

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

into French, publishing a translation of an Arab epic poem by

Antarah ibn Shaddad Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi ( ar, عنترة بن شداد العبسي, ''ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī''; AD 525–608), also known as ʿAntar, was a pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life ...

in 1898.Pouillon, François (1997) ''Les deux vies d’Étienne Dinet, peintre en Islam: L’Algerie et l’heritage colonial''. Editions Balland, Paris

Legacy

His life and work have been subject of several books, namely: * Denise Brahimi and Koudir Benchikou, ''La Vie et l'oeuvre d' Etienne Dinet'', olume 2 in the series, ''Les Orientalistes'' Paris, ACR edition, 1984 (Dinet’s

Catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

) * J. M. Blades (ed.), ''The Art of Etienne Dinet'', Shafik Gabr Collection, 2018

Citations

References

* * François Pouillon, ''Les Deux vies d'Etienne Dinet'', Balland, 1997

External links