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Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966) A musician of the harem image 1
Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966) A musician of the harem image 2
Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966) A musician of the harem image 3
Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966) A musician of the harem image 4
Lot 70

Irma Stern
(South African, 1894-1966)
A musician of the harem

20 March 2025, 15:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£40,000 - £60,000

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Irma Stern (South African, 1894-1966)

A musician of the harem
signed and dated 'Irma Stern/ 1945' (upper left)
gouache on paper
77 x 58cm (30 5/16 x 22 13/16in).

Footnotes

"A woman may not enter a mosque to pray to Allah. They live in seclusion in a harem, in rooms on the top floor of the house. In these rooms are a multitude of Arab chests filled with their dowries of lovely old eastern silks with heavy gold fringes, trousers ruched at the ankles with the frills falling over their feet. Heavy perfumes hang in the air — expensive, penetrating Eastern perfumes. The rooms are laid out with mats over old dark red tiles - Persian mats and straw matting in vivid array." (Irma Stern, Zanzibar, 1948, p. 12.)

A similar work, Seated woman, Zanzibar, is in the collection of the Irma Stern Museum, and was exhibited at the Standard Bank Gallery in 2003 (Irma Stern: expressions of a journey exh. cat. pg. 127). Another privately owned work is illustrated in M. Arnold, Irma Stern: a feast for the eye (Stellenbosch, 195, pg. 50).

Additional information

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