Fumée d’ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris)

A woman in white attire bathes in the smoke rising from a silver censer.
She holds a veil above her head, creating a tent-like enclosure to let the fragrance permeate her clothes, a serene posture.

An exotic daily ritual performed in Tangier, Morocco.
We feel as if we are peeking into a real scene from 19th-century North Africa.

However, this space does not actually exist.
It is a meticulously constructed, fantastical setting created in a Parisian studio.

In the winter of 1879,
23-year-old John Singer Sargent embarked on a journey to Tangier, Morocco,
seeking exoticism and new artistic inspiration.

Born in Florence to American parents and raised traveling across Europe,
the young painter, with his cosmopolitan perspective unconstrained by a single nationality, was strongly drawn to unknown cultures.

He rented a house there and made numerous sketches, posing models in the courtyard.
He paid meticulous attention to even a single hand pose, leaving behind elaborate drawings.
However, what he wanted to depict was not merely a travelogue.

Upon returning to his Parisian studio, he reconstructed the materials he had gathered:
architectural details from various parts of North Africa,
and diverse costumes.
He arbitrarily combined them to create an 'Oriental fantasy as perceived by a Western eye.'