AI Art Advisor Available For Live Events
Budget Collector launched a new initiative on May 14, 2022, to have live-app interactions at public events. Staff and co-founders came out to two different events in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the first event was TYPROS Street Cred: Outside the Loop, and the second event was Roses at Clean Hands.
The work in our first live-app experience is called the Study for “Guard of Harem” by Frank Duveneck, done around 1879. It’s available to be viewed at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, CA. Another similar portrait by Duveneck is available to be viewed at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Both paintings were likely created in Germany, where Duveneck opened an art school.
Short Note on the Works
One hundred years before this work, Frederick the Great ruled Germany and sought to find an ally with the Ottoman Empire. He established official diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire in 1763. At this time, the first Turkish envoy Ali Aziz Efendi brought 73 sharply dressed aides. He was so well received that Efendi wrote back to Sultan Mustafa III that “the people of Berlin recognize the Prophet Muhammad and are not afraid to admit that they are prepared to embrace Islam.” From that point until the paintings’ creation, other diplomats from the Ottoman empire arrived, and a selection of their harem’s guards was likely used as models for these portraits. At the time, a harem in the residence of a subordinate government official served as a political and economic haven. While an enemy might ransack the public area of the house, he would usually refrain from violating the harem. This security measure is one of several reasons why you would see guards placed outside to protect these social quarters.
Ashtin Dowler, our newest hire, came along with us to our second event of live-app interactions at the Clean Hands art show. She said she was a bit tense with interacting with strangers but felt more comfortable seeing how favorable the exchanges were with the public.
Attendees had such interesting things to say about the piece, from saying the young guard (likely a eunuch) would have been driven completely mad by staring at so many beautiful women or saying that this is the only painting that both a husband and wife agree upon is incredibly beautiful.
The item was rated above four stars at both events, with the younger audience viewing the artwork more favorably than the older family-minded audience at the previous event. Both audiences thought they would like to see the work in a museum, but others were bold enough to request to see it in their house!
If you’d like to invite the team to future events in the Oklahoma region, please feel free to reach out at info@budgetcollector.org or submit a request below.
Sources:
- The harem is not what you think it is by Wendy M K Shaw at Al Jazeera (2016)
- A Short History of Turkish Berlin by Ian Farrell (2013)
- How Islam Came to Germany by Von Ursula Spuler-Stegemann (2008)
