Otto Pilny Sunrise in the Desert

Otto Pilny
Swiss
1866 - 1936
Sunrise in the Desert

signed and inscribed OTTO PILNY / CAIRO lower right
oil on canvas
Unframed: 120 by 180cm., 47¼ by 70¾in.
Framed: 163 by 223cm., 64 by 87¾in.

Condition Report:
The canvas has not been lined. There is a patch visible on the reverse to the upper centre right which corresponds to a repair visible under UV light above the rifle. There are also spots of retouching along the lower edge and a few scattered minor spots elsewhere. Otherwise the work is ready to hang.

Catalogue Note:
Though little is known of Pilny's early artistic career, it may have been during a brief period of study in Vienna that he was encouraged to travel abroad. Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935), Rudolf Ernst (1854-1932), and Carl Leopold Müller (1834-1892) had all made this city synonymous with Orientalist art, exhibiting their pictures of Middle Eastern life to great acclaim. Pilny's first trip to Egypt – the favorite destination of the Austro-Hungarian school – took place in 1889; a second journey followed three years later. The paintings that resulted record not merely the landscapes and people that Pilny encountered, but the magical effects of Eastern light and sun.