et us begin with Renoir’s exposure to Algeria. In 1881 he took his first of two trips, visiting several of his French friends in Algeria: namely, Paul Lhote, Eugène-Pierre Lestringuez, and Samuel Frédéric Cordey (Benjamin, Renoir 39). Staying in such familiar company must have made his trip quite comfortable, keeping him in a kind of French atmosphere. Yet while he created several paintings during their journey, he lacked what really interested him: women models. In a letter to a friend, Renoir described Algerian women as “unapproachable, I don’t understand their jabber and they are very unreliable […] It’s unfortunate as there are some pretty ones, but they do not want to pose” (qtd. in Benjamin, Renoir 81). From this letter, Renoir seems to have found Algeria, like its women, “unapproachable,” incomprehensible, and “unreliable.” It must have been disappointing for him to find the subjects which interested him most just out of reach, but Renoir was not about to lose sight of the “Orient” which he had blindly depicted in his Odalisque. Forced to work without women models and unable to procure any viable substitutes, Renoir ventured out to places such as the Casbah to experience the country around him. However, the products of this first trip reflect the lack of drive Renoir had in discovering Algerian culture. Without women to fixate on, he produced few superficial works during his trip to Algeria in 1881.
Images: Map of Algiers in 1879. Map. Dalles, 1879.