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Street scene in a passage in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia was executed by famous French painter Cécile Augustine Bougourd (Pont-Audemer 1857 - Toulon  1941). 

Cécile Bougourd is the daughter and student of Auguste Bougourd (1830-1917), member of the Society of French Artists (1914-1938).
Her first known participation in a salon dates back to 1886. The same year, she appeared in the catalogue of the Paris Salon with Une sautée de fleurs. She was still there in 18897 and 1890. She is a good representative of this small cohort with generally high social backgrounds, attached to a traditional way of painting, specializing in the representation of flowers. These works are today particularly sought after by collectors. Their quality can be judged at the Musée Canel in Pont-Audemer, which has a beautiful bouquet of Lavateras. She also worked as a portrait painter, apparently limited to the representation of her close friends.

An orientalist painter.
In 1892, the family left Pont-Audemer for Nantes, where we have little evidence of Cécile Bougourd's artistic activity. On the other hand, the stays in Tunisia from 1901, in particular in Smindja, near Zaghouan, by one of Auguste's sons, René-Auguste Bougourd, followed by a move to Bizerte in 1905 and then to Tunis in 1906, were exceptionally fruitful.
Until 1909, Auguste and Cécile participated in the Tunisian Salon where their works were noticed11. Cécile became a member of the Society of French Orientalist Painters in 1904 and exhibited at this Salon regularly until 1914. Reading the titles of the paintings is eloquent: all reference to floral themes has disappeared, the landscape reigns supreme, and almost exclusively, these are urban landscapes, scenes of souks and markets, solidly structured by architecture, stretched with strong luminous contrasts. The characters, stereotyped, interest the painter little: it is characteristic that we find, from one painting to another, the same young boy in a chechia and dark waistcoat. These paintings have, clearly, met with quite great success among amateurs. Some were kept by the artist in order to serve as models for partial copies, in smaller formats. This is the case of the Rue des Teinturiers presented in 1907 at the Tunisian Salon, in 1908 at the Salon des Orientalistes and in 1926 at the Colonial Salon and the Halfaouine Mosque. Only the characters responsible for animating the decor change.

Members of the Carthage Institute in 190612, Auguste and Cécile Bougourd then played a decisive role in the revival of the Tunisian Salon threatened with disappearance, in particular by probably being at the origin of the invitation extended to Alexis de Broca for a personal exhibition presented the same year13. A mutual esteem linked the three artists, as evidenced by a portrait of Auguste Bougourd by De Broca, with a dedication to Cécile.

In 2012-2013, an exhibition entitled Auguste and Cécile Bougourd: From the Normandy Landscape to Orientalism was organized at the Alfred-Canel Museum, which highlighted their contribution to orientalist painting in Tunisia.

For comparison see last 2  additional images of other works by the artist.

Works of the artist: in TOULON, Mus. d'Art et d'Archéol.

Exhibitions:  1914-38 Paris, Salon.

Literature: Vo1, 1953. Edouard-Joseph I, 1930; Bénézit II, 1976; Alauzen, 1986. – E.Hardouin-Fugier/E.Grafe, Les peintres de fleurs en France, P. 1992.

Inscription: signed lower right.

Technique: oil on canvas, original period gilt frame.

Measurements: unframed 12  1/3" x 16 1/4"(31,5 x 41,5 cm); framed 20 1/4" x 24 1/4"(51,5 x 61,5 cm).

Condition: very good.