Etienne Dinet (1861-1929)
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Etienne Dinet was a French painter who painted in the style of the Orientalists. Born in Paris to a middle-class family, he attended the local School of Fine Arts.
In 1884, Dinet was awarded a medal at The Show of Visual Arts and was awarded a small scholarship. Dinet made his first travels to Algeria that same year, and spent the next 45 years of his career traveling between France and Algeria. Like many of the other Orientalists, Dinet would paint his scenes of Algiers in a Realistic style, infused with golden light and whimsical, Expressionist touches.
Dinet would eventually settle in Bou-Saada after the death of his wife, and loved the Algerian culture so much that he learned the Arabic language and eventually converted to Islam. He would also adopt the name Hadj Nasr Ed Dine Dini, and devoted much of his life to bettering French and Algerian relations.
Some critics felt as though Dinet was abandoning his French heritage and his conversion to the Algerian lifestyle even had a small impact on his career.
Though he changed his name, Dinet would continue to paint under his given name and almost always signed in a very distinct “E. Dinet” in capital letters in the lower left or right hand corners of his work.
His themes were generally real-life events consisting of real people in his beloved adopted town of Bou-Saada. During his lifetime, Dinet gained much notoriety for his Orientalist paintings of Bou-Saada and made this small village known world-wide. While Orientalists often have similar styles, Dinet sets himself apart by showing a real sense of humanity in his compositions. To him, his paintings don’t just portray exotic people as objects, but as a respected society.
Dinet eventually died in Paris, but was buried in his beloved Algeria. Though it may be difficult to find art by Dinet that was not Orientalist-themed, he certainly created a number of paintings and sketches in his early years as a student-artist.
Because Dinet traveled often between France and Algeria, it is highly likely that he may have sold Orientalist-themed paintings or his earlier works in stops along the way. Contact us to research paintings that you think may have been created by Etienne Dinet.