Notre Ami le Roi [Our Friend the King]

Mail Art. The image is contemporary parody after the orientalist painting Odalisque with a Slave by J.A.D. Ingres (1842), in which Musa replaces the slave with stamps for two Arab kings and the lute player with Queen Elizabeth II. A stamp of a cat’s head mocks the voluptuous odalisque, a harem w...

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Order number: MS 381333
Date(s) of creation: 1993
Level: Item
Format: Archive           
Main author: Musa; Hassan (b 1951); contemporary visual artist
URL: https://digital.soas.ac.uk/MUSA000043/00001
URL Description: Digital version available online at SOAS Digital Collections

Order number: MS 381333
Summary: Mail Art. The image is contemporary parody after the orientalist painting Odalisque with a Slave by J.A.D. Ingres (1842), in which Musa replaces the slave with stamps for two Arab kings and the lute player with Queen Elizabeth II. A stamp of a cat’s head mocks the voluptuous odalisque, a harem woman. Frequently, Musa uses a stamp as the head or mask for a figure that is drawn or collaged as seen in this work.
Main author: Musa; Hassan (b 1951); contemporary visual artist
Extent: 1 item
Acquisition: The donation was made to SOAS Library in June 2018 by Elsbeth Court, an academic who teaches African Art on the IFCELS course at SOAS, with the support and agreement of the artist Hassan Musa.
Access status: Restrictions Apply
Access conditions: Requests to access this collection should be made to the Archives & Special Collections department in advance.
Copyright: Copyright in the artwork of Hassan Musa assigned to SOAS by the artist, 2018. Copyrights persist in other images and texts. The user is advised to investigate copyrights before making any re-use of this material.
Language: English
Scripts: Latin
Physical description: brown paper envelope 16cm x 23cm
Format: Archive