Skip Navigation

Kabyle Children (Enfants Kabyles)

Isidore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils

European Art

The well-respected military painter Isadore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils was commissioned to create a monumental painting (now lost) of Napoleon III’s 1860 reception of Arab chiefs in French Algeria. To prepare this piece of imperial pomp, Pils traveled to Algeria in 1861 and 1862, creating numerous preparatory sketches of the landscapes and people he saw. This sketch of two children from the Kabylie region likely dates from his time in the colony. Its rapid brushwork and careful attention to the children’s expressions lend it subtlety. The children in this sketch would have spent their lives under French colonial rule, including Napoleon III’s so-called reforms, which allowed Berber Algerians to become French citizens only if they renounced their Muslim religion.


Titus Kaphar: I think this is beautiful. . . . Her mouth being open as though she’s speaking is so telling. . . . We surely know this image and these people from the perspective of the folks on this side of the frame. Surely, her [mouth] being open doesn’t mean that we have some sort of recorded evidence of her thoughts and of her life and what she said in this particular moment. As we’re talking about how we wrestle with these images, as I said before, it requires some kind of historical revision, rewriting. Because she’s silenced.
MEDIUM Graphite and opaque watercolor on brown wove paper
DATES 1860s
DIMENSIONS Image: 9 1/2 × 9 7/16 in. (24.1 × 24 cm) sheet: 10 3/4 × 13 11/16 in. (27.3 × 34.8 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS Stamped lower right (very faint, without ink)
COLLECTIONS European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 33.39
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. Henry Wolf, Austin M. Wolf, and Hamilton A. Wolf
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Isidore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils (French, 1813–1875). Kabyle Children (Enfants Kabyles), 1860s. Graphite and opaque watercolor on brown wove paper, Image: 9 1/2 × 9 7/16 in. (24.1 × 24 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Henry Wolf, Austin M. Wolf, and Hamilton A. Wolf, 33.39 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 33.39.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 33.39.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.