Click on the links below to view a sampling of sumptuous portraits involving the lands of the Ummah...
Ludwig Deutsch (Austrian, 1855-1935)
John Frederick Lewis (English, 1804-1876)
Eugene Fromentin (French, 1820-1876)
Orientalist art is enjoying a resurgence lately, despite (or because of?) scholarly criticisms of its tendency to caricature peoples & cultures according to Western (pre)conceptions. Your thoughts about the art? About the politics?
3 comments:
They seem very much like the Arabic version of Norman Rockwell paintings: idealized and romanticized, and mostly non-representative of real life. Their purpose is to highlight the exotic and foreign qualities of Middle Eastern culture, with a special emphasis on the functionality of their societies, while neglecting to portray the reality of their humanness, i.e. the disfunction inherent to mankind. In other words, they are bland paintings in a post-Guernica/Diego Rivera age, where consumers like myself want to see the blood and scars of life.
John
The name Norman Rockwell also jumps to my mind. Art tells me more about the artist than the subject. From these paintings, I think the artists did have some very strong Western preconceptions: many things are romanticized, and even the titles have the flavor of exotic intriguing lifestyles. I think the art itself is beautiful: the attention to detail and the way light affects different parts of the paintings (especially with John Frederick Lewis.) However, this style of art doesn't really make me think more deeply about this area--in fact, my brain almost files it away as "More Stereotypes." The artists definitely saw the things they painted, but I don't know if they understood them.
-Val
Interesting... I never even thought about the 'Rockwell connection', but now I see it! I wonder whether Norman was at all influenced by, or interested in, this school??
pdk
Post a Comment