Among the tools that colonizers used to ensure the subjugation of their colonies, violence and forced conversion to Christianity were their best weapons. European artists---painters and writers---however, played a substantial role in ensuring the colonial agenda. French, British and other western European artists did so by depicting Africans, Pacific Islanders, Asians and Arabs in their poetry, novels and paintings as they imagined them to be: depraved, uncivilized, savage, sexually deviant, and violent. Edward Said most famously coined the term Orientalism for the genre of art, produced at the height of European colonial power in the 18th and 19th centuries, depicting the colonized Other. Said writes:
Unlike the Americans, the French and the British—less so the Germans, Russians, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Swiss—have had a long tradition of what I shall be calling Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orient's special place in European Western experience. The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other. In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience. Yet none of this Orient is merely imaginative. The Orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture. (Said, 1-2)Here, he argues that the "West" has imagined an image of the "East" based on its interests in the region as colonizers. In so doing, this imagination of the East not defines the identity of the colonized but that it also defines the identity of Europe as something that is opposed and indeed better than (more civilized, more educated, more enlightened) the people they have come to conquer.
Below, are images from French painters that orientalize the Middle East. For your blog post, look closely at these images and answer the following questions: 1) what is ideas about the "East" do these paintings convey? 2) how do the orientalized images from these paintings affect our current perception of Iran and the Middle East?
Your response must be at least two paragraphs long and you must post your response by 5:00 pm on Sunday, April 6th to receive credit.
Eugene Delacriox's "The Women of Algiers" (1834)
Antoine-Jean Gros's "Bonaparte Visits the Plague Stricken in Jaffa" (1804)
Jean-Leon Gerome's "The Snake Charmer" (1870)
Francois-Gabriel Lepaulle's "The Pasha and His Harem" (mid-1800s)
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ReplyDeleteOrientalism is a movement that arose out the western perception of superiority and a need to justify imperialism in the east. Many of these paintings are biased in this regard and disregard eastern cultural practices completely. One example of this element is the sexual connotations of women in Eugene Delacriox’s “The Women of Algiers”. This painting depicts a harem of skimpily dressed women leisurely smoking hookah which portrays women as sexual objects. Through this painting, Delacroix is trying to convey the lack of human rights and equality in the “East” which has been interpreted by westerners as justification for intervening in the east.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of eroticizing the female form is also prevalent in Jean-Leon Gerome’s “The Snake Charmer” and Francois-Gabriel Lepaulle’s “The Pasha and His Harem” as well. Both these paintings portray women as sexual objects of men and emphasize the patriarchal nature of eastern society. As a result, Iran and the Middle East continue to be targets for arguments of women rights and equality. However, contrary to the western depiction and interpretation of these paintings, these artists have completely disregarded the Islamic tradition which forbids the naturalistic form of women and the emphasizes the veiling of women in public.
The use art to articulate the authority of western society is evident in Antoine-Jean Gros's "Bonaparte Visits the Plague Stricken in Jaffa". The lavish uniforms of Bonaparte and his Frenchmen are clearly distinct from the skimpily dressed residents of Jaffa. This painting shows Bonaparte touching the sores of a people stricken by the bubonic plague. The poor living conditions and the prevalence of disease and vagrants of the east are shown throughout this painting. However, the focus on Bonaparte portrays him as a savior who can intervene and save these lesser people. The high and almighty society of the French is seen in the background of this painting waiving a French flag, and Napoleon shows his benevolence by coming down to the uncivilized city to help ease the people’s pains.
To further agree with the previous post, the themes that these paintings expose show biased and almost “fantasy interpretations” of its reality. Whether it was the painter himself or the patron who decided on the principal theme of each painting, they are misleading. The term orientalism refers to the Western insight of the appearance of the East. In the four paintings above, we can grasp the demonstration of orientalism.
ReplyDeleteFor Instance, in Antoine-Jean Gros’s “Bonaparte Visits the Plague Stricken in Jaffa” (1804) painting, we can perceive the destruction of the bubonic plague among the people of Jaffa. The principal theme would be that of Napoleon Bonaparte who is depicted visiting the hardly dressed victims who have already been infected by the atrocious plague. Touching them and getting close to those who were already near the end, showing compassion- was seen as a heroic deed because of how contagious the plague was. Such gestured was seen highly heroic as if he went down to their level to give them hope and sympathy. In the painting of Jean-Leon Gerome’s “The Snake Charmer” (1870) was known as the “Imperialist vision of the East.” It highlighted what the perceptions of the East would seem like. We can see a naked individual snake charmer dancing in front of a middle class audience. Gerome himself was even seen as an Orientalist painter.
Moreover, Eugene Delacroix’s canvas painting of “The Women of Algiers” (1834), the three white women are depicted as sexual objects as they are gathered around a hookah, dressed in detailed luxurious inadequate clothing while the colored women, who might be seen as the servant of the household is draped in much simpler clothing. Similar to this, the painting “The Pasha and His Harem” by Francois-Gabriel Lepaulle (mid-1800s) also conveys women to be seen as sexual objects as they are gathered around the male who seems to be wealthy. Both paintings are similar because they depicted the characteristics of women who do not hold power and are far from traditions. The paintings are seemed to be drawn for the pleasures of male presence.
Jessica Ruth Iniguez
These painting convey the “East” as a contrast to the morals of the “West”. In Francois-Gabriel Lepauelle’s “The Pasha and His Harem”, as commented in previous posts the women are seen as sexual objects and the West may see this lifestyle as depraved and sinful giving reason for colonization. The paintings show some stereotype held by the artists of the time from overly sexualized women with their curvy and full-bodied figures, while there is a prevalent class division according to Eugene Delacriox’s “The Women of Algiers” and Antoine-Jean Gros’s “Bonaparte Visits the Plague Stricken in Jaffa”, respectively.
ReplyDeleteIn Gros’s painting, Napoleon Bonaparte by visiting the sick and dying from the plague plays the part of the benevolent and caring conqueror, he seems almost Christ-like, and is further highlighted by the light shining on him. When looking in the shadows towards the left of the painting we see a clothed man who seems to be buying something from the market, while the sick are lying at his feet. It seems that Gros’s is highlighting the class division. In the background of the same painting one can see smoke in the city with the French flag flying at the top. The French have attacked and lay sieged to Jaffa, and the French flag seems like this symbol of hope. Putting this positive spin that colonization, and makes it seem like a need.
Rather than looking at these rich cultures, these paintings buy into Western perceptions and put a sort of fantastical spin on them. They make it seem that the Middle East needs help, backwards culture and the underlying tone of “us and them”. A tone still used today.
Gabrielle Dela Pena