Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy

Introduction

In ancient Rome, the Latin root of the word “Orient” denoted the direction of the rising sun—the east. Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy explores notions of “the East” in the art of the nineteenth century, when globalism, shaped by colonialism and imperialism, fueled unprecedented encounters and exchanges in Europe and the Middle East. Modern forces, such as accelerated travel, rapid technological change, and shifting geopolitics, hastened connections between distant regions and different cultures: “soft power” mingled with “hard power.”

The stories told in this exhibition unfold from Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798 and culminate in the paintings of the Ottoman polymath Osman Hamdi Bey at the turn of the twentieth century. Islamic artworks made their way to European dealers, collectors, international expositions, and museums, introducing a new visual language to artists, architects, and designers that transformed public and private spaces in the broader Atlantic world. Artists such as Ingres, Delacroix, and Gérôme visited lands and people across the Mediterranean or imagined them from afar. Sometimes they depicted what they saw, at other times they conjured distant places through memory and imagination, often using Islamic objects to stage their paintings.

Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy occupies four galleries that straddle the departments of European Paintings and Islamic Art. Visitors are welcome to approach the exhibition from its primary entrance in Gallery 453 or explore its themes from multiple points of entry.

The Alhambra: Gateway to Orientalism

During the nineteenth century, the Alhambra, a Nasrid period (1232–1492) palace complex in Granada, Spain, emerged as an alluring center of travel and study. Though located in southwestern Europe, al-Andalus, due to the region’s Islamic history, was often the first stop for Europeans and Americans on their tour of “the Orient.” As a result, the Alhambra became a “gateway to the East.” By mid-century, fascination with the Alhambra had inspired artists and writers around the world. In the 1830s, it increasingly became the subject of scholarly studies. The beauty of the Alhambra’s architecture added to its appeal and led to an international Alhambresque style, often called “Moresque” or “Moorish” at the time, and the Alhambra’s Court of the Lions and Comares Palace became preferred settings for Orientalist paintings. Images made by early photographers further heightened the allure of this “exotic” site.

Hard and Soft Power: Orientalism and Design

In the nineteenth century, international expositions represented the world in microcosm. Designed to showcase progress, political supremacy, and national identity and culture, these events helped stimulate interest in Islamic art. As a result, European and American architects, artists, designers, and manufacturers had greater contact with the people and cultures of the Islamic world and developed a deep admiration for its techniques and forms. Islamic styles were perceived as novel, filling a perceived aesthetic void in “the West.” Architects, artists, and designers revived historic techniques and emulated the arts of the East, often creating imaginative reinterpretations rather than direct copies. These novel objects transformed everyday life in the West by providing alternatives to industrialization and mass production: what the British architect Owen Jones called the “Age of Ugliness.”

Facing the Orient

In this gallery, visitors are invited to explore works of art that document encounters between people who moved between Europe and the Middle East. Each picture is a portrayal of one or more persons, and all are marked by the circumstances that brought artist and subject together. In the European tradition, a “likeness” records an individual’s appearance; a “portrait” provides more context about the sitter; and a “type” prioritizes qualities associated witha group to which the individual belongs. In many of the pictures here, the nuances of these categories may seem to overlap. Nineteenth-century artists were deeply engaged by the possibilities of portraying people of “the Orient” and the abundance of techniques and materials with which to work, from painting to photography.

Osman Hamdi Bey: Depicting the Orient as an Insider

Exchange between “East” and “West” in the nineteenth century did not consist solely of Westerners looking east. The Ottoman polymath Osman Hamdi Bey was an administrator of antiquities and a French-trained painter who developed a personal style to depict his world through an insider’s lens. His bold, warm colors; decorative elements; and close-up views are reminiscent of Ottoman art and painting, while also conveying a contemporary sensibility. His compositions combine academic polish with liberal brushwork and embrace various artistic traditions: Orientalist, Ottoman, and modern. Hamdi often incorporated portraits of himself, family, and friends into his paintings, and his scenes reflect a unique sensitivity to and deep respect for the sociocultural mores of Ottoman society.

Primarily intended for Western audiences, his compositions appear more authentic and personal and less burdened by the stereotypes so often found in European and American Orientalist paintings. Inscriptions and other details add metaphorical layers of meaning that invite debate and scrutiny. Hamdi’s compositions pushed the boundaries of Orientalism in the West, while in the East they transformed and modernized Ottoman painting.