Art History Browser \ Galleries \ Orientalism

Orientalism refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, and can also refer to a sympathetic stance towards the region. In the nineteenth century painting the numbers of Oriental scenes greatly increased. In many of these works the myth of the Orient as exotic and decadently corrupt is most fully articulated. Such works typically concentrated on Near-Eastern Islamic cultures. Artists such as Eugene Delacroix, Jean-Leon Gerome and Auguste Dominique Ingres painted oftentimes romantic depictions of Islamic culture, often including lounging odalisques, and stressing lassitude and visual spectacle.   continue on wikipedia »