The Orient in Western Art

by Geneviève Lacambre

The oriental motif is a recurring theme in western painting. From the Renaissance with its awakening interest in ancient cultures and art to the 18th century with its Grand Tours and "Turkish fashion," the oriental theme has not only documented artists' travels to the East, but has projected the wishes, desires and imagination of the West. From ethnographic etchings to exaggerated displays of the sultans' splendor, this paradox of fact and fantasy culminated in the 19th century with the genre Orientalism. Napoleon's conquest of Egypt, European colonization, and archaeological excavations opened up the region to numerous artists such as Decamps. Delacroix, Fromentin, Ingres, Lear, and Hunt, whose most famous works express oriental imagery. The Orient in Western Art presents the emergence and development of an artistic motif accompanied by explanations of social and cultural history.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History

360 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Yusra Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great source book with high quality images for Orientalism painting.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Orientalists" by Kristian Davies is apparently the most coveted book of this kind ($450 for used copy on amazon!) but Lemaire's is a good stopgap. It's a seriously huge book. The prints are great (to my untrained eye) and I enjoy the commentary that I have read so far. Covers a span from the 15th to the 20th century.

While various editions of "The Orient in Western Art" run in the hundreds of dollars on amazon, my seemingly identical(?) "import" copy was only slightly more than lunch at Whole Foods.

[Mervat Abuelkheir · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute visual pleasure, with a dose of history, not just of the arts. It would have been swell if the book included Khedive artwork as well, but what the book manages to capture is quite absorbing.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die Fünf Sterne nur desshalb, weil ich ein Buch haben wollte wo der Orient in Gemälden gemalt wurde.Das Buch lieferte mir genau das was ich auch haben wollte- Bilder die schön, groß, in guter Druckqualitität und mit kurzen Erklärungen präsentiert wurden.That's it.