orientalism; the notion of exotic

orientalism:

orient: is a wide group of country
the west conception of the east, the orient.

the west interest in orientalism dates from a long time, some paintings can be very offensive nowadays.
Delacroix - the death of sardanapalusThis image is very strong in the way it shows white men domination, they are shown as strong and very above the others, particularly women in this painting.

Jean- Leon Gerome - the bath

this image shows a black servant bathing a white woman, it is really showing what is was like back then.

Henriette Browne, a women artist, paintings are much less fancy that the ones of men artists, their take on orentalism was less flamboyant.


Importing orientalism, some example:
Turkish textile, 16th-17th century: very luxurious
Italy and Turkey had a very associated with luxury, it was very fashionable to be painted in orientlism dresses.


seminar notes:

The notion of exotic: my personal idea of exotic is warm, sunny, far and very different that what we are used to here.

I was sitting next to a girl that comes from Japan and the conversation came to a ask if the oriental, or the people from places that we, westerner, consider as exotic, consider the West as exotic, and funnily the answer was no. the notion of exotic is rarely associated with the west.

The other direction our discussion took was the cultural habits of a country and if it is dissapearing, by the globalisation, an open-mind that make all culture mix.

Will the tradition and the cultural habits that made a population what it is die, because the customs and skills are not passed on the new generations? If I have to be entirely fair, well, they will probably... but the exciting bit is that as human beings need to identify themselves to some sort or group and community, our traditions and skill and customs will evolve and renew.

I believe that even though the world is a big cultural mix, there isn't a loss of identity as said before, human beings need to feel that they belong somewhere and it is very common that in a continent, countrymen are proud of their nation, in a country, citizens are proud of their regions or cities, in a cities, people are proud of their borough or neighbourhood, and so on... I feel that in this big cultural mix that we live in, our identity is not only preserved but it is stronger than ever.

My personal experience is from the time I came to live in England, I come from Switzerland and while I was living there I never felt very patriotic, it was always a bit silly to love your country so much, but now that I am in surrounded by so many cultures I feel more Swiss than ever, iorientalism: have learnt to love the place where I come from, because if I forget it, I feel that I am losing a part of myself!