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Orient’s magic reflected on European art, culture

Participants discussed how oriental art produced by western artists has often reflected a caricature of the oriental culture and how such artworks have gradually become an important part of the contemporary eastern cultural heritage.

The roundtable underlined the West’s ongoing fascination with oriental culture as translated by Westerners who travelled through the East and recorded their impressions in their art, thus immortalising those faraway images.

Easterners had an important heritage that helped define them and, with the rise of orientalism and western fascination with the East, artists were the leading figures in recognising and interpreting in their art the magical allure of the Orient.

The session was mediated by Assistant Professor in European 20th Century Art at PSUAD Dr Thierry Laugee; Assistant Professor in Cultural and Urban Anthropology at Zayed University in Dubai Dr Anke Reichenbach; and Senior Strategic Advisor at the Sharjah Museums Department and Co-director of the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation Dr Ulrike Al Khamis.

He said when speaking of orientalism, one must examine the evolution of art forms in painting, from the style of expression to the method of execution.

The debate then touched on the importance of revisiting orientalism, especially in dealing with challenges that stem from public issues, notably: cultural, community, and period representations, the interdependencwe of knowledge and power, the role of intellectuals, and methodological issues relating to the interconnection of different types of texts, between text and context, and text and history.

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