Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy

By Deniz Beyazit, Maryam Ekhtiar, and Asher Miller

Colonial and imperial expansion, technical advancement, and artistic transformation in the nineteenth century catalyzed the global marketplace and sparked a wave of European picture-making focused on North Africa and the Middle East. Known as Orientalism, the genre inspired by Islamic cultures relied equally on fact and fantasy to create iconic images both celebrated and interrogated today. This book tells a new, multifaceted story, taking into account how major figures ranging from the French painters Ingres, Delacroix, and Gérôme to the Ottoman statesman and artist Osman Hamdi Bey shaped an understanding of their world by incorporating Islamic motifs into their pictures. Addressing manifold questions about ethnic and racial difference, gender, power relations, and colonialist attitudes, the publication reinterprets beloved works of art such as Gérôme's Bashi-Bazouk and Ingres's La Grande Odalisque. The book reaches beyond easel painting to detail the impact of Orientalism on decorative arts, architecture, and collecting practices, which inspired a deep admiration for Islamic art and prompted a design revolution with an enduring legacy in Europe and the United States.

Deniz Beyazit is curator, Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Maryam Ekhtiar is Patti Cadby Birch Curator, Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Asher Miller is Eugene V. Thaw Curator, Department of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.