Hymn to Beauty

Odalisque with Slave, 1839, by ⁣⁣⁠Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)⁣⁣⁠

Why Victorians Went Crazy for Orientalism

During the period of feverish obsession with Orientalism, European artists and art lovers looked towards what they dubbed the “East” - aka the “Orient.” The Victorians weren’t overly specific, as this region actually spans many distinct territories and cultures over the Middle East, North Africa, and West Asia. They all did have one sure thing in common however, their “otherness.” They were decidedly different from European culture and while the obsession of the Orient has stretched quite far back in history (and I mean centuries before), we’re going to focus on how and why the Victorians in particular went crazy for it - particularly their obsession with the Ottoman Empire.

The idea of the “Orient” often sets the scene in one’s mind as slave markets, snake charmers, women either dressed in too much clothing or none at all, the hustle of markets and harems, as ‘Arabian Nights’ from Disney’s Aladdin plays in the background. These are just some of the stereotypes which continue to dominate much of the region(s) rich cultures and histories. Provocative, erotic, and exotic.

Power and Obsession

Society at this time held an appreciation of the complex architecture, but often little else, interested only in what the artists could portray as consumable to an audience - whether it was an accurate representation or not.

They largely pushed the view of East civilizations “otherness” through unrealistic portrayals of its people. Clearly all Arab men were snake charmers or slave traders, and all women were poor sexy slaves or… sexy slaves with slightly more luxurious lifestyles - “sexy slave babes” as Lindsay Ellis playfully coins in her video essay ‘The Most Whitewashed Character In Literary History.’ It largely represented these cultures stereotypes or fantasies from the Victorians outside perspectives.

For example, look at the amazing care Osman Hamdi Bey, an artist actually born within the Ottoman Empire, took in portraying the architecture and lettering within ‘Reading the Quran,’ and ‘The Tortoise Trainer.’

While Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting ‘The Snake Charmer’ isn’t as grounded in reality.

These portrayals, which didn’t just occur in visual art but also frequently in literature and the World’s Fair, created a narrative in which the Western control of the East made them civilized and justifying that good ol’ colonial spirit.

Breaking the Nude Rules

Nudity was a big thing for the Victorians. Today we regard them as shrewds scared of showing their ankles, but they went nuts for scandal and drama. Traditionally in Victorian art, nudity had to hold a purpose in order to be deemed acceptable. This included requirements such as depicting mythological or allegorical figures. Then entered ‘Orientalism’ and with it an exception to the rule, where they could view as many naked sexy slave babes that they wanted! Orientalism was an exception to the Nude Rules within Victorian society, and Orientalist artists milked it. Depictions of harems within Victorian art could vary greatly, from some showing it as a more domestic space for women, to others dialed up the exotic and erotic to 100.

When seeing how the Harem was depicted in art by men in particular isn’t all that surprising, as it was the unrealistic portrayal of what was essentially the equivalent to an exotic form of an all-girls sleepover, equipped with nothing but pillows. In short, it was pure fantasy. This is largely due to the fact that men weren’t actually allowed in harems. Going back to Ellis’ video essay, these 19th century European men of course struggled with the “why can I not have the thing?” mentality, and so were naturally inclined to go off nothing but their sexy, sexy fantasies. 

For example, let us view the harem through the male gaze with Jean-Léon Gérôme’s ‘Pool in a Harem,’ painted in the 1870s.

In comparison is Henriette Browne’s 1860 painting titled ‘A Visit: Harem Interior, Constantinople.’

Beautiful but Problematic

Orientalism, since the publishing of the famous ‘Orientalism’ by Edward Said, has been dubbed inherently racist by many. Many depictions were for sure inspired by colonialism and the want to patronising-ly differentiate civilizations. Adam Shatz in his article ‘Orientalism, Then and Now’ suggests that this hasn’t ended with the Victorians:

“Orientalism is still with us, a part of the West’s political unconscious. It can be expressed in a variety of ways: sometimes as an explicit bias, sometimes as a subtle inflection, like the tone color in a piece of music; sometimes erupting in the heat of argument, like the revenge of the repressed. But the Orientalism of today, both in its sensibility and in its manner of production, is not quite the same as the Orientalism Said discussed forty years ago.” - Adam Shatz, The New York Review of Books

The Victorians undoubtedly fetishized these cultures in the guise of documenting the culture. And these stereotypes continue to persist to this day. On the site for ‘Reclaiming Identity: Dismantling Arab Stereotypes,’ it’s described how these views contribute to a larger (and inaccurate) view of the Middle East:

“‘Orientalism’ is a way of seeing that imagines, emphasizes, exaggerates and distorts differences of Arab peoples and cultures as compared to that of Europe and the U.S. It often involves seeing Arab culture as exotic, backward, uncivilized, and at times dangerous.”  - arabstereotypes.org