Questions about Orientalism
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is Orientalism according to Edward Said?
According to Said's 1978 book Orientalism, the term describes a pervasive Western tradition of prejudiced outsider-interpretations of the Eastern world, shaped by the cultural attitudes of European imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries. Said argued that the West essentialized Asian and North African cultures as static and undeveloped, fabricating a view of the Orient that served imperial power. He described it as enabling the political, economic, cultural, and social domination of the West, not just during colonial times but also in the present.
Who were the leading French Orientalist painters?
Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) and Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) are widely regarded as the leading figures of French Orientalist painting. Gérôme also served as the honorary president of the French Society of Orientalist Painters, founded in 1893. Delacroix traveled to Algeria and Morocco in 1832 as part of a diplomatic mission to the Sultan of Morocco, and continued painting subjects from that trip for the rest of his career.
How did Orientalism influence 19th-century Russian music?
The Russian composers known as "The Five" deliberately used eastern themes and harmonies to distinguish their music from German symphonism. Works in this tradition include Balakirev's Islamey, Borodin's Prince Igor, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Musicologist Richard Taruskin characterized the style as featuring melodies full of close ornaments and melismas, chromatic accompanying lines, and drone bass, used by composers including Glinka, Balakirev, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyapunov, and Rachmaninov.
What is Chinoiserie and when did it peak in Western Europe?
Chinoiserie is the term for the fashion for Chinese themes in decoration in Western Europe, beginning in the late 17th century and peaking in the Rococo period, roughly from 1740 to 1770. Early ceramic wares at Meissen imitated Chinese shapes for dishes, vases, and teawares, while tin-glazed pottery at Delft adopted blue and white designs from Ming-era porcelain from the early 17th century. Thomas Chippendale's mahogany tea tables and china cabinets were embellished with fretwork glazing and railings from roughly 1753 to 1770.
How did Orientalism shape ballet in the 19th and early 20th centuries?
Major ballets of the period drew heavily on Eastern settings and stereotypes. Le Corsaire premiered in 1856 at the Paris Opera and was re-choreographed by Marius Petipa for the Maryinsky Ballet in 1899, featuring a harem and a slave bazaar loosely based on a Lord Byron poem. Petipa also choreographed La Bayadère in 1877, based on Kalidasa's play Sakuntala, which incorporated Indian-inspired hand gestures and a Hindu Dance motivated by the Kathak form. Michel Fokine's Sheherazade in 1910, performed to Rimsky-Korsakov's score with Vaslav Nijinsky originally in the role of the Golden Slave, was drawn from One Thousand and One Nights.
What is the difference between Orientalism and re-orientalism?
Orientalism, as defined by Edward Said, describes Western outsider-interpretations that essentialized and subordinated Eastern cultures. Re-orientalism, a term introduced by Lisa Lau and Ana Cristina Mendes, refers to how Eastern self-representation is built on Western reference points, simultaneously challenging and reinforcing Orientalist frameworks. Re-orientalism sets up alternative metanarratives of its own in order to articulate Eastern identities, deconstructing and reinforcing Orientalism at the same time.