 | "Charles Lenox Cumming-Bruce in Turkish Dress" is one of the paintings on view in "The Lure of the East." This work was created by Andrew Geddes in 1817. |
British exploration and discovery in the Middle East is the theme of two complementary
exhibits opening this month at the Yale Center for British Art.
T H I S
IN MEMORIAM
Exhibits explore British artists’
images of the Middle East
“The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting, 1830-1925” examines
the responses of 19th-century British artists to the people and places of the
Middle East, while “Pearls to Pyramids: British Visual Culture and the
Levant, 1600-1830” explores the history of British cultural interchange
with the Middle East through trade, tourism, archaeological exploration and military
interest. Both exhibits open to the public on Thursday, Feb. 7, and will remain
on view through April 27.
‘The Lure of the East’
The Yale Center for British Art will be the only U.S. venue for “The
Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting, 1830-1925.” The exhibition
features approximately 90 paintings, prints and drawings that depict sites
and subjects that interested British artists, including rarely seen works by
John Frederick Lewis, Edward Lear, David Wilkie, Richard Dadd, William Holman
Hunt and Frederic, Lord Leighton, as well as art by less familiar artists.
“The Lure of the East” explores the major genres, themes and preoccupations
of Orientalist painting, including landscape, portraiture, the harem and religion.
Among the works on view are portraits of British artists, travelers and diplomats
who for various reasons dressed in costumes associated with the Middle East;
genre paintings in which the British tradition of portraying everyday domestic
life was transposed onto the street life and interiors of Cairo; and landscapes
that demonstrate how European artistic conventions were challenged and expanded
when transposed to the Middle East, often with dramatic results, say the exhibit
organizers. The final section on religion will include images of Holy Land and
beyond, exploring the sense of religious interchange and overlap found at many
of the sites visited by British artists in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The exhibition looks at the unique British experience of the “Orient” during
various moments of East-West contact, and considers how the traditions of British
art were developed in these contexts. Genre painting, for example, was rethought
in Islamic contexts because of the greater segregation of the sexes, perceived
in Britain as a fundamental distinction between social practices in Islamic
societies and those at home. This perceived difference was represented in the
concept of the harem, depicted in British art not simply as the “gilded
cage” of legend, but also as a place of liberation for women and of sophisticated
aesthetic pleasure, the organizers of the exhibit point out.
The exhibit also addresses the reception of Orientalist painting in the wake
of Edward Said’s controversial 1978 book “Orientalism,” in
which he argued that Westerners’ interest in Oriental culture was ultimately
imperialistic.
The exhibition was organized by Tate Britain in partnership with the Yale Center
for British Art, the British Council, the Pera Museum in Istanbul, Turkey,
and the Sharjah Art Museum, United Arab Emirates. The exhibition is curated
by Nicholas Tromans, a senior lecturer at Kingston University, London. The
organizing curators are Christine Riding at Tate Britain and Eleanor Hughes,
postdoctoral research associate at the Yale Center for British Art, with the
assistance of Julia Marciari-Alexander, associate director for exhibitions
and publications, and Jo Briggs, postdoctoral research associate.
Following its run at Yale, the exhibit will travel to Tate Britain, the Pera
Museum and the Sharjah Art Museum.
‘Pearls to Pyramids’
“Pearls to Pyramids: British Visual Culture and the Levant, 1600-1830” includes
nearly 90 works drawn from the collections of the Yale Center for British Art,
as well as those from the Yale University Art Gallery, the Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library, and other collections at Yale.
This complementary exhibit looks at the intersection between British visual
culture and the countries of the eastern Mediterranean beginning in the early
17th century, when political and economic shifts enabled Britain to reassert
itself as a dominant participant in the Mediterranean trade that had long been
monopolized by Venice. The Levant Company, established by royal charter in
1585, sought markets for British wool, fish and metals while importing such
luxury goods as silk, carpets, spices, currants, indigo and, later, coffee.
The exhibition introduces the geographical and historical context of the Mediterranean
trade with paintings by Sir Peter Lely and the William van de Veldes (father
and son), and through early travel accounts that both expressed and inspired
fascination with Eastern societies. The impact of commodities such as coffee
and silk is seen through prints, broadsides and illustrated books.
In the 18th century, the Levant became a destination for antiquarians, architects
and classical scholars, whose discoveries sparked the Greek Revival and “Egyptomania” in
art, architecture and design, say the exhibit organizers. Selections from the
center’s diverse holdings reflect the burgeoning interest in the classical
and biblical sites of the Middle East. Artists such as Benjamin West, William
Hogarth and J.M.W. Turner used the visual evidence provided by travelers to
create oriental settings for paintings, drawings and prints of biblical and
contemporary subjects. The exhibition concludes with an examination of the
increasingly militaristic cast to the British presence in the Levant in the
19th century, beginning with visual responses to Nelson’s victory over
Napoleon in Egypt.
“Pearls to Pyramids” is curated by Hughes with assistance from Sarah
Kinkel, a graduate research assistant at the Yale Center for British Art and
a doctoral candidate in history at Yale.
Special events
There are a number of special events being offered in conjunction with “The
Lure of the East” and “Pearls to Pyramids,” beginning with
a panel discussion on “Framing the Orient” on Wednesday, Feb. 6,
at 5:30 p.m. at the center. Panelists include Reina Lewis (moderator), the
Artscom Centenary Professor in Fashion Studies at the London College of Fashion;
Ala Alryyes, assistant professor of comparative literature and English at Yale;
Hughes and Riding; and Mary Roberts, the John Schaeffer Senior Lecturer in
British Art at the University of Sydney. Talks, concerts and other events can
be found in the online “Calendar” of this newspaper at www.yale.edu/calendar.
Film series
In addition, the center will offer “Filming the Orient,” a film
series, to complement the exhibitions “The Lure of the East” and “Pearls
to Pyramids.” The featured films include “Orlando,” “The
Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” “Gabbeh,” “With Allenby
in Palestine” and “Lawrence of Arabia.” Screenings begin
Feb. 16, and the films are shown at the center or at the Whitney Humanities
Center, 53 Wall St. See the online “Calendar” for specific dates
and times.
The Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., is open Tuesday-Saturday,
10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. It is closed on Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, call (203) 432-2800 or visit www.yale.edu/ycba.
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