Ackland Art Museum Visit

• Picturesque as an aesthetic for British depictions of India
• Oriental engravings (French)
• "Avec privilege du Roy"; "Conversation Chinoise"
• God with four arms; king; emblem of sun
• Rococo design on structures
• Fantastical, exaggerated architecture
• Imitation; impression of Chinese culture
• Corn plant
• Characters are European, aristocratic

• "chinoiserie" = decorative style used to adorn high-end furniture and ornaments; meant to evoke the East; fashionable in 18th-century Europe and United States
• Etching of turbaned men (1850s)
• More realistic -- poor background
• Different cultures, styles of dress represented, but meant to depict Ottoman Empire
• Goal was to travel and capture "authentic" images

• Academic Nude
• No aspects of war, weapons, violence
• Significantly posed in open, vulnerable stance
• Feigned exoticism (European studio model)
• Orientalist ideal

• Early 20th century print (bright colors)
• Many ethnicities
• Spices (epitome of exotic trade) offered by women, who match their respective spices
• Festive, exotic lighting
• Came from upscale fashion magazine; intended to sell patterns, etc.
• Oriental fashion en vogue

• Cleopatra and the Peasant (Délacroix)
• Dark/light, refined/brutish, clothed/unclothed
• Cleopatra's dress is European, nearly Madonna-like
• Depicts Cleopatra captured by the Romans; ready to kill herself with a snake bite
• Cleopatra portrayed regally pale, in spotlight
• Features, coloring, etc. similar to Délacroix's paintings of harem women

• Five Standing Arabs
• No background; interest is in the subjects
• Hierarchy of men; middle is most important (oldest, tallest, different gaze)
• Three men in middle were Arab (higher status); outside men may be Muslim, but are no Arabs (are possibly slaves)

• Themes:
• Depiction by European outsiders who did not see those in the East as their equals
• Travel with goal of returning with information