Gilded
Serpent presents...
Review: "Allure
of the East:
Orientalism in New York, 1850-1930"
at the New York Historical Society
by Thalia
On the 30th anniversary
of the publication of Edward Said's seminal
work Orientalism, the Tate Britain has
launched an exhibition titled, "Lure of the East: British
Orientalist Painting." The show and its catalog have
provoked much intellectual discussion for and against the controversial
aesthetic, most notably in the online newspaper, the Guardian. In
the United States, less is being made over this anniversary. There
is however a cultural exhibition at the New York Historical
Society “Allure of the East: Orientalism in New York 1850-1930.”
This
small one-room exhibit with its narrow geographic focus--the
city O. Henry dubbed “Baghdad-on-the-Subway”--presents
much for dancers to consider. As belly dance continues
to gain popularity, what is this continuing "allure" of
the Orientalist inspired arts? When is attraction to this
aesthetic drawn from a desire to understand other cultures
and when is it driven by desire to market ourselves?
In the 19th
century, Orientalist fashion swept through the United States
in a distinctly different way than it did in the colonizing
empires of France and England. The United States had only
recently been a colony, would struggle through the conflicts
of a bloody Civil War, and was anxious to prove itself to the
European elite. Immediately obvious to viewers of this exhibit
is that the Orientalist aesthetic in the United States was
primarily one of industry and commodity rather than what is
often considered "high" art: literature, painting,
and music. American painters who did work in the Orientalist
vein were inspired by French schools of painting rather than
the subject matter portrayed. For New York City's leisure
class, the 19th century Orientalist trend served as a means
to display their wealth via “exotic” clothing, jewelry, architecture,
and rugs and other interior furnishings.
Photographs
provide a glimpse of a self-contained, newly rich, and rather
naïve looking society. Interior quarters of wealthy homes
include "Turkish corners" with piles of pillows,
ornate woodwork, and painted tiles. Elaborate exterior architectural
details from this period still form part of the city's daily
landscape. A second group of photographs and paintings depict
New York socialites dressed for popular Orientalist themed
balls and masquerades including the famous Vanderbilt Ball
in 1883. Serious, Victorian-era business men pose in turbans,
caftans, and the occasional saber. Women wearing stiff organza
veils, tight vests, and elaborately jeweled headgear stand
or recline in popular "odalisque" fashion despite
the confines of tightly cinched waistlines and somber expressions. A
family portrait of the Gerard Stuyvesant Family (c.
1850) includes husband and wife in Victorian era dress with
two young boys in wide pleated pants, one with a feathered
turban, the other a tasseled fez. Mrs. Arthur Henry
Paget (Minnie Stevens c. 1875) poses in a sphinx-like
headdress along with a Pharaonic girdle just below her corseted
waist.
One
exhibition note confirms that while the portrait subject's
jewelry is gypsy, her coined head scarf is Egyptian, and
that many combined an “unabashed mixing of cultures and
styles.” Nineteenth century Orientalist enthusiasts sought
to display their social status, personal wealth, and association
with high fashion in Europe and to capitalize on the exotic "allure
of the East" to draw attention to themselves.
New Yorkers
who did travel to the East returned claiming experienced authority
on their subjects though they primarily added to European stereotypes
already put into place. Louis Comfort Tiffany's
light and wind swept landscapes gave way to stylized silverwork
(examples of both are on display) inspired by his experience
in the East. William Cowper Prince explored "the
Orient" incognito as Braheem Effendi, writing travel memoirs
such as: "Tent Life in the Holy Land" and "Boat
Life in Egypt and Nubia." Popularized in the burgeoning
publishing industry, these works rehashed themes already popular
and primarily served to make famous their colorful inventor
rather than illuminate the Eastern subject matter.
The
popular fascination with the “Oriental warrior," a
racist fantasy still trawled through today's media, adds
a chilling element to this show.
A German
painting, “The Attack,” romantically portrays Algerian men
losing at war. A museum note adds that savvy Moroccans cashed
in on this stereotype, staging "fantasias," mock
battles with each other, for paying tourists. In France, military
uniforms and training tactics based on impressions of the Zouaou
people came into vogue after the colonial wars in Algeria were
won in the 1830s. This "Zouave" military fashion
was transferred to the Civil War era United States. A well
preserved uniform worn in the 5th New York Voluntary Infantry
1861-1863 is displayed: knee-length pleated pants, a tasseled
fez, embroidered vest, a saber, and a wide waist wrap. In
the United States, more than fifty Zouave divisions served
in Northern and Southern armies. Both sides hoped to intimidate
and capitalize on popular fantasies and mystique of a perceived
barbaric culture.
If the World's
Fair Exhibition in Paris in 1878 marked the early apogee of "Orientalist" fashion
and aesthetics, the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 perhaps signaled
the beginning of its decline. By this time, Orientalism in
the United States had become passé among the elite, appealing
instead to a middle class through advertising media and even
more so during later Hollywood kitsch. The aesthetic blatantly
meant selling. In the Ladies Home Journal, an ad with
a distinctly Western-looking Cleopatra reads:
“Just
as the Egyptian Princess of 3000 years ago bequeathed a
heritage of beauty to the modern girl, so did she also
hand down knowledge of the surest way to keep it. She knew
that Palm and Olive oils were mild, beneficial, natural
cleansers, as soothing in their action as a lotion. A
crude combination is all she could command—today she would
use Palmolive.” (1918)
Companies
marketing Turkish tobacco including Murad included tiny felt
rugs in their packaging directed at female collectors and smokers;
these are displayed near an ad for Barnum and Bailey Circus
featuring a vaudevillian reenactment of a reclining Cleopatra
waiting for the return of Mark Antony.
Though
time has schooled us in cultural sensitivity and imbalances
caused by money and power (some complain we've become too
politically correct), it is eerie to look at Victorian
era society women so oddly clad in fantasy Orientalist
gear and realize they are wearing costume pieces I or any
of my dance peers might wear.
Instead
of bustles and somber expressions, our contemporary hair styles,
makeup, sultry smiles, and reverence for thinness and athletic
prowess will too look naively dated underneath our Oriental
costume pieces. What is this continuing "allure of the
East" for those of us in "the West"? When are
we truly invested in exploring other cultures to deepen our
understanding of our human race and when are we merely searching
for new ways to capitalize on perceived differences as a means
of marketing ourselves?
"Allure
of the East: Orientalism in New York, 1850-1930," a companion
to the larger exhibit, “Woven Splendor from Timbuktu to Tibet:
Exotic Rug and Textiles from New York Collectors,"
remains
on view at the New
York Historical Society through August 17, 2008. Have
a comment? Send us a
letter!
Check the "Letters to the Editor" for
other possible viewpoints!
Ready
for more?
8-1-08 Fantasy
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This
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fire recently, due to the instantaneous broadcasting of ideas
and styles on the worldwide web and the proliferation and availability
of video for this generation of dancers.
7-24-08 Professional
Presence, Stories and Advice from 30 Years Under
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The
audiences’first glimpse of you is as you arrive and how they
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7-8-08 When
Two Doors Close Two Doors Open, New Venues in New
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Scott
was thrilled with the new place and said it reminds him of the
late night clubs in Istanbul, Turkey. At the end of the night I
walked out into the hot summer air feeling invigorated and inspired.
5-13-08 The
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Even
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discussions can instantly strip a successful artist of her magical
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5-5--8 Dances
along the Nile, Part 2: Raks Al Balas by Gamila
El Masri, Reprinted with permission, from Bennu,
Issue Vol.6 #3
Ah,
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and ignored of the dances along the Nile.
3-17-08 From
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in New York: An Overview, 1988 - 2007 by
Nina Costanza (Amar)
But the primary forums for dancers, the major
New York nightclubs, have closed their doors. Cabaret is
gone; it is the era of the DJ. And the new dancer has to
have another job.
9-17-07 Changes:
Egyptian Dance - Has it crossed the line? by Amina
Goodyear
Both
festivals, held in Giza were isolated and insulated from the people
and the Cairo
that I know and love.
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