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What I like to know pertains to what you think an Orientalist painter of today should be depicting. Do you think portraits of people from the East should be idealized and exotic, evoking those fantasy settings of the 19th century Orientalist school or show the blend of cultural overlapping as it exists today? Based on the existing imagery in art and media what are your thoughts on what the East is truly like.
I like to point out that I am half German and half Iranian. Besides having lived in Europe and continuously traveling, I have also lived in Iran for many years and speak the language fluently. My cultural background has provided me with a nice understanding of the subtle differences and striking similarities, once the veil of preconceived perception is dropped.
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Enzie
Thank you for sharing your insight and the beautiful paintings. I like very much to look at different sorts of art and find that the Japanese and Chinese painters have a nerve that inspires.
I believe that we should look everywhere for inspiration and treat what we find in the best artistic tradition. I mean, it is not good enough to paint an Indian or a cowboy looking like that. You got to catch there souls if it shall be a lasting joy to look at.
I have a book of Turners watercolors from his travels along the German rivers like the Rhine. Turner made drawings and watercolors from every fine view he saw. These pictures were multiplied in etchings and served as the exotic catalog of what you could see in Germany.
When I look in this book the only sensations are his mastery of painting the scenes.
The point is, that when you have seen ten paintings of exotic orientals, the exoticism vanish, and then what is left ? It have to be an artistic expression and not only your personal feeling of seeing something new.
Allan
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