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Analysis of Orientalist Painting Arab Chief Mariano Fortuny, 1874

Orientalism is not only associated on one country, race, or era. It is a complex idea, made up of history and scenery, suffused with imagination. We frame for ourselves a deep azure sky, and a languid, alluring atmosphere, associate luxurious ease with the coffee rooms and flower gardens of the seraglio in Constantinople; with the tapering minarets and gold-crescents of Cairo; with the fountains within and the kiosks without in Damascus. We hear the musical periods of the story-teller, retelling the 1001 tales to the ever-curious crowd. This is Orientalism, not as it is, but as it swims before the sensuous, imagination. It is too unreal to be defined.

Paintings are the ultimate reflection of culture and tradition. This is what Ive realized as I browed in the series of paintings that depict oriental heritage in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of the paintings that really caught my eyes is the Arab Chief by Mariano Fortuny, 1874. It is a portrait of a chieftain that clearly in my point of view can be a very good reflection of most oriental works and design. The painting is drawn in an oil canvass. It is 48 3/8 x 31 3/8 in (122.8 x 79.7cm) big and painted at early 1874. The painter of it who is Fortuny was believed to be an avid artist who had worked in oriental themes. He claims that oriental form of arts is more expressive and luministic compared to the stereotype westernized form. In his work on this Arab Chief, I certainly agree that orientalism can be that really mesmerizing in two factors. First is in terms craftsmanship. The painting is so detailed and has

utilized sharp balance between light and dark hues amidst the seeming strong light striking the portrait. The colors in the way it were arranged portray a near to life image. The other is ethnographic value. The concept is different from the usual paintings we see. It is reflecting a historical truth of the orient precious heritage. The painting is imbibing a riveting concrete symbolism of other world in the east. Ultimately, the purpose of the painting is to make a window for the world where people can see the versatility of orientalist concepts. Now, getting to the connection of it to the passage stated above about orientalism, I see that the painting is no doubt an orientalist in every sense. The painting matches to every description tagged along orientalism. It is so explicitly elaborated up to the point that your imaginations begin to swim into different facets of creativity upon looking it. The portrait of a chieftain could be supposed to be so ordinary and not interesting, but orientalism digs a whole lot of difference. The theme may be that simple but it has full of emotion. Its details are finely worked out that to look at it closely entails a hundred of minute details revealing different interesting stories. Craftily exaggerated, this is the phrase that lingers into my mind as I associate every piece of orientalism in mind. This is what orientalism is about, a vivid imagination that works congruently to the versatility of lifestyle impregnated in an arena of wondering and skepticism. Orientalism makes

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