Orientalism Artist. In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world.
These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the West. In particular, Orientalist painting, depicting more specifically the Middle East, was one of the many specialisms of 19th-century academic art, and the literature of Western countries took a similar interest in Oriental themes.
Since the publication of Edward Said's Orientalism in 1978, much academic discourse has begun to use the term Orientalism to refer to a general patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African societies. In Said's analysis, the West essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped, thereby fabricating a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced.
Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior. Orientalism refers to the Orient, in reference and opposition to the Occident; the East and the West, respectively.
The word Orient entered the English language as the Middle French orient. The root word oriens, from the Latin Oriens, has synonymous denotations: The eastern part of the world; the sky whence comes the sun; the east; the rising sun, etc.; yet the denotation changed as a term of geography. In the Monk's Tale,
These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the West. In particular, Orientalist painting, depicting more specifically the Middle East, was one of the many specialisms of 19th-century academic art, and the literature of Western countries took a similar interest in Oriental themes.
Since the publication of Edward Said's Orientalism in 1978, much academic discourse has begun to use the term Orientalism to refer to a general patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African societies. In Said's analysis, the West essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped, thereby fabricating a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced.
Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior. Orientalism refers to the Orient, in reference and opposition to the Occident; the East and the West, respectively.
The word Orient entered the English language as the Middle French orient. The root word oriens, from the Latin Oriens, has synonymous denotations: The eastern part of the world; the sky whence comes the sun; the east; the rising sun, etc.; yet the denotation changed as a term of geography. In the Monk's Tale,
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