Middle Eastern collections of Orientalist painting at the turn of the 21st century: paradoxical reversal or persistent misunderstanding ?

Mercedes Volait (1)

1 InVisu - L'information visuelle et textuelle en histoire de l'art : nouveaux terrains, corpus, outils

Most acquisitions of Orientalist painting on the art market are nowadays made by Middle Eastern collectors. How can we make sense of such paradoxical phenomenon, given the negative connotations associated with Orientalist art in critical theory and art historical writing ? The paper proposes to pay serious attention to the canvases acquired, to their owners and to what they have to say on their acquisitions and on the practice of collecting Orientalist art, using the examples of three specific collections, namely the Najd, Dahesh and Gabr collections, in order to get insights on their intentions and perspectives. What emerges is a dynamic field, where labels and meanings are constantly reworked by Middle Eastern collectors in order to "reclaim history" and "recapture the culture".

Mots clés: Collecting; Orientalist art; Middle Eastern collectors; 20th century

Domaines: Art et histoire de l'art

Mercedes Volait. Middle Eastern collections of Orientalist painting at the turn of the 21st century: paradoxical reversal or persistent misunderstanding ?. François Pouillon and Jean-Claude Vatin. After Orientalism: Critical perspectives on Western Agency and Eastern Re-appropriations, 2, Brill, p. 251-271, 2014, Leiden Studies in Islam and Society, 9789004282520. ⟨10.1163/9789004282537_019⟩. ⟨halshs-01094882⟩