Near East to Far West: Fictions of French and American Colonialism

French Orientalism influenced American artists in the 19th and 20th centuries, who traveled to France to study their craft and applied an Orientalist aesthetic and ideology to their paintings, sculptures, and drawings. This volume explores the impact of French artistic techniques and tropes on the development of western American art, including the symbolism of desert landscapes and exotic animals, the role of worlds fairs in disseminating Orientalist spectacles and stereotypes, and the importance of artistic pilgrimage to the deserts of North Africa and the American Southwest.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 14 March 2023
Publisher: Yale University Press

A fresh examination of the impact of French Orientalism on the art of the American West reveals how aesthetics and ideology converged to shape approaches to colonialism and expansion during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in both France and the United States.

American artists like Alfred Jacob Miller, George de Forest Brush, Joseph H. Sharp, Bert Geer Phillips, and Ernest Blumenschein journeyed to France from the 1830s to the 1920s to hone their craft. Upon their return, these artists sought inspiration in the American West, drawing upon the influence of French Orientalists such as Eugène Delacroix, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-Léon Gérôme.

In their paintings, sculptures, and drawings, the American artists incorporated an Orientalist aesthetic and ideology, while simultaneously producing works that exuded a distinct American identity. This volume delves into the ways in which the visual tropes and knowledge structures of Orientalism influenced French and American colonialism and expansion. It also explores the significance of French artistic techniques and tropes in shaping the development of western American art.

Other themes addressed include the symbolism of desert landscapes and exotic animals, the role of world fairs in spreading Orientalist spectacles and stereotypes, and the importance of artistic pilgrimages to the deserts of North Africa and the American Southwest. Perspectives from historical and contemporary Indigenous peoples of North America, Muslim Americans, and Arab Americans challenge, negotiate, and offer alternative viewpoints to the artworks.

This exhibition is organized by the Denver Art Museum and will be on display from March 5 to May 28, 2023.

Weight: 1898g
Dimension: 247 x 308 x 32 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780300266047