The Almeh by Gerome and a woman in the mirror by Lautrec - Term Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages The paper "The Almeh by Gerome and a woman in the mirror by Lautrec" analyzes a woman in the mirror by Lautrec and The Almeh by Gerome. The effect of the Middle East region is clear in this presentation as Gerome tries to present a realistic style that reveals another inclination and view towards portraying nude woman and prostitutes, a view that is not acceptable in the Arab world due to the political and cultural inclination that advocates for women decency and fundamental religious doctrine. In this painting, Gerome uses the Western inclination to present an Eastern woman through an orientalist view that more challenges how the women are viewed and the cultural background in which women find themselves chained in the model east. The exotic dancer might therefore be termed as a girl who seeks her freedom and libels against the cultural and political fundamentals to imitate the Western woman who is freer, and has more elaborate rights in deciding their day to day life. The Almeh was an experience of the eastern dancers, who excited many visitors who used to flock to the World’s Fair to see the dance that represented an extensive history of the Arab women. It was performed by a group of dancers who lived and performed In Luxor, like the dervish ceremonies that were the favorites of many travelers. This was how the dance became to be referred to as the Almeh, after the name that was given to women singers as referred to by the orientalist artists. The dancing of the Almeh drew large crowds on its exhibition....
The art is set in a dim cafe and the painting portrays a young woman dancing before an audience of soldiers. One man claps as another one leans forward. Behind the dancer, there are turbaned musicians sitting floor playing some instruments. Water pipes, guns baskets, brown stripped carpet, are well portrayed. The dancer wears loose and exposing clothes, where her abdomen and breasts are visible, while facing the viewer, and not the audience behind her. As argued above, this painting represents a libel of the Eastern moral and fundamentalism, where women are not allowed to dress in such clothing. The presence of guns might represent the force through which such a moral decadence would be confronted with and as the painting portrays, the dancer faces away from the audience in portraying a liberal attitude of moving away from the audience’s fundamentalism, and looks towards he viewer who might be referred to as the westernized audience who would certainly welcome this type of dance, which is similar to the bellydance that was more pronounced in the western regions. On the other hand Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec Woman before a mirror, 1897 presents the same sentiments as above but in a different dimension. Dumont (8) explains that prostitutes interested Lautrec and he even decorated several brothels with portraits of its inmates. However, he was more impressed by dancers at Moulin Rouge whom he drew in several paintings. Therefore, Lautrec in his work tries to present the social evils and the morals that filled the society. The painting women before a mirror is a social reflection, in which he called upon women to reflect upon themselves, having visited several brothels and experiencing the moral decadence in such places. His painting ...Download file to see next pagesRead More