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

Comparison of the Almeh by Gerome and a woman in the mirror by Lautrec Jean-Leone Gerome, The Dance of the Almeh, 1873is a significant art piece that portrays the role of male artists in promoting the persona of the female mostly in the Middle East region. The portrait allows Gerome to present the sexuality of the woman as she dances to music. The artistic work can be viewed better in the view of a feminist artistic approach that goes deeper to examining and interpretation of the cultural dynamics and political context. 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. As Zuhur (221) argues, 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 (Zuhur, 221). The dancing of the Almeh by Gerome drew large crowds on its exhibition at the Parisian Salon of 1864, and was sold to an American collector. The art was the favorite of manyviewers, as it portrayed life in the Arab world at a time when the history of the region was not well understood by many. The remarkable symbolism of the art is viewed from the times presented in the painting. 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 portrays what he saw without moral orientation and goes further to call upon all females to a deeper reflection of themselves to know whom they really are and their place in the society. The naked woman in the mirror as Lautrec presents reflects what the artists had seen and presented it to the audience without meaning any moral or immoral intentions in that he left the audience to pass judgment and expound more on the same Dumont (13). The case of using nude women in both Gerome and Lautrec might therefore be explained as a reflection on the social feminist advocacy that presents a woman as the reflection of the society though on different attributes. While Gerome uses this painting to advocate for the feminine rights, Lautrec presents these pictures to advocate a deeper reflection on feminists to discover their identity in the society. Dumont (7) explains that Lautrec learned more from life itself having lived in different places including Spain, England, Belgium, and he was a drunkard. It was though his heavy drinking that he was placed under rehabilitation before his death. The paintings by Lautrec therefore are a representation of the social and cultural morals as he saw them in his life, having been integrated into a life what many would refer to as a moral decayed society. These include the brothels that he used to visit in painting, and the drunkard nature that led him to rehabilitation and later to his death. Analysis of the paintings There are striking differences in the two paintings by the two artists as observed in the paintings. These differences may represent the ideals and differences in artistic presentation between the two artists and the meaning that such differences are supposed to present to the audience. To understand the real differences in the two pieces, the five principles Wollflin in elaborating paintings would be used to delve deep into the painting style and the symbolism that such style presents to the audience. These will include differences or similarities in form, clearness, depth , size and other aspects. Hatt and Klonk (77) present the five principles of Wolfflin analysis in artistic work. These include: linear vs. painterly, plane vs., recession, closed vs. open, multiplicity vs. unity and absolute vs. clarity. Gerome, the Almeh has a more plastic form when compared to woman before a mirror by Lautrec. The painting is presented in a definite plastic view with no flickering edges or appearance. The woman before a mirror by Lautrec on the other hand has flickering perception, and appears to be flowing out of the boundaries as compared to Almeh. The plastic form in Almeh might be argued to represent the clarity and strong liberal aspect that the dancer presents to the cultural and religious orientation in the region. As observed, the dance represents the western dancers mostly inclined to berry dancers, a dance that would not be expected in a fundamentalist region such as the Middle East and other Arab traditions where religious fundamentalists are the order of the day. The flickering edges in woman before a mirror though presenting the views as Lautrec saw them might be argued to symbolize the blurred morals that the society holds and the role of feminists in the society. The use of women in brothel marks most of Lautrec paintings are reflected in form of a dull culture that is against the social morals. Almeh by Gerome presents a good recession when argued from the depth of vision. The depth is clearly visible in the flame and the background is clear and elaborate. Gerome arranges the subjects in the painting more so to reflect the attributes that describe the Eastern political, cultural and social attributes being contrasted by a more westernized type of dance. A woman before the mirror on the other hand lacks the recession provided by Gerome in his paintings. The painting in this case has more development to the surface making it more plane as compared to a recession painting as portrayed in the Almeh. This plane development presents a feeling of flowing that is more contributed due to lack of a plastic form as compared to the Almeh. This flowing is more intended to illicit emotions from the audience. A flowing image presents the sense of dynamism that would evoke some feelings to the audience. Lautrec might have intended to evoke the feeling of deep reflection and the woman is observed dull and seriously focused on the mirror. The closed and open form when argued in the presentation of the two images, the Almeh is portrayed to be more closed and fits well into the frame of the painting as painted by Gerome. The elements presented in the painting fit well within the frame and all elements are clearly visible. However, a woman in the mirror portrays an open form in the painting by Lautrec. The elements in the painting do not exactly fit in the painting, and even the reflection of the woman in the mirror has been trimmed by the painting on one part. At the background of the woman, the painter has cut the elements that local elaborated more about the settings to present the frame as it is. This painting has an open form as compared to the Almeh. Gerome presents the painting in a closed form to enable the viewer to relate the elements presented and make a wise guess regarding the meaning of the painting. Lautrec however presents an open painting to facilitate the audience to make their judgments independently. The Almeh by Gerome portrays clearness and multiplicity among the elements in the painting. The painting has distinct and independent elements, where each element is supposed to present different symbolism to the viewer. This is a case of multiplicity as argued from Wollflinian principles. However, a woman in the mirror by Lautrec presents a case of unity where each element depends on each other. Lautrec in this painting presets the unity of the social factors and the interrelatedness that leads the woman in the mirror to reflect deeply and find her indentify in such a siocual context. The painting presents unity of elements as compared to multiplicity as presented in the Almeh. The Almeh by Gerome presents relative clearness with the degree of lighting being sufficient to view each detail succinctly. Lautrec in a woman in the mirror evades this clearness and the painting lacks the distinctiveness and clearness to allow the audience to make a particular judgment. This makes the painting open to meaning and feeling that it presents to the viewers. Gerome however presents clear elements that really help the reader to learn distinctly the relation between the factors that define the Eastern life as presented in the painting. These differences make Gerome to have a distinct meaning in his painting, while Lautrec invites the audience to make their own judgment according to their perceptions and thus leaves the painting open. Both Gerome’s the Almeh and Lautrec’s a woman in the mirror, present social orientations that feminists portray in different settings. While Gerome presents the advocacy of liberal culture regarding a woman in the Eastern culture, Lautrec presents the social evils that are presented by the western culture and calls upon the women folk to reflect on these social and immoral lives. However, Lautrec is quick not to pass judgment and leaves a large room for the audience to reflect and pass their own judgments. These are the similarities that make the two paintings, yet the paintings are too different as per their symbolism. The clear image that Gerome intends to portray is observed when the paintings are reviewed according to Wolfflinian principles, which also presents the openness in which Lautrec invites the audience to pass their own judgments as per the paintings. Work cited. Dumont Henri, Lautrec. London: The Hyperion Press, 1895 Hatt, Michael and Klonk, Charlotte. Art history: a critical introduction to its methods. Manchester. Manchester University Press, 2006. Zuhur, Sherifa, Colors of enchantment: theater, dance music and the visual arts of the Middle East. NY: American University In Cairo Press, 2001. Read More