Charming Snakes: Taste as Knowledge and the New Narratives of Middle Eastern Orientalist Collections

Abstract

This article examines collections of nineteenth-century European art located in the Middle East and their potential to reconfigure and expand the definition of Orientalism. It investigates how the migration of Orientalist artworks produced in Europe to the spaces they allegedly represent may generate new art-historical narratives that challenge the canonic Saidian postcolonial discourse. First, by addressing the notions of taste and knowledge, it explores the ways representations of racial and gender stereotypes are renegotiated as they enter the collection. Second, it uncovers some aspects of the understudied local histories of Orientalism through artworks produced by artists from the region, so as to broaden its narrative and emphasize its multiple dimensions. Finally, this article reflects on the notion of nostalgia as a possible framework to critically reflect on the apparent ambiguity of the increasing acquisitions of European Orientalist art by Middle Eastern collectors.