The Lure of the East

“The Lure of the East”

The Author, Christine Riding worked as curator of ­­18^th- and 19^th-century British Art at the historical museum Tate Britain, and was Deputy Editor of Art History (The Journal of the Association of Art Historians). Currently she is Head of Arts and Curator of the Queen´s House.  Christine Riding was also the project leader of the “The Lure of the East” exhibition. In her article, she describes her thoughts and decision of organizing this exhibition from her point of view.

“Staging the Lure of the East: Exhibition Making and Orientalism” is an essay about the art exhibition “The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Paintings” that was displayed for audience from 4^th of June to 31^st of August 2008 at the Tate Britain in London, England. The orientalist artworks were created by British artists of the cultures and landscapes off the Near and Middle East between 1780 and 1930.

There have been several Orientalism exhibitions before, but “The Lure of the East” was the first exhibition which focused only on British art and that is what made it so special.  In the text Christine Riding explains how difficult it had been to make curatorial decisions during the project such as how to make the layout for the exhibition, how the subject of Orientalism itself influenced these decisions and how to attract audience. Eventually the exhibition started with “Travel and Sitters: The Orientalist Portrait” and continued to genre, religious subjects, interior and ended at landscape. There were difficulties in finding and getting some of the works, because their whereabouts were not always known since their locations have varied through different methods. As the author mentioned "Such challenges, successes and disappointments are the norm."

“The Lure of the East” was the first historic exhibition of Orientalist art since the “new era” post 9/11 it faced various difficulties.  The exhibition raised political tension and cultural wariness. In this Christine Riding felt that "the perception of the West as ignorant of and insensitive to Islam and Muslims" was important.  According to Christine Riding this ignorance and insensitivity is as relevant to cultural sector as it is in politics and media.  She describes her opinions using as an example, the experiences she gained from previous exhibitions and gives credit to Edward Said of influential book “Orientalism” from 1978.  Christine Riding wanted to avoid false interpretations of artwork and not to offend anyone.

­I think that the text is for specialist audience in art and sociology. It can also be for public audience who are interested in the subject, but some knowledge in both areas is needed.

The Exhibition was held in summer 2008 and the text was published in 2011. In my opinion things have not changed from when the exhibition was held.  The same intercultural conflicts are present in our everyday life.  As long as we keep fighting about who´s faith, cultural habits and worldview is the right one and as long as we can´t accept that there can be different opinions on these matters, there will always be more conflicts. 

Questions: Why we are still prejudiced? Why this topic is still really sensitive?

 (Photo by Dina Toki-o collection, she is an up & coming UK fashion designer creating the latest hijabi trends)