Orientalist Paintings: Mirror or Mirage?

The latest publication on Orientalist art is also the largest. Orientalist Paintings: Mirror or Mirage? is the most comprehensive survey of the subject that has been published. Exhaustive and enquiring, this book takes a new look at a field that was overwhelmingly popular in the 19th century before sinking into undeserved oblivion.

Now that worldwide interest has been revived, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia is doing justice to a genre that is more than just art by highly accomplished painters. It is also the most colourful source of information on the Islamic world at a time when it came fully into contact with the West. More than 300 paintings from the IAMM collection show how decisive this era was. Arranged in 13 different themes, it is both an introduction to the subject and a lively tour of the Middle East and North Africa as the old Ottoman Empire began to disintegrate. New collectors have emerged from that old world, eager for insights into their past that are stunningly depicted in these images of the ‘Orient’ as it was once known.