What I know about Art could fit inside a fortune cookie.
But I know what I like and what instantly puts me in that gaming mood,
and some of my favorites are from the Orientalist movement of the 19th
Century. From what little I grasp about it, I gather it was a bunch of
repressed Victorians who went abroad and, in the guise of painting foreign
people whose lives seemed to exist in another universe they were
allowed to really get into some good sex, violence, and other naughtiness.
Kind of like how in National Geographic when I was a kid where they would
show boobs of native women and everybody acted like it wasn't
pornographic. To me boobs are never pornographic, but I spent a lot of my
childhood in the "socialist hell" of the South of France rather than being
trapped in still Victorian -influenced USA so I have a slightly different
perspective.
Anyway rather than dwell on the sickness of the Victorian mind I prefer to
revel in the unleashed passion and imagination of these artists as you can
clearly see, and since I actually know little about Art or the Orientalist
movement (or any other movement) I'll let the paintings speak for
themselves, and hopefully perhaps Reynard can chime in later with some
more insightful comments and even answer a few questions people might
have.
Ludwig Deutsch
unknown
"Market in Jaffa" Gustav Bauernfeind
Jean Leon Gerome
"Berber Woman" Emile Vernet-Lecomte
Russian orientalist Wereschagin
'The Pyramids Road, Gizah' by Edward Lear
Another Russian orientalist
Nicholas Roerich "Guests from Overseas"
Roerich wasn't just your typical Victorian upper class artist.
Like the great Sir Richard Burton (more on him in another thread coming
soon) Roerich was of another species of Victorian, actually a Renaissance
Man.
He was one of your genuinely weird and fascinating characters, an explorer
and a mystic in the truest sense, and sort of a wizard.
A bit in the vein of a more benign Alestair Crowley or maybe, a William Blake
(more on him later too). These strange peaks he painted were places he
actually went to, in some cases before anyone else from Europe had been
there.
Read a little about him on the wiki and really, go plunge into this guy, he is
truly unique.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Roerichyou can see more of his art
here, but this is just one of many places ... look around the web if you are interested.
