As a class we visited the Leighton House Museum, home of prominent artist and President of the Royal Academy, Frederic Leighton. Leighton’s house attributed to his association with aestheticism and Orientalism, features a collection of paintings and sculptures displayed in his massive in-home studio, from Leighton and his contemporaries. Often described as a ‘private palace of art’, his elaborate home boasts a private Arab hall, featuring an extraordinary golden dome, intricate mosaics and walls lined with beautiful Islamic tiles, all of which tie back to Oriental style, particularly that of the Middle East and Islamic culture.
As presented in the powerpoint, as well as evident in Leighton’s home, was his interest in Aestheticism. His early art portrayed the idea that perfection of form was an end in itself and emphasized the use of line, color, tone and pattern over that of meaning. Most prominent however, was Leighton’s interest in Orientalism, which can be described as the representation of the East by European and British artists during the time of the empire. Frederic often took inspiration from other cultures to create new forms of beauty.
In Nochlin’s article, “The Imaginary Orient”, she explores characteristic absences in the representation of the East by the West. In the reading, she explains Orientalism to be, “a mode for defining the presumed cultural inferiority of the Islamic Orient… part of the vast control mechanism of colonialism, designed to justify and perpetuate European dominance”. In this, Nochlin works to justify the idea that much of the Europeans’ portrayal of the East further reinforces their own superiority. Throughout Leighton’s home Nochlin’s argument stands true, particularly with much of his architecture being ‘impressive’ pieces of art, rather than that of a celebration of a functional Eastern culture.
About Leighton House. 2019. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Reference:
Linda Nochlin, “The Imaginary Orient,” The Politics of Vision 1989
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