New York Museum Exhibition Explores Mystery Of Orient

Through paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, decorative arts, costume, ancient relics and modern souvenirs-drawn almost entirely from the New-York Historical Society's extensive collections-Allure of the East: Orientalism in New York, 1850-1930 explores Gotham's enduring fascination with the distant lands of the Middle East.

The exhibition provides historical context for Woven Splendor from Timbuktu to Tibet: Exotic Rugs and Textiles from New York Collectors, which is showing concurrently at the Historical Society. Both exhibits open April 11 and run through August 17.

Derived from the Latin word for East, the term Orient was long used in Western Europe (the Occident) to refer to the lands of the Ottoman Empire, specifically those of the Middle East and North Africa. Orientalism began to take hold of the American imagination, as it did in Europe, following Napoleon's 1798 invasion of Egypt. But its ascendancy in popular culture really coincided with the opening of steamship routes across the Mediterranean during the mid-1800s. Steamships made it possible to visit the Holy Land, still considered a part of the vast expanse of the Ottoman Empire. Numerous popular and scholarly publications, as well as countless inexpensive prints and photographs, sparked imaginations stateside. American high society became engrossed with thoughts of harems, oases, and smoking dens not only in Cairo and Constantinople, but also in the boudoirs of Fifth Avenue.

"Nowhere was Orientalism's hold on the American imagination greater than in New York City, where the obsession infiltrated every cultural arena, from art and architecture to fashion and entertainment. As a result, the exhibition is decidedly eclectic. Major works of art are exhibited along with the kitsch of popular culture," said Margaret K. Hofer, Curator of Decorative Arts at the New-York Historical Society.

Minarets towered over Broadway's theater district. At fancy dress balls, society men and women masqueraded as Ottoman sultans and Egyptian princesses swathed in silks and veils. Owners of Fifth Avenue mansions sought to build their own personal Alhambras boasting elaborate curved archways and Moorish smoking rooms. Tobacco company ads seized upon the stereotypes, depicting sultans and harem girls in order to hawk both Turkish and domestically produced products to a captivated populace. New York's infatuation of Islamic art, images and lore led to writer O'Henry dubbing the city "Baghdad-on-the-Subway" in 1907.

New Yorkers and many others saw the Middle East as a fantasy of exotic sensuality, a welcome escape from the complexities of everyday life in a modern society. In other cases, the alluring representations and stereotypes reflected Western assumptions of supremacy and the presumed cultural inferiority of others at the dawn of an era of imperialism. At the same time, the groundswell of interest in the Middle East paralleled scholarly examination and exploration of the art and history of the region. That same trend gave rise to the 1932 founding of the Hajji Baba Club, the first American organization devoted to collecting Oriental rugs. Selections collected by members of the Hajji Baba Club are on display in the concurrent exhibition, Woven Splendor from Timbuktu to Tibet: Exotic Rugs and Textiles from New York Collectors.

Highlights of Allure of the East include:

* Oil paintings and watercolors collected by elite 19th century New Yorkers depicting images of Egypt, Moorish Spain and North Africa;

* Lavishly designed Tiffany & Co. silver from the New-York Historical Society Museum's decorative arts holdings;

* A selection of travelogues and manuscripts from the New-York Historical Society Library;

* Portraits of members of New York high society dressed in Middle Eastern costume, including oil paintings of William C. Prime, the Gerard Stuyvesant family and a miniature of Mrs. Arthur Henry Paget;

* Photographs of extravagant 19th century interiors such as the Oswald Ottendorfer Pavilion and Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion, adorned in intricate geometric ornament inspired by Islamic art;

* A Tiffany Studios Moorish style Hurricane lamp of Favrile glass and wire filigree dating from the 1890s. -- www.nyhistory.org