.jpg?maxwidth=3840)
Lot 179 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE PARISIAN COLLECTION
Lalla Essaydi (Moroccan, b. 1956)
Les Femmes du Maroc: Grande Odalisque
Closed19 March 2014
Price Realised
USD 25,000
More Information
Specialist note
'I am not 'reproducing' the 'exotic' and 'mysterious' depictions of Arab women from Orientalist harem art. I am deconstructing these paintings by using the same stereotypes one finds in these paintings.
My work reaches beyond Islamic culture to include the Western fascination, which we see so powerfully in painting, with the odalisque, the veil and the harem. It's obvious to anyone who cares to look that images of the harem and odalisque are still pervasive today, and I am using the female body to complicate assumptions and disrupt the Orientalist gaze.'
(L. Essaydi in S. Errazzouki, "Artistic Depictions of Arab Women: An Interview with Artist Lalla Essadi", in Jadaliyya, 16 May 2012).
My work reaches beyond Islamic culture to include the Western fascination, which we see so powerfully in painting, with the odalisque, the veil and the harem. It's obvious to anyone who cares to look that images of the harem and odalisque are still pervasive today, and I am using the female body to complicate assumptions and disrupt the Orientalist gaze.'
(L. Essaydi in S. Errazzouki, "Artistic Depictions of Arab Women: An Interview with Artist Lalla Essadi", in Jadaliyya, 16 May 2012).