Visions of the East
Take a closer look at Horace Vernet's The Arab Tale Teller and contemplate the prejudicial nature of ‘Orientalist’ paintings.
Horace Vernet was one of the most frequent of all nineteenth-century French travellers to the ‘Orient’.
The Arab Tale-teller (1833) by Horace VernetThe Wallace Collection
The taste for the ‘oriental’ acquired on these journeys manifested itself in many ways, from his own oriental dress to numerous genre paintings such as The Arab Tale-Teller.
His first visit to Algeria in 1833 led to, over the two decades, trips to Algeria again in 1837, to Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Constantinople in 1839–40, to Algeria and Morocco in 1845 and again in 1853–54.
The Arab Tale-teller (1833) by Horace VernetThe Wallace Collection
Vernet created this painting in Rome immediately after the first of his many visits to Algeria. The tale-teller in the foreground wears a striped bournous. The girl standing on the left side represents the elegance associated with the common people of the 'Orient'.
The atmosphere is peaceful and intimate –a child holds a teapot, ready to serve the men, but stops in his action to better hear the story; the men have removed their babouches (or slippers) to relax.
The painting is full of Orientalist elements that reflect how the West views the East. It shows the common stereotypes associated with Arabs, for example people being shown with their bodies completely covered.
There are camels and huts in the background, both of which are seen in common orientalist portrayals of Arabs.
Similarly, some of the men sitting in the circle seem to be holding a hookah hose, assumed to be a common form of entertainment in the Arab community.
With respect to the background of the painting, the depiction of mountains and untapped terrain reassures the viewers conceived notions of the Arab World.
By portraying these men in this way, sitting on the dirt in wild, Vernet is playing into the common theme of an uncivilized society.
The Arab Tale-teller (1833) by Horace VernetThe Wallace Collection
And by picturing the men sitting on rugs, not working, and listening to stories, Vernet is indirectly conveying the lack of industrialisation in the Arab World. When Western citizens viewed this painting, it reassured them of their beliefs.
For the Westerner, the nomad way of life showed little concern for progress and civilisation, this society appeared as the sole reminder of the life of the ‘Ancients’ before their mores and customs were polluted by progress.
The Arab Tale-teller (1833) by Horace VernetThe Wallace Collection
More importantly, nomadism was stigmatised as evidence of the natives inability to develop the potential of Algeria’s soil.
Work, or the ability to transform nature and produce wealth, and the place given to work in a society, determined its position on the scale of human races. The most powerful stereotype therefore marking nomad life as primitive and lazy.
The Arab Tale-teller (1833) by Horace VernetThe Wallace Collection
When one considers the imagery available, women alone in Algerian society seem to be doing something, performing agricultural and domestic duties.
Vernet’s Arab Tale-Teller tells us while the men smoke and listen to a tale, women see to the needs of subistence of the community. Women moreover appear as objects, domestic possessions of the male.
The Arab Tale-teller (1833) by Horace VernetThe Wallace Collection
Vernet’s work ignored the signs of real life in favour of an idealised view. Portraying the Middle East in a manner that reflected Western stereotypes and fascination with the region.
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