Summary of the Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summary of the - Article Example One of the absences is the absence of historical context that makes the painting mysterious and unchanging (35). She stresses that, in reality, the late 1860s, the period of the painting, is the period of French colonization of the Near East, which means that there is nothing mysterious or unchanging in the context of the painting. The other absences in the paintings are the presence of Westerners and art. Nochlin emphasizes that Westerners are present in The Snake Charmer by being the ones gazing at the painting. She notes that Westerners create meanings through projecting their ideas and feelings about Orientals on the painting. As for the absence of art, Nochlin criticizes Gà ©rà ´mes realism because it only appears logical and objective as an artistic approach, but it actually hides the reality of how Westerners perceived Orientals as lazy and decadent, by showing how they allow their cultural icons to decay. Moreover, Nochlin contrasts the success of The Snake Charmer over Eug à ¨ne Delacroix’s Death of Sardanapalus. She argues that Gà ©rà ´me was successful in allowing male Westerners to identify with power over women and the darker-skinned without giving them moral responsibility for these thoughts and actions unlike Delacroix. Hence, Nochlin shows that Orientalist paintings represent Western ideas and beliefs about Near Easterners where their main goals were political and physical domination and exploitation over the