Orientalist Art

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I have lived in the Middle East for many years and love to paint my portraits in the manner of the Orientalist school, of which Jean-Leon Gerome was one of the great masters. The images that appeal most to me reflect character faces of turbaned men, veiled women and the overall lifestyle, costume and architecture that I find extremly excotic and enticing.

With all the turmoil that we are experiencing in politics, I want to share the Eastern way of life of ordinary people with the West, but I wonder if it is such a great idea to paint portraits of my friends in exotic garments and offer them to the U.S. market at this time.

Please let me know what you think about this subject.

I am working on a new site that has an Oriental flair to it at http://members.cox.net/artenzie. Take a look and give me your input.

http://members.cox.net/artenzie/imag...aitsportal.jpg

[Carolyn Ortiz]

I am pretty new here as well and have learned so much already. As far as your question, I think it would be such a shame if we missed out here in the U. S. on an entire culture because of the terrorists. However horrific the event was, I believe it would be even more horrific if people's minds narrowed to the extent of blocking out millions of innocent fellow human beings.

Also, I suppose the people you are doing portraits of would give you permission to portray them in that manner and therefore would probably be the ones purchasing the portraits. There are some threads in here about people buying portraits that are not of themselves. It may be interesting to read some of them. A lot of the posts are very insightful!

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Hi, Carolyn.

Thank you for your reply. I decided to take a chance and actually spent my weekend finishing my new Oriental style web site at http://members.cox.net/artenzie. It has Middle Eastern music, poems as well as some of my arabesque paintings. I hope to offer a little bit of the East to the West and pray that there is interest. Where can I see your work? How did you get your photo to show up small and to the left of the message?

http://members.cox.net/artenzie/image/enziephoto.jpg

[Carolyn Ortiz]

Thanks for the link to your web site. It's very nice. I especially like the Petite Somme! It is beautifully painted with such brilliant colors! I really look foward to seeing more!