Is this an Orientalist Painting?

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Is this an Orientalist Painting?

Lecture by
Chaired by

In 1897, Ivan Aguéli, a young Swedish painter and anarchist activist, converted to Islam. Five years later, he moved to Egypt to become the main spokesman of an Arab Sufi reformist movement based in Cairo. Aguéli- the first to ever coin the word “Islamophobia”- warned against the European demonization of Islam and believed that a new universal and mystical pact should replace Western modernity. This talk offers a close examination of one of Aguéli’s paintings, “Portrait of an Egyptian Woman,” and reads it in light of the artist’s political affiliation to a Sufi movement that aimed to bring a mystical solution to Western imperialism. By asking whether this is an Orientalist painting, this talk explores the interplay between personal biographies and Orientalism in art historical discourses.

Image credit: Stockholm, Ivan Aguéli, Egyptisk kvinna, c. 1894 © Ivan Aguéli/Bildupphovsrätt 2020, Moderna Museet

The Society of Fellows hosts the Thursday Lecture Series (TLS), which runs regularly throughout the academic year. During the Fall Semester TLS, our Fellows present their own work, chaired by Columbia faculty.

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Host or Publisher The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities