Exhibition

Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism From Spain to Morocco, Benjamin-Constant in His Time
From january 31st till may 31, 2015
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada

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In the depths of winter, the Museum is hanging the sun on its walls with this exhibition on Orientalism, a first for Canada, based on extensive original research. The show unveils the forgotten figure of a master of the genre, Benjamin-Constant…

Following in the footsteps of artists like Delacroix, whom he admired, this flamboyant painter’s Orientalism is similar to that of Henri Regnault, Mariano Fortuny, Georges Clairin and Jean-Paul Laurens, who also figure largely in the exhibition. Appropriating the stereotypes of a colonial Near East, Benjamin-Constant alternated indolent odalisques and fierce Moors in his large-scale paintings.
The exhibition reveals six iconic aspects of Orientalism, offering a dual reading of its fictional subjects, juxtaposing staged pictorial settings with documented realities. Drawings and photographs round out this exploration of Moorish Spain and sharifian Morocco, between seductive mirages and the hidden realities of a colonial republic.