Orientalist Paintings Currently on Show at the National Museum of Modern Art

AL-AHRAM WEEKLY
By Vinous Fouad

The Melon Seller

EGYPT - Who were the orientalist painters, and what inspired their work? One place to look for answers is the Museum of Modern Art, which is hosting the present exhibition until the end of Ramadan. "Orientalist" is the term commonly used to denote westerners who took an interest in the Arab and Islamic arts during the colonial period, mainly in the 19th century. As a result, both their views and the images they made have been branded ethnocentric and prejudiced. "Masterpieces of the Orientalists," at the National Museum of Modern Art in Cairo, Egypt opened on July 28. [link]