The Orientalists: Delacroix to Matisse, The Allure of North Africa and the Near East
July 1 – October 28, 1984
East Building, Upper Level, West Bridge (7,000 sq. ft.)
This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.
Overview: 102 paintings by artists from the Napoleonic era to 1914 who shared a fascination with Near Eastern and North African cultures were selected by guest curator MaryAnne Stevens of the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Paintings by American artists Frederic Edwin Church, Sanford Robinson Gifford, and Elihu Vedder augmented the 91 traveling works in Washington.
Organization: MaryAnne Stevens selected the works and edited the catalogue with the assistance of D. Dodge Thompson and Florence E. Coman. Thompson and Coman were coordinators at the National Gallery. Gaillard Ravenel and Mark Leithauser designed the exhibition, and Gordon Anson designed the lighting for the National Gallery.
Petit journal: The Orientalists: The Allure of North Africa and the Near East, by Gail Feigenbaum and John Kent Lydecker. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1984.
Attendance: 333,491
Catalog: The Orientalists: The Allure of North Africa and the Near East, edited by MaryAnne Stevens. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art in association with Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1984.
Other Venues: Royal Academy of Arts, London, March 24–May 20, 1984