Edward John B.

Agleham BFA-SA I
TFA 21 Th: 9:00 AM-12:00 NN

The Odalisque was one of the most recurring subjects in painting during the 19 th
century tackling the uprising of feminism as a political movement. Numerous renditions of
the painting, with the likes of Ingres and Delacroix being one of the most commonly known
who have touched on the subject, have been subjected to criticisms for their provocative
nature as naked women were only depicted in paintings with the context of biblical
narratives as well as mythologies such as the painting of Venus before the 19 th century.

The painting depicts an odalisque which pertains to a female slave in the oriental,
naked and engaging the viewer in a sensual stare. According to Zucker & Harris (2015) in
Enlightenment and Revolution, the French male onlooker, whom the painting was
specifically made for, would see through the sensuality of the painting and see the
aggression between Christian Europe, including France, and the Islamic countries in the East,
as evident to the numerous oriental objects found in the painting such as the turban, the
pipe and the peacock fan.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. La Grande Odalisque. (1814). Oil on canvas. 91 cm x 162 cm

La Grande Odalisque, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s commissioned piece features
an odalisque with exaggerated curves positioned in an uncomfortable manner. The
concubine’s body faces away from the audience but her head is turned directly towards us,
her eyes suggesting a sultry expression. Her elongated hands direct the viewer’s attention to
her lower regions as well as the luxurious-looking fabrics that are draped all around her. The
concubine’s demeanor is that of a confident woman which relates to the first formal
introduction to feminism.

During the early 1820s, when the painting was first introduced to the public, Ingres
received a massive backlash for the inaccuracies both from the physical appearance of the
woman and the cultural inappropriateness of the piece. Ingres, in fact, made the decision to
make these imperfections to create an image of the ideal body of a woman. Ingres brings
back the classical tradition and ideal beauty in his paintings.

Ingres’s approach in painting La Grande Odalisque is the same as Michaelangelo’s

David. Both depict the ideal physical appearance with the exaggeration of body
measurements as to produce a fantasy to the pieces. The details in his painting is intricate
painting. On the other side of the spectrum is Delacroix’s Odalisque which expresses a less
detailed version.

Eugène Delacroix. Odalisque. (1845-1850). Oil on canvas. 61 cm x 77 cm

Delacroix’s painting, however, focuses more on the narrative that he wants to

impart. He was interested in giving life and energy to his paintings. Suppose the viewer is
her master, or in the context of the Middle East, the harem. The concubine is splayed across
the bed, looking directly to the onlooker. She is naked with only a portion of the fabric
covering her private area. A saber is lying on the ground, which during the Napoleonic
period was a prominent figure which probably is owned by the man that she had
entertained a moment ago.

The defining factor between these two artists is what movement they identify in.
Ingres, being a prominent figure in neoclassical art, and Delacroix as a romantic artist,
although Ingres had explored the romantic movement, but he deliberately came back to
neoclassicism. These two were often pitted against each other for being the biggest figures
of the 19th century art with their styles contrasting each other’s.

Orientalism, which is the subject of these two paintings played a huge part in the 19 th
century in Europe. During that era, France, for example, was expanding her empire to the
Middle East and Africa. An exotic image of the orient is visualized through the paintings
which suggests that the oriental culture is inferior to that of the West. Misrepresentations
and sexualizations of the Oriental countries in the form of flattery through the beautiful
illustrations such as the Odalisque was made in an attempt to subjugate these countries
under the wings of France, for example.

Another sociopolitical issue that these paintings were confronted with was the
negative sexualization of women in general, creating a whore-like image of a woman. The
weight of this claim stems from the fact that in 19 th century, illustrations of nude women in
paintings were only flourishing yet. So, to visualize a woman as a sex slave in the first
paintings featuring naked women is a mistreatment.

What’s interesting between the two paintings, although both tackled the orientalist
idea spot on, is that one exudes dominance and the other submission. Ingres’s concubine, in
her body language, feels like an empowered confident woman while Delacroix’s concubine
looks worn out, showing her vulnerability to the audience.