Best Colonial Art Books of all time

What do you think is colonial art? Colonial art consisted of artistic manifestations that developed in the colonized regions of the world influenced by European styles and genres. They developed in art colonies looking for artistic inspiration. It was a hybrid style, when artists combined the art of colonies with the art of their countries. Colonial art spread in many colonies in the world such as parts of the Middle East, America, the Netherlands and Spain and many other countries of the world like Latin America and others. Artists from colonial countries flocked to these countries to paint scenes of everyday life and topics from religious subjects became common themes in art.

Colonial Art in the Middle East

The Middle East which was a part of the Orient included Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and North Africa exerted its impact on the European mindset. Figures in Middle Eastern dresses appear in Renaissance and the Baroque in works of artists like Belini, Veronese and Rembrandt. Still, the early period of the 18th century, the Middle East remained a figure of imagination, until Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in 1798. After which European travellers began to frequent the Middle East capturing attention in paint and print.

Colonial Art in the Netherlands

Colonial art in the Netherlands developed in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Dutch town of Bergen near the North Sea. Dutch artist Piet and Henry started this movement.  Dutch artists moved here looking for beauty and light and this started, after the Netherlands became a Dutch colony.

Books on Colonial Art

Here are a few recommended readings on colonial art in Europe and the Middle East for all art enthusiasts:

1. The Orientalists: The Western Artists in Arabia and Sahara: The Middle East has always lured Westerners to travel and have inspired architecture, art and painting.  Travel, art, painting, art and architecture have been depicted in this and also orientalist paintings of the Middle East.
2. Revisiting the Colonial Past in Morocco: This book Driss Maghraoui analyses how both these cultures transformed by various societies. It aims to uncover the new history of Morocco, it looks at the social and cultural history of Morocco, including art and architecture, when it was occupied by the French and it will be interesting to students studying colonial art in the Middle East.
3. Cultural Contact and the making of European Art: The age of exploration by Mary. D Sheriff:  Art historians have always thought of art in terms of national traditions. This volume is on a different approach and analyses the cross-cultural zones of contact between various European states between Asia and Europe focusing on many areas, apart from painting and decorative arts. The political conditions of colonies are also examined, before paintings were made in these colonies and also tourism, religious pilgrimage, trade missions and scientific voyages contributed to paintings in these areas.
4. Picturing Imperial Power: Colonial Subjects in British Imperial Painting:   The study of colonialism and art examines the intersection of paintings from British America, The West Indies and many other colonies of the British empire. The author Beth Fawkes Tobin has examined paintings by notable artists like William Hogarth, Benjamin West among others.
5. German Colonialism in Africa:  Germany developed an empire in the 19th century in Africa.  This book deals with the in-depth exploration of visual culture from the build up to colonialism and essays dealing with German colonial paintings with African landscapes.  This work will depict the importance of historical research on the subject of imperial visual culture.

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