Oriental women in paintings of the 19th and 20th century : A comparative analysis of Western and Oriental illustrations of women from the orient regions

This thesis investigates and compares two types of paintings of oriental character whose main protagonists are women. One category of those paintings belongs to the western world, whereas the other one originates in the actual oriental cultures. The time frame that is researched is the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The artworks are analysed through a feminist perspective and interpreted with the help of the “Oriental” theory which will guide mydiscussion on how the effects of colonialism appear in art. After analysing all the chosen paintings using the decoding tools of the semiotics method, the differences between paintings of oriental origin and those painted by western artists are discussed in order to draw a conclusion about the way that oriental women were represented in art of the western world, and therefore in western society as well, in comparison to the way that the oriental countries depicted and represented their women.