There is a totally different portrayal by Eastern Artists and Western Artists.
Eastern Artists portrayed an independent , powerful lady (examples Shireen and Nurjahan). On other hand, Western artists portrayed a sex slave (prison of harem satisfying master’s needs), examples Turkish Bath, Grand odalisque and odalisque with a slave, etc.
While I’m copying examples of Eastern artists, please do look at western art at your own risk and then come to share your views why there is a difference in portrayal of eastern ladies among Eastern and Western artists.
Nurjahan hosting a feast for The Mughal Emperor Jahangir and Prince Khurram
Perhaps the work of the late Edward Said would interest you. Excerpt from Wiki about his book ‘Orientalism’:*
Orientalism concluded that Western writing about the Orient depicts it as an irrational, weak, and feminised Other, an existential condition contrasted with the rational, strong, and masculine West. This binary relation derives from the European psychological need to create a difference of cultural inequality between West and East; that cultural difference is attributed to immutable cultural “essences” inherent to Oriental peoples and things.[SUP][16]](Orientalism (book) - Wikipedia)[/SUP] The relation reinforces preconceived archetypes, constructed with literary texts and historical records that often are of limited understanding of the facts of life in the Middle East, that envision all “Eastern” societies as fundamentally similar to one another.[SUP][17]](Orientalism (book) - Wikipedia)[/SUP] In 1978, when the book was first published, with memories of the Yom Kippur war and the OPEC crisis still fresh, Said argued that these attitudes still permeated the Western media and academia.[SUP][18]](Orientalism (book) - Wikipedia)
I came to know about this contrast after reading a book 'Shehrzade goes west'. Shehrzade, the famous character of Arabian Nights (Alif Lila). The end of Alif Lila in east is about a man (King Shehryar) admitting that he was wrong in killing thousands females just his queen betrayed him and thanking Shehrzade for making him realise through her wit. In west, the end is different by some writers and they conclude the story with death of Shehzade by king to waste his time for her life. In west, there were some writers who thought that an intelligent lady who could impart her knowledge and indulge in intellectual discussion lose her femininity (grow beard in their words) and therefore they have a concept of blond lady (looking beautiful talking nonsense).
