كتاب (ألف ليلة وليلة)‎ موضوعا للفن الاستشراقي خلال القرنين التاسع عشر والعشرين

الملخص EN

In this study, we try to shed light on one of the aspects of Orientalists interest in a book that is one of the most prominent sources of the classical Arab literary heritage, which is the phenomenon of artistic depiction of some scenes and tales of the book (One Thousand and One Nights), or what we will call in the research “Arabian Nights”.

On the scientific level, this book has received much more attention from Orientalists than any other book, and it was natural for this scientific interest to stay behind the beginning of translations of the book.

in order to cover all the details of the subject, we have divided the study into two sections, the first of which is entitled: (representations of the Arabian nights and the art of painting in modern and contemporary orientalism), in which we first tried to show how this book received-on the scientific level- a degree of orientalist interest that any other book hardly had.

the Arabian nights aroused a passion in the hearts of westerners for collecting and studying folk literature in a way that they had not begun to feel the need for it or the motivation towards it, as well as gave them motivations to know more about peoples produced such events that took place in this book.

it was even among the incentives that prompted the west to increase its interest in the east, in addition to the colonial, commercial and political incentives.

on the other hand, we reviewed, within the first topic itself, the theme (art as a manifestation of orientalism), and how orientalists devoted their art to depicting the orient with all its nature, urbanization and human beings, and they focused on antiquities, fashion, customs, traditions, social lifestyle and religious ceremonies.

the phenomenon of orientalism in art was considered a necessity for research and criticism, as it is old in its journey, diverse in its forms, and effective in influencing its artistic production.

this phenomenon revealed the veil on many psychological, social, cultural and political aspects that were reflected in varying degrees on the form and content of the artwork, to prove to us once again, how the orientalist phenomenon was and still prompts in-depth research to discover its hidden details and various aspects affecting western thought on the one hand, and eastern thought, awareness and culture on the other hand, especially in the artistic and fine arts aspects.

as for the second topic of the study, entitled: (the book of one thousand and one nights is a subject of orientalist art), we tried to shed light on the creative peculiarity of the Arabian nights, and how it was an active element in artistic creativity in general, and in fine arts creativity in particular, attempting to reveal, after a thorough examination and survey of the topics inspired by the global fine arts during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from the Arabian nights, the extent to which it was immersed in the soul’s conscience, and its journey in the past and lies still in the fabric of its synthesis within the content of modernity in the tale.

these visual images or visual representations of the tales of the nights come to us from above the unreality, to exercise us the chaos of perception, and push the suspense to sensory disturbance, thus creating with it a state of rhythmic surrealism, and an abstract act.

thus, “one thousand and one nights”, as a group of illustrated paintings, appears as a literary and fictional element.

a topic in which, we go deeply the western artist inspiration of the tales of the Arabian nights through his paintings, over decades of the history of the modern European renaissance during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

it is a work in which we tried to shed light on an aspect of the orientalist phenomenon, away from the academic aspects.

on the other hand, it is an attempt to show the importance of this unique literary source emanating from the Arab-Islamic heritage, and its clear impact on the artistic and literary movement in Europe in particular and the world in general.