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  January 24 - March 7, 2008 in the Dadian Gallery
David Roberts:
The Holy Land and Egypt through 19th Century Eyes
About the Exhibition
David Roberts was
born in a small town near Edinburgh, Scotland on October 24, 1796. He was one of
the first artists to make images of the Middle East available to the British
public through lithographic reproductions of his watercolor paintings and pencil
drawings. In 1838, encouraged by his friend, the painter JMW Turner, he traveled
extensively in the Holy Land and Egypt, creating dramatic renderings of
monuments, landscapes, and people. These depictions of sites that people had
heretofore only read about fed a hunger for visualizing the places in which the
biblical stories took place. Following his 11-month journey, he returned to
England, where Sir F.G. Moon financed the publication his 6-volume set of 245
hand-colored lithographs, printed by Louis Haghe over a 7-year period. Elected a
full member of the Royal Academy of Arts a year after his return from his
travels, Roberts enjoyed a successful career until his death in 1864.
  The
30-plus selections in this exhibition, made available by a local collector, are
but a small sampling of Roberts’ work. These sensitively-drawn,
carefully-observed images are valuable not only as visual records of a
particular time and place which is particularly interesting to biblical scholars
and archeologists, but also as the product of a brilliant collaboration between
artist and printmaker. Evidence of this may be seen by examining Roberts’
original watercolor sketch of an exterior view of Church of the Holy Sepulchre
next to Haghe’s lithographic translation of it (numbers 6 and 7 in the
exhibition, respectively). Haghe’s style was so compatible with that of Roberts
that the later prints in the series contain not only Roberts’ signature, but
that of Haghe, signaling Roberts’ recognition of his important contribution to
the artistic merit of the project. Indeed, in the course of their work together,
the two became good friends, travelling together in Europe on several
occasions.
  For
Roberts and his audience, and for many still today, the people, places, and
things he depicted were seen as romantic, exotic, and “other.” In depicting the
people of faraway places as decorative curiosities and emphasizing the dramatic
barrenness of the landscape – so different from that of lush, green England –
Roberts is in the company of such well-known 19th century artists as
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Eugene Delacroix, James McNeil Whistler, and, of
course, his friend and supporter, Turner. The work of these artists, and many
others of the period, exemplify a way of thinking about the Middle East in
general, and the Holy Land in particular, that was widespread in Europe and the
United States well into the 20th century, but has more recently been
called into question. Sometimes called “orientalism,” these patterns of thought
allow Western viewers to assume the superiority of the West and to view the
inhabitants of the East as backwards, childlike or quaint while appropriating
elements of their dress, furniture, language and customs for themselves as
fashion statements.
  Since
my own bias in looking at art is towards such social and cultural critique, I
have been surprised by my own pleasure in looking at them simply as pictures.
Their strong composition, fluid lines, and delicate harmonies of shape and
movement draw me in, beckoning me past the crisp, clear foregrounds into the
soft, hazy, mysterious distance of valley, mountain, or ruined temple. Whether
journeying with the camel drivers up the Ascent of the Lower Ranges of Sinai, or
standing in awe before half-buried statues at Aboo Simbel, Roberts invites the
viewer to enter the scene with him, pointing out this or that feature and
ignoring others like a talented raconteur, bringing the story to life. It is
with delight that I invite the Wesley Theological Seminary community to look at
the Holy Land and Egypt through David Roberts’ 19th century eyes.
Deborah
Sokolove
Curator, Dadian Gallery
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