The Society of Fellows hosts the Thursday Lecture Series (TLS), which runs regularly throughout the academic year. The Fall Semester TLS, our Fellows present their own work, chaired by Columbia faculty.

Is this an Orientalist Painting?

Lecture by Iheb Guermazi
Chaired by Manan Ahmed

In 1897, Ivan Aguéli, a young Swedish painter and anarchist activist, converted to Islam. Five years later, he moved to Egypt to become the main spokesman of an Arab Sufi reformist movement based in Cairo. Aguéli- the first to ever coin the word “Islamophobia”- warned against the European demonization of Islam and believed that a new universal and mystical pact should replace Western modernity. This talk offers a close examination of one of Aguéli’s paintings, “Portrait of an Egyptian Woman,” and reads it in light of the artist’s political affiliation to a Sufi movement that aimed to bring a mystical solution to Western imperialism. By asking whether this is an Orientalist painting, this talk explores the interplay between personal biographies and Orientalism in art historical discourses.

Image credit: Stockholm, Ivan Aguéli, Egyptisk kvinna, c. 1894 © Ivan Aguéli/Bildupphovsrätt 2020, Moderna Museet.

Fall Thursday Lecture Series events are open to Columbia-affiliated faculty, students, and invited guests. All others interested in attending, please email the SOF/Heyman at [email protected].

Please email [email protected] to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.