UCLA

This paper is a study of Jean-L�on G�r�me’s The Snake Charmer, 1879 in context with its yet examined life within the United States in the collection of the Clark family. This painting rose to prominence upon publication of Edward Said’s 1978 book Orientalism, where it was featured as its cover image. Since then, subsequent art historians have sutured the image to post-colonial methodologies, failing to acknowledge the material contexts with which it was collected and displayed. By examining these key contexts and players, new understandings about American orientalism and the role of race, class, gender and sexuality begin to emerge. Consequently, this paper seeks to unmask hidden readings of G�r�me’s artwork, while re-orienting questions about the painting away from its depicted subject matter towards the owner as subject. By examining the mode of its private display next to G�r�me’s Pollice Verso, 1872, and its relationship to Alfred Corning Clark, an alternative reading outside of existing art historical inquiry comes into view.