ARKANSAS ART CENTER-MUSEUM OF ART

This exhibition of works from regional private collections extends the exploration of Orientalism begun earlier this year in the focus installation from the Arts Center collections, Exotic Lands: Europe Imagines Egypt and the East. In the 19th century, artists such as Scottish painter David Roberts travelled in search of exotic or impressive subjects and recorded them in sketches and quick painting studies. In Roberts� case, he visited Spain and Morocco in the early 1830s before sailing for Egypt in August 1838. His extended tour included Egypt, Nubia, the Sinai, the Holy Land, Jordan and Lebanon. Upon his return to Britain, Roberts used the resulting sketches and watercolors as the basis for 247 lithographs, originally published in parts and later bound into six volumes. Roberts� views of monuments and temples, such as the Great Hall at Karnac, Thebes (Luxor) and the interior of the Temple at Abu Simble, show these impressive ancient architectural marvels just as he experienced them, partially buried in sand.