Perspectives of an Outsider

Orientalism through imagination is not only about the imagination of Orientalist painters, but also about the viewer's imagination when they gaze over Orientalist paintings. Linda Nochlin points out that when western viewers gazed over Orientalist paintings, they tended to imagine Eastern society as being lazy, superstitious and cruel to establish power and control over Eastern people. In Thomas Allom’s sketches, scenes of leisure and religious worship were often depicted to reinforce the idea that the Oriental lifestyle was slothful, idle, childlike and superstitious. Moreover, Allom rarely depicted violence of the West on China (e.g. the First Opium War, 1839-1842), but rather primarily portrayed violence of Chinese towards each other.