Two Oriental Heads 1770 - 1775

John Hamilton Mortimer created this pen and ink drawing called "Two Oriental Heads" sometime in the 1770s. At the time, "Orientalism" was a popular European artistic trend rooted in the colonial gaze. Mortimer’s work fits into a history of depicting the "Orient" as exotic, mysterious, and often subordinate to the West. In "Two Oriental Heads", we see two men, presumably from the Middle East or Asia, adorned in turbans and traditional garb. These details exoticize the figures, reducing them to easily identifiable "types" rather than fully realized individuals. What is most intriguing is the way Mortimer plays with contrasting features. One man is youthful, the other aged. One appears clean-shaven, the other sports a long beard. Though the artist is believed to have never left England, these imagined likenesses demonstrate how artistic representations can perpetuate stereotypes while simultaneously revealing the biases and fantasies of their creators.