The Orientalism of Domènec Talarn
16 December - 25 March 2020
A large number of servants, pages and camels accompany the Three Kings of the Orient in rich caravans in the nativity scenes created by the sculptor Domènec Talarn i Ribot (1812-1902), one of the great Catalan nativity-scene builders of the 19th century.
These nativity figures present a great variety of expressions and attitudes — the result of their individual “a palillo” modelling — baroque compositions and shapes, as well as details invented and inspired in a faraway and fascinating world: the Orient.
His nativity figures, in Orientalist style, responded to an idealisation of a concept of the Orient rather than a recreation with archaeological exactitude. Orientalism was a historicist fashion back in Talarn's day, and he knew how to bring it to life in his work.
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