Award Presented by ForeWord's Managing Editor, Alex Moore

Striking, exciting or mysteriously different or unusual – the exotic.

Western artists in the 19th century in travels to Arabia, Persia, and India became entranced with the exotic in ornamental architecture, ancient cities, desert landscapes, and exquisite interiors. They represented these scenes with lusty detail and lush colors, and became known as the orientalists.

I became entranced with the exotic paintings in this art book because they were striking and different. It was a change from seeing art books about the Pre-Raphaelites, Botticelli, and isms such as Classicism, Impressionism, and Cubism, and the text was sparing of academic analysis, but generous with engaging personal commentary and straight forward contextual pointers. The book makes a valuable addition to libraries and a worthy product for bookstores. Before presenting the Editor’s Choice prize for Best Nonfiction for 2005, I’m going to show three examples of the art.

The first is Fallaheen Women by the Nile. Depicted here are peasant women filling water jugs. What is first striking is the rich emerald color of the women’s clothing. Second, the shadows in the foreground from backlighting make the figures seem like statuesque.

The second is Dervishes in Tashken. Here dervishes are discussing their next dance. What is arresting are the pure colors and patterns in the brilliant patchwork, as well as the distinctions of fabric. One can imagine these dervishes whirling in abandonment in pinwheels of color.

The last example is The Carpet Merchant. Here the merchant is presenting his wares. One can see the textures of rich colors: the three men of gold, blue, and red, contrast with the mosaic of different and repeated patterns of the sumptuous carpets.

There are another 312 color plates in this book worthy of gaze. The images were compiled by the author for two reasons: to show the immense talent of the painters and the great beauty and wonder of the scenes they painted. The author says the book is more an introduction to an art genre than an art history book.

The Editor’s Choice Prize of $1,500 for the Best Nonfiction of 2005 goes to the publisher, Laynfaroh, for The Orientalists: Western Artists in Arabia, The Sahara, Persia and India by Kristian Davies