Ancient vs modern returns to #whichodalisque, with a girl in the "video game concept art" style and a classic slave market photo shoot.

I pose you riddles three:

Which image did you notice first?

Which odalisque would you take home?

and...

Which painting do you prefer?
My lovely female readers 🧞‍♀️ may answer the following riddles three instead:

Which image did you notice first?

Which odalisque would you rather look like?

and...

Which painting do you prefer?
An incredible number of people clicking, yet few bold enough to answer.

Do not fear these harmless riddles, dear readers: an unpopular answer will not cause you to be imprisoned in a magic lantern, torn apart by whirling dervishes, nor even buried alive in a sandstorm!

🏝️👳🏝️
Thanks to Illysses for a very interesting observation! https://twitter.com/illysses/status/1249435939824377857
Another supporter of the odalisque on the right.

But will any of my dear readers rush to the defense of the girl on the left, and speak in her favor?

Or will she languish forever lonely in the Neo-Orientalist outer space she has been painted into? 🌌 https://twitter.com/pneumalung/status/1249437724412489728
At last a defender of the odalisque on the left steps forward. But is he the only one who appreciates her joyful demeanor? https://twitter.com/qorprate/status/1249440014305558535
Results so far:

Which image did you notice first?

--Left, unanimously.

Which odalisque would you take home?

--Left is ahead, but opinions are divided.

Which painting do you prefer?

--Right by a large margin.

Which would you rather look like?🧞‍♀️

--Not enough responses yet!
I will now retreat to my composing chambers for a time, and return anon to see if any more of my dear readers are bold enough to voice their response to my riddles three! 👳
Now you understand how propaganda works, my dear readers!

(Or how it could work, if our leading propagandists weren't fundamentally opposed to attractively feminine women.) https://twitter.com/didymus77/status/1249450352593833996
Has Xavier written us the undisputed winner of best response? https://twitter.com/xlm2086/status/1249451764648116226
I am going to call this a vote in favor of the left, since those of us who flee the Simpocalypse will be very imminently making our homes in the Neo-Orientalist Sultanate Archipelago--as my regular readers well know!

🐒🧟‍♂️🌊🌊🌊🏝️🔥 https://twitter.com/freezing_cloud/status/1249453774470434816
I'll offer you my own answers to the riddles. I think the painting on the right is exceptionally good, and despite the lack of any special effects or attention-grabbing scenery, is one of the best and most evocative Orientalist paintings.
However, it's undoubtedly at a disadvantage when viewed next to the painting on the left. I've discussed this phenomenon in my thread ART AND THE ATTENTION ECONOMY. https://twitter.com/JohnSanilac/status/1243673908752121856
This is the reason I posed three riddles instead of simply asking "which odalisque?"

If you taste a spicy meal before a subtly flavored one, the second meal will be overshadowed regardless of its quality.

This applies to painting as well.
However, as for the model, I find it a difficult to decide. The girl on the left has more sexual appeal, for obvious reasons that I discussed recently. However, the girl on the right seems more beautiful and her expression suggests more personality. https://twitter.com/JohnSanilac/status/1248459785592160256
Malik is rather more harsh about the painting on the left than other readers have been. I don't quite interpret the painting on the left as being pornographic, but I agree it's too overtly sexual to hang. The lack of context contributes to that effect. https://twitter.com/MalikusDemens/status/1249478371937058816
The general tendency of modern "Orientalist" type paintings is to augment the sexual features of the models. This has been more and more the case since Orientalism was commercialized in the 1920s and 1930s and disappeared from the "high art" world.
I've often wondered whether the classic Orientalist paintings would have the same effect if they used the models that we see in the modern versions. It's difficult to say, because the artistic power and technique of the earlier paintings is almost always superior to today's work.
Perhaps the enhanced features of modern models would inhibit the "snow globe effect" I wrote about in this earlier thread.

But it's also possible a painter of Gerome's stature could overcome that challenge and create an artistic result.

Your opinion? https://twitter.com/JohnSanilac/status/1240170055976906754
Perhaps, in fact, the most attractive women don't make the best models for painting (or fashion) precisely because their attractive power overwhelms the other elements of the image.

Would this centerfold really be an effective model in another context? https://twitter.com/JohnSanilac/status/1241430874031140865
I think men are instinctively aware of this point, but women may not be. The examples of "beautiful women" that you see in various forms of media may intentionally exclude the women that men prefer the most. For that reason, they may actually be bad examples to follow.
I've had a few responses from my lovely female readers, and they concur with the men among us in preferring the girl on the left and the painting on the right.

But if any of you disagree, please do write in! https://twitter.com/expalnatik/status/1249515465707159553
In retrospect, the odalisque on the left was more divisive than the comments indicate; for a number of people chose to remove themselves from our presence in a fairly permanent fashion upon viewing her in their timelines.

Curious that such a harmless picture could offend! 🎨
At the same time, in the ironic way that these things tend to go, she is the second most popular odalisque posted on this account, with 1000x more views than the Kalinnikov symphony I posted the previous day.🤪

You know what they say: a picture is worth a thousand symphonies!
Although few people will read this thread all the way to the bottom, I want to add a few last words on the "video game concept art" style, because I think it's an interesting topic.

How does it compare to classic art?
Simpleminded as I am, and no expert on painting technique, the main thing I notice is that it's a "fun" style. Many elements seem to work together to defuse any seriousness in the image, but without going so far as to make it outright silly or comic. Colors, lighting, posture...
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