Indian Barbers Saharanpore 

Edwin Lord Weeks painted ‘Indian Barbers, Saharanpore’ in oil on canvas, at a time when the British Empire was consolidating its power in India. Weeks was an American artist who travelled extensively in the Middle East and India and was known for his Orientalist paintings. These paintings catered to a Western audience's fascination with exotic cultures and served to reinforce prevailing stereotypes about the East as mysterious and unchanging. The scene captures a slice of everyday life in Saharanpore, India. However, it is rendered through the lens of an outsider. Weeks' paintings romanticized and aestheticized the ‘Orient,’ often overlooking the complex social and political realities of the time. To understand Weeks' work fully, one must consider its place within the history of Orientalism, and the way it reflects and perpetuates a colonial gaze. By consulting historical texts, travel accounts, and postcolonial analyses, we can unpack the layers of meaning embedded in this artwork and recognize the power dynamics at play.