A person who practices exoticism; someone who is excessively interested in or emphasizes exotic or foreign things.
From exoticism + the suffix -ist. This agent noun describes someone who embodies or actively promotes exoticist attitudes and practices.
Art historians use 'exoticist' to describe people like Jean-Léon Gérôme, painters who created fantasy versions of the Middle East for European audiences—sometimes not even visiting the places they painted!
A person who practices or promotes exoticism. The term emerged from colonial discourse; exoticists were often wealthy male collectors/scholars who framed non-Western cultures, especially women, as aesthetic objects.
Use only in historical or critical contexts (e.g., analyzing Victorian exoticists). Not appropriate as a neutral descriptor.
["collector","scholar of cross-cultural aesthetics","critic of colonial representation"]
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