Portraits of Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, have been given “trigger warnings” by the UK’s National Portrait Gallery.
Two images on the gallery’s website of the British officer have been flagged due to the Arab clothing he is wearing, which may be considered cultural appropriation.
A 1919 pencil sketch by Augustus John of Capt TE Lawrence wearing a keffiyeh has been given a disclaimer.
It reads: “This is a historical work of art which reflects the attitudes and viewpoints of the time in which it was made. Whilst these may differ from today's attitudes, this image is an important historical document.”
The warning has also been put with a 1917 photograph by BE Leeson showing Lawrence standing in front of a desert tent while wearing a thobe and keffiyeh given to him by Emir Faisal, the future ruler of Iraq.
The same disclaimer has been attached to portraits of other Europeans, such as Lord Byron, wearing traditional dress of other cultures, as well as racial imagery seen in 18th Century cartoons.
It has become increasingly common for museums and galleries to highlight potential sensitivities around the adoption of clothing or symbols of another culture.
Lawrence came to define the Arab revolt for the English-speaking world, aided by the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia which won seven Academy Awards, with Peter O’Toole playing the British intelligence officer dispatched to help.
Western historians have tended to see Lawrence, who died in a motorbike crash aged 46 in 1935, at the heart of the revolt that ended Ottoman rule in Arabia, even though it had begun decades earlier.
The revolt was led by the charismatic Emir Faisal, who encouraged Lawrence to wear Arab clothing when he joined the 1917 armed protests.
In his 1926 autobiographical book, In The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence wrote: “[Faisal] asked me if I would wear Arab clothes like his own while in the camp.
“I should find it better for my own part, since it was a comfortable dress in which to live Arab-fashion as we must do.
“Besides, the tribesmen would then understand how to take me … If I wore Meccan clothes, they would behave to me as though I were really one of the leaders.”
The National Portrait Gallery has been approached for comment.
