Welcome! I should have linked the wiki but here you go: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism

Edward Said’s Orientalism is a real slog to read, but definitely the foundational academic work on this, if your interest is piqued.

In a word: orientalism. This art movement was predicated on the exoticism and “othering” of subject matter and the bystanders serve as a proxy for the audience of the art itself.