Art Of The Middle East

"Artistic expression in the Middle East is experiencing something of a renaissance. This book provides an overview of modern and contemporary art of the Middle East and Arab world from 1945 to the present, with an emphasis on artists active today"-OCLC

Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa brings together an extraordinary collection of work from the British Museum for the first time. The contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa is rich and vibrant. Whether living in their countries of birth or in diaspora, the featured artists are part of the globalised world of art. Here we see artists responding to and making work about their present, histories, traditions and cultures, reflecting on a part of the world that has experienced extraordinary change in living memory.The British Museum has been acquiring the work of Middle Eastern and North African artists since the 1980s, and the collection - principally works on paper - is one of the most extensive in the public sphere. Collected within the context of a museum of history, the works offer insights into the nature of civil societies, the complex politics of the region, and cultural traditions in their broadest sense, from the relationship with Islamic art, to the deep engagement with literature.The introduction to the book by curator Venetia Porter explores the history of the collection and the works included. The essential framework for understanding the politics and context within which the artists are working is provided by Charles Tripp's essay. The works are grouped into seven chapters, each beginning with a short introduction. The authors explore the selection within themes such as faith, abstraction and the female gaze.

This is the first in the cutting-edge ARTWORLD series which opens up the most challenging and underexposed art scenes in the world, which contains a collection of essays and art works, showcasing artists from the Middle East, in a collection that defies fixed categories, shifting instead through different artistic registers according to more subtle themes.

A comprehensive survey on Islamic geometry in modern and contemporary art. In a groundbreaking volume about the use of Islamic geometry in modern and contemporary art from the region, Middle East art expert and Sothebys Deputy Chairman Roxane Zand, and Dr Sussan Babaie professor of Islamic arts at the Courtauld Institute of Art of the University of London, explore ways in which traditional geometric legacies are applied and interpreted in new contexts. Dr Babaie's scholarly essay traces the significance of geometry in the history of Islamic arts, looking at the emergence of modernisms of the Middle East through the prism of selected works by twenty artists and their multidisciplinary practices. Their works underscore the distinctive ways geometry, a universal heritage, has inspired the art of the region. Lavishly illustrated and bound, the book is aimed at both the general user and those with academic interest.

This volume brings together essays from different fields of the humanities and social sciences that offer a fresh look at the complexity of artistic and cultural contacts, transfers, and exchanges between Europe and the Middle East. The studies reach far beyond the geographical regions where Europe and the Middle East have met and interacted throughout their long histories, such as the eastern Mediterranean, the south Caucasus, and the Balkans. Their focus is on the variety of “contact zones” of the two worlds with specific artistic creativity, characterized by dynamic processes of movement and interchange between various cultural entities in the broadest and most complex sense of the word. The studies shed new light on diverse phenomena of the “in-between” or “liminal” spaces in art and culture, with special interest in artists and art works from ancient to modern times, from fine arts and architecture to music and video.

Profiling 102 leading collectors, patrons, institutions and foundations from the Middle East, this book offers an intimate glimpse of their collections, exploring the inspired motivation and passion that is shaping the new cultural landscape of the Middle East and preserving past glories for future generations.

Artistic expression in the Middle East is experiencing something of a renaissance. Domestic patronage is flourishing, and an impressive array of new museums and art fairs across the region is helping to stimulate international interest in an increasingly influential movement. Art of the Middle East is an accessible overview of modern and contemporary art of the Middle East and Arab world from 1945 to the present, with an emphasis on artists active today. The featured works are divided into seven themed sections - including literature, portraiture and the body, and politics, conflict and war - while extended captions provide an engaging commentary on each artwork and the artist behind its creation. Lavishly illustrated throughout, this landmark publication is an authoritative guide to a challenging and exciting body of work.

Museums of the Arabian Peninsula offers new insights into the history and development of museums within the region. Recognising and engaging with varied approaches to museum development and practice, the book offers in-depth critical analyses from a range of viewpoints and disciplines. Drawing on regional and international scholarship, the book provides a critical and detailed analysis of museum and heritage institutions in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen. Questioning and engaging with issues related to the institutionalisation of cultural heritage, contributors provide original analyses of current practice and challenges within the region. Considering how these challenges connect to broader issues within the international context, the book offers the opportunity to examine how museums are actively produced and consumed from both the inside and the outside. This critical analysis also enables debates to emerge that question the appropriateness of existing models and methods and provide suggestions for future research and practice. Museums of the Arabian Peninsula offers fresh perspectives that reveal how Gulf museums operate from local, regional and transnational perspectives. The volume will be a key reference point for academics and students working in the fields of museum and heritage studies, anthropology, cultural studies, history, politics and Gulf and Middle East Studies.