Islamic Art

A guide to the architecture, calligraphy, ceramics, and other arts of Islam covers a thousand years of history and an area stretching from the Atlantic to the borders of India and China

An alternate approach to Islamic art emphasizing literary over historical contexts and reception over production in visual arts and music.

Deconstructing the Myths of Islamic Art addresses how researchers can challenge stereotypical notions of Islam and Islamic art while avoiding the creation of new myths and the encouragement of nationalistic and ethnic attitudes. Despite its Orientalist origins, the field of Islamic art has continued to evolve and shape our understanding of the various civilizations of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Situated in this field, this book addresses how universities, museums, and other educational institutions can continue to challenge stereotypical or homogeneous notions of Islam and Islamic art. It reviews subtle and overt mythologies through scholarly research, museum collections and exhibitions, classroom perspectives, and artists’ initiatives. This collaborative volume addresses a conspicuous and persistent gap in the literature, which can only be filled by recognizing and resolving persistent myths regarding Islamic art from diverse academic and professional perspectives. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, museum studies, visual culture, and Middle Eastern studies.

"The first monograph to successfully address the dual questions of the development of painting in the Islamic lands in the 19th and 20th centuries and the significance of an indigenous 20th-century artistic tradition . . . presents a lucid and objective discussion of provocative questions related to the evolution of contemporary painting from Islamic lands, including the role of colonial institutions, indigenous patronage, art education, and the formation of a national artistic identity."--Layla S. Diba, associate curator for Islamic art, Brooklyn Museum In this beautifully illustrated book, Wijdan Ali offers a historical survey of the development of modern painting in the Islamic world from the 19th century to the present. She provides background on dominant artistic traditions before 1900 as well as an evaluation of the loss of traditional aesthetics under the impress of Western culture. Ali also explores the persistence and reemergence of calligraphic art as an expression of national artistic identity, and hers is the first book to consider in depth the modern calligraphic school. Ali's account begins with a descriptive survey of the development of contemporary art in the heartland of Islam, from Morocco to Iran. Her discussion incorporates the historical, political, social, and economic factors that brought about artistic and aesthetic changes in the region. Building on this survey, she analyzes the factors behind the evolution of various styles of calligraphic art, their substyles and adherents, and their respective places within the contemporary calligraphic school. In an appendix, she provides biographical data on the most influential modern Islamic artists. More than 150 color and black-and-white photographs allow the reader to see and appreciate the beauty and importance of these works. While a few recent collection catalogs have hinted at the growing interest in the art of the Islamic world, Ali's study is by far the most comprehensive yet undertaken of Islamic art in the contemporary period. It will substantially expand the study and concept of "modern art" beyond the narrow province of American and western European schools and establish a broad foundation for future investigation of modern artistic movements in the Middle East. Wijdan Ali is a painter, art historian, and lecturer at the Institute of Diplomacy, Amman, Jordan. Her most recent publications are What Is Islamic Art? (1996) and Modern Art in Jordan (1996).

This richly illustrated book focuses on an unusually and rarely elucidated subject in the world of Islamic art: human depictions. Through seventy-five important works of Islamic art from the David Collection in Copenhagen, Denmark, The Human Figure in Islamic Art focuses on an unusually and rarely elucidated subject in the world of Islamic art: human depictions. Depictions of man were considered objectionable from an orthodox Muslim point of view since only God can create life, and man should not try to emulate God's work. There was concern that depictions or those who were depicted could be worshipped, something that went against the dogma that only God, Allah, should be the object of worship. The book describes how, despite this reluctance, portraying human figures has nonetheless always played an important role in Islamic art. The human figure is found on many kinds of utility ware, but the motif also has a long and rich tradition especially in miniature painting. The paintings in the book largely feature princes, but also holy men and quite ordinary people in the form of illustrations for works of fiction, depictions of real-life events, and true portraits. This richly illustrated book covers the use of the human figure in many of the forms of Islamic art and describes some of the historical conditions and theological discussions behind it. Light is also shed on the mutual influence of Islamic and European art.

The two-volume Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture bridges the gap between monograph and survey text by providing a new level of access and interpretation to Islamic art. The more than 50 newly commissioned essays revisit canonical topics, and include original approaches and scholarship on neglected aspects of the field. This two-volume Companion showcases more than 50 specially commissioned essays and an introduction that survey Islamic art and architecture in all its traditional grandeur Essays are organized according to a new chronological-geographical paradigm that remaps the unprecedented expansion of the field and reflects the nuances of major artistic and political developments during the 1400-year span The Companion represents recent developments in the field, and encourages future horizons by commissioning innovative essays that provide fresh perspectives on canonical subjects, such as early Islamic art, sacred spaces, palaces, urbanism, ornament, arts of the book, and the portable arts while introducing others that have been previously neglected, including unexplored geographies and periods, transregional connectivities, talismans and magic, consumption and networks of portability, museums and collecting, and contemporary art worlds; the essays entail strong comparative and historiographic dimensions The volumes are accompanied by a map, and each subsection is preceded by a brief outline of the main cultural and historical developments during the period in question The volumes include periods and regions typically excluded from survey books including modern and contemporary art-architecture; China, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sicily, the New World (Americas)