The Theory of Islamic Art

The Theory of Islamic Art PDF Author: Idham Mohammed Hanash
Publisher: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
ISBN: 1565646967
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 92

Get Book Here

Book Description
Divine oneness as the principle of beauty is perhaps quintessentially Islamic artistic expression and experience and what it celebrates. Why has Islamic art evolved as it has, what forms does it take, what is the logic underlying it? What message is the Muslim artist attempting to convey, what emotion is he seeking to evoke? This work views Islamic art as a subject of archeological study and treats its evolution as part of the historical study of art in the broader sense. At the same time, it paves the way for an epistemological shift from viewing Islamic art as a material concept having to do with beautiful rarities and relics that have grown out of Islamic cultural and artistic creativity, to a theoretical concept associated with a vision, a principle, a theory and a method. This theo-retical concept provides the intellectual and cultural foundation for a critical philosophical science of Islamic artistic beauty to which we might refer as ‘the science of Islamic art,’ or ‘the Islamic aesthetic’ that evaluates visual artistic creations in terms of both beauty and practical usefulness. In the process the study also explores orientalist misconceptions, challenging some of the premises with which it has approached Islamic art, with judgement rooted in a cultural framework alien to the spiritual perspective of Islam.

The Theory of Islamic Art

The Theory of Islamic Art PDF Author: Idham Mohammed Hanash
Publisher: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
ISBN: 1565646967
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 92

Get Book Here

Book Description
Divine oneness as the principle of beauty is perhaps quintessentially Islamic artistic expression and experience and what it celebrates. Why has Islamic art evolved as it has, what forms does it take, what is the logic underlying it? What message is the Muslim artist attempting to convey, what emotion is he seeking to evoke? This work views Islamic art as a subject of archeological study and treats its evolution as part of the historical study of art in the broader sense. At the same time, it paves the way for an epistemological shift from viewing Islamic art as a material concept having to do with beautiful rarities and relics that have grown out of Islamic cultural and artistic creativity, to a theoretical concept associated with a vision, a principle, a theory and a method. This theo-retical concept provides the intellectual and cultural foundation for a critical philosophical science of Islamic artistic beauty to which we might refer as ‘the science of Islamic art,’ or ‘the Islamic aesthetic’ that evaluates visual artistic creations in terms of both beauty and practical usefulness. In the process the study also explores orientalist misconceptions, challenging some of the premises with which it has approached Islamic art, with judgement rooted in a cultural framework alien to the spiritual perspective of Islam.

Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition

Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition PDF Author: Mohammed Hamdouni Alami
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857731750
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
What is 'art' in the sense of the Islamic tradition? Mohammed Hamdouni Alami argues that Islamic art has historically been excluded from Western notions of art; that the Western aesthetic tradition's preoccupation with the human body, and the ban on the representation of the human body in Islam, has meant that Islamic and Western art have been perceived as inherently at odds. However, the move away from this 'anthropomorphic aesthetic' in Western art movements, such as modern abstract and constructivist painting, have presented the opportunity for new ways of viewing and evaluating Islamic art and architecture. This book questions the very idea of art predicated on the anthropocentric bias of classical art, and the corollary 'exclusion' of Islamic art from the status of art. It addresses a central question in post-classical aesthetic theory, in as much as the advent of modern abstract and constructivist painting have shown that art can be other than the representation of the human body; that art is not neutral aesthetic contemplation but it is fraught with power and violence; and that the presupposition of classical art was not a universal truth but the assumption of a specific cultural and historical set of practices and vocabularies. Based on close readings of classical Islamic literature, philosophy, poetry, medicine and theology, along with contemporary Western art theory, the author uncovers a specific Islamic theoretical vision of art and architecture based on poetic practice, politics, cosmology and desire. In particular it traces the effects of decoration and architectural planning on the human soul as well as the centrality of the gaze in this poetic view - in Arabic 'nazar'- while examining its surprising similarity to modern theories of the gaze. Through this double gesture, moving critically between two traditions, the author brings Islamic thought and aesthetics back into the realm of visibility, addressing the lack of recognition in comparison with other historical periods and traditions. This is an important step toward a critical analysis of the contemporary debate around the revival of Islamic architectural identity - a debate intricately embedded within opposing Islamic political and social projects throughout the world.

Female Islamic Education Movements

Female Islamic Education Movements PDF Author: Masooda Bano
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107188830
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book challenges the assumptions of creative agency and the role of Islamic education movements for women across the wider Muslim world.

Islamic Aesthetics

Islamic Aesthetics PDF Author: Oliver Leaman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book Here

Book Description
"It is often argued that a very special sort of consciousness went into creating Islamic art, that it is very different from other forms of art, that Muslims are not allowed to portray human beings in their art, and that calligraphy is the supreme Islamic art form. Oliver Leaman challenges all these ideas, showing them to be misguided. Instead he suggests that the sort of criteria we should apply to Islamic art are identical to the criteria applicable to art in general, and that the attempt to put Islamic art into a special category is a result of orientalism." [Publisher's description].

Colour, Light and Wonder in Islamic Art

Colour, Light and Wonder in Islamic Art PDF Author: Idries Trevathan
Publisher: Saqi Books
ISBN: 086356190X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
A unique investigation into the aesthetics of colour in Islamic art revealing its deeper symbolic and mystical meanings. The experience of colour in Islamic visual culture has historically been overlooked. In this new approach, Idries Trevathan examines the language of colour in Islamic art and architecture in dialogue with its aesthetic contexts, offering insights into the pre-modern Muslim experience of interpreting colour. The seventeenth-century Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran, represents one of the finest examples of colour-use on a grand scale. Here, Trevathan examines the philosophical and mystical traditions that formed the mosque's backdrop. He shows how careful combinations of colour and design proportions in Islamic patterns expresses knowledge beyond that experienced in the corporeal world, offering another language with which to know and experience God. Colour thus becomes a spiritual language, calling for a re-consideration of how we read Islamic aesthetics.

Beauty and Islam

Beauty and Islam PDF Author: Valerie Gonzalez
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857710753
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 153

Get Book Here

Book Description
'Beauty and Islam' explores aspects of aesthetics in classical Islamic thought in the light of contemporary theories, offering new perspectives on Islamic art and architecture with examples ranging from the Qur'an and the Alhambra to the works of present day artists and philosophers. Tracing the roots of Islamic aesthetics back to the works of the great philosophers of the Middle Ages such as Avicenna and Averroes, Valerie Gonzalez finds that aesthetic theory in Islam must be seen within the much wider context of parallel thinking on theology, ethics, physics and metaphysics.

Enfoldment and Infinity

Enfoldment and Infinity PDF Author: Laura U. Marks
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Admirably researched, beautifully documented, and written with dedicated passion, Enfoldment and Infinity convincingly demonstrates the deep continuities between ancient Islamic art and new media art. With this book, Laura Marks makes an original and important contribution to understanding the aesthetics of contemporary media culture and its hidden Islamic genealogies."P̮atricia Pisters, University of Amsterdam.

What is “Islamic” Art?

What is “Islamic” Art? PDF Author: Wendy M. K. Shaw
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108474659
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Get Book Here

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

Islamic Art

Islamic Art PDF Author: Nuzhat Kazmi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
Islamic Art is a product of certain forceful factors that created a cultural milieu which was centred on the religious ethos and intellectual affinities inspired by Islam and its followers. No art can grow in isolation and nor did Islamic art. From its early manifestations to this date, it has taken from other cultural traditions and has also given to different social structures and visual languages of the world. This book looks at the artistic output of the Islamic civilization through the centuries, from the time of its inception to its interpretations in the contemporary world. The author has brought the inclusive as well as the exclusive qualities of this great tradition of the world with the empathy and seriousness that this unique art demand.

Mudéjar Art

Mudéjar Art PDF Author: Gonzalo M. Borrás Gualís
Publisher: Museum Ohne Grenzen (Museum with No Frontiers)
ISBN: 9783902782144
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Get Book Here

Book Description
MUDÉJAR ART: Islamic Aesthetics in Christian Art reveals the fascinating exuberance of a unique cultural and artistic symbiosis that characterises Christian Spain after the Reconquista. The Mudéjars were Muslims allowed to stay in the reconquered territories. Their artists and artisans strongly influenced the culture and art of the new Christian kingdoms. In Aragon, Castille, Extremadura and Andalucía sumptuously decorated brick churches, monasteries and palaces illustrate perfectly the creative endurance of Islamic forms in Christian art between the 11th and 16th centuries in Spain. Thirteen Itineraries invite to discover 124 museums, monuments and sites in Madrid, Guadalajara, Saragossa, Tordesillas, Toledo, Guadalupe and Seville (among others). 236 colour illustrations - 28 plans of monuments - 318 pages. This title is part of the series "Islamic Art in the Mediterranean". Each title in this series starts with a general introduction to the series, followed by an introduction to the particular title. For the eBook / Kindle version the "Look Inside" link gives access to the table of contents of this title and to a part of its particular introduction. For the paperback version: the "Look Inside" link provides access to the general introduction. Note: the eBook includes an index of locations.