Islamic Art and Culture: a resource for teachers - Center for Middle

64 Pages·2004·6.42 MB·English

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Division of Education
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National Gallery of Art, Washington S
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Mailing address
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2000B South Club Drive I
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Landover, MD 20785 A This packet was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Palace
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T and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum. It has been
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supplemented with objects not in the exhibition.
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National Gallery of Art, Washington

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(July 18, 2004−February 6, 2005)
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T Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
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E Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

(October 22−December 11, 2005)
Millennium Galleries, Sheffield, England
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(January 14−April 16, 2006).
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SO This exhibition was organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum,
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R London, in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
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F The exhibition at the National Gallery of Art is generously
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R sponsored by H.R.H. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Ambassador of
{ A RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS }
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E Saudi Arabia to the United States.
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The international tour of this exhibition has been made possible by
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S the generosity of Mohammed Jameel, the benefactor of the V&A’s

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Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, which is dedicated to the memory of
Mr. Abdul Latif Jameel, the late founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel
Group, and his wife Nafisa.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the
Arts and the Humanities.
The packet was prepared by the Division of Education and produced
by the Publishing Office. Designed by Catalone Design Co. Our
thanks to Rosamond Mack, Barry Wood, and Richard Carter. ©
2004 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington
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r Architectural details from the Alhambra
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o photograph Ana Maria Zavala
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION SLIDE DISCUSSIONS
1 Islamic art 15 SECTION 1: Islam, the mosque,
3 Calligraphy and the Qur’an
3 Arabesques 15 The Qur’an
3 Geometric designs 16 The Five Pillars of Islam
4 The question of images 18 The mosque
19 Slides 1−6
MAPS
5 The extent of Islamic territory c. 900 24 SECTION 2: Science and learning
6 The extent of Islamic territory c. 1500 28 Slides 7−9
HISTORICAL SURVEY
31 SECTION 3: Palaces and poetry
7 Muhammad and the beginnings of Islam
32 Slides 10−14
8 The fi rst caliphs and the Umayyads
9 A golden age: The Abbasid Dynasty
39 SECTION 4: Arts of the object
10 Early medieval dynasties in the west:
in exchange
Fatimids, Ayyubids
11 Early medieval dynasties in the east: 40 Slides 15−20
Ghaznavids, Seljuks
51 TEACHING ACTIVITIES
11 Late medieval period: Mongols and Mamluks
12 The late empires: Ottomans in the west 51 Social Studies: Investigation
14 The late empires: Safavids in the east 52 Creative Writing: It’s a Mystery
53 Art & Math: Shapes and Patterns
55 GLOSSARY & RESOURCES
58 Slides and reproductions
ABOUT THIS PACKET
This teaching resource consists of
• this booklet, which contains introductory material, slide
descriptions, teaching suggestions, maps, a glossary, and resources
• twenty slides
• four color reproductions
• a CD with image fi les, and a PDF version of the online feature
Artistic Exchange: Europe and the Islamic World
ISLAMIC ART
“Islamic art” is a label coined in the West in the 1
nineteenth century. Unlike “Christian art” or “Buddhist
art,” it does not describe art with a particular set of
religious imagery. In fact, Islamic art has few exclusively
religious symbols comparable to the Christian cross.
Instead, the term “Islamic art” designates all art,
religious or secular, that was produced in lands under
Muslim leadership. Its makers and its patrons might
be Muslim or not. In this packet we look at works
that span nearly a thousand years—from shortly
after the foundation of Islam in the seventh century
to the seventeenth century when the last two great
Islamic empires—the Ottoman and the Safavid—had
reached their peak. Although the defi nition of Islamic
art usually includes work made in Mughal India, it
is beyond the scope of this packet. The works we will
look at here come from as far west as Spain and as far
east as Afghanistan.
Naturally, within this span of time and space many variations and
styles occur. Yet, Islamic art remains somehow “recognizable”
throughout. In the West, the word “art” produces mental images of
paintings hung on walls or large-scale sculpture, but these (although
not unknown) are not the focus of Islamic art. Rather, the most
important outlets for artistic expression in the Islamic world were:
-architecture
-the arts of the book (calligraphy, manuscript illumination,
and bookbinding)
-the arts of the object (especially metalwork, ceramics, glass,
and textiles)
And each of these was ornamented with a particularly Islamic
vocabulary of surface decoration:
-calligraphy
-arabesques, scrolling patterns, and fl oral or plant designs
-geometric designs
ISLAMIC ART AND CULTURE { A RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS }

CALLIGRAPHY
Islam developed in a nomadic Arab culture that valued poetry and Oppisite page: 3
Minbar for Sultan Qa’itbay (detail)
oral tradition. The faith’s fundamental basis is the message of God
Egypt (Mamluk), probably Cairo,
that was given to and relayed by the Prophet Muhammad, and that between 1468 and 1496,
Wood and ivory inlay
is preserved in the Qur’an. While Christians accept Christ as God’s
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
incarnation, Muhammad does not share God’s divinity. The priority
of the words themselves, rather than the messenger, left Islam
with little use for iconic images like those that developed in early
Christianity. Instead, the emphasis on the words and the language
of God’s message elevated the script in which they were recorded.
Calligraphy—beautiful writing—became the most revered of
all the arts. It was used—on buildings and art of all types—to
communicate the words of the Qur’an or other messages but also
for its decorative effect.
ARABESQUES
Scrolling patterns of plant and fl oral motifs were part of the visual
vocabulary Islamic art inherited from its early Byzantine and
Sasanian predecessors. They became so identifi ed with Islamic art
that in the West they came to be called “arabesques.” Much of the
Islamic world is arid and hot, and vegetation is scarce. Although too
much can be made of the infl uence of this environment on art, it is
perhaps natural that images of paradise refl ect a lush world, full of
fl owers and fragrance, and well watered by cooling streams—and
that these would be considered beautiful as ornament.
GEOMETRIC DESIGNS
Repeating geometric patterns express—and embody—unity
within diversity and the harmony that governs all things. They satisfy
the Islamic principles of tttaaawwwhhhiiiddd ((tthhee uunniittyy ooff aallll tthhiinnggss)) aanndd mizan
(order and balance)—and in so doing, they refl ect the perfection of
God’s creation. Allah, the Qur’an says “ordered all things.…”
ISLAMIC ART AND CULTURE { A RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS }
THE QUESTION OF IMAGES
4 It is often believed—incorrectly—that the Qur’an prohibits images
of living beings, either human or animal. The Qur’an does condemn
the worship of idols: “O ye who believe, wine and games of
chance and idols and divining arrows are an abomination of Satan’s
handiwork...” (5.92). And the accounts and sayings of the Prophet
recorded in the hadith—some collected much later—suggest his
distrust of representation. Such likenesses could be seen as usurping
the creative action of God. From the very fi rst, fi gures were absent
in mosques, and then in other religious settings such as schools.
Even the items used in religious buildings avoid fi gural decoration.
But Islamic art is rich with fi gural decoration elsewhere: in the wall
paintings and mural tiles within palaces; in manuscript illumination;
on textiles; and on metalwork and ceramics not intended for
religious purpose.
ISLAMIC ART AND CULTURE { A RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS }
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ISLAMIC ART AND CULTURE { A RESOURCE FOR TEACHERS }