Painting in Islam


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What is “Islamic” Art?


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




The Human Figure in Islamic Art


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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.




Art of Islam


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Islam.







Early Islamic Art and Architecture


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This volume deals with the formative period of Islamic art (to c. 950), and the different approaches to studying it. Individual essays deal with architecture, ceramics, coins, textiles, and manuscripts, as well as with such broad questions as the supposed prohibition of images, and the relationships between sacred and secular art. An introductory essay sets each work in context; it is complemented by a bibliography for further reading.




Islamic Art and Spirituality


Book Description

This is the first book in the English language to deal with the spiritual significance of Islamic art including not only the plastic arts, but also literature and music. Rather than only dealing with the history of the various arts of Islam or their description, the author relates the form, content, symbolic language, meaning, and presence of these arts to the very sources of the Islamic revelation. Relying upon his extensive knowledge of the Islamic religion in both its exoteric and esoteric dimensions as well as the various Islamic sciences, the author relates Islamic art to the inner dimensions of the Islamic revelation and the spirituality which has issued from it. He brings out the spiritual significance of the Islamic arts ranging from architecture to music as seen, heard, and experienced by one living within the universe of the Islamic tradition. In this work the reader is made to understand the meaning of Islamic art for those living within the civilization which created it.




Islamic Art in Detail


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This richly illustrated book allows readers to identify the elements and themes of Islamic art forms, and to examine them in works of painting and metalwork, in calligraphy and manuscripts, ceramics, glass, wood, and ivory.




Islam and Muslim Art


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Figurative Art in Medieval Islam


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In terms of elucidating inner meaning and symbolism, the study of medieval Islamic art has lagged almost a full century behind that of medieval Western art. This groundbreaking work suggests how it might at last prove possible to crack the allegorical code of medieval Islamic painting during its Golden Age between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Barry focuses his study around the work of Bihzâd, a painter who flourished in the late fifteenth century in the kingdom of Herat, now in Afghanistan. Bihzâd became the undisputed master of the “Persian miniature” and an almost mythical personality throughout Asian Islam. By carefully deciphering the visual symbols in medieval Islamic figurative art, Barry’s study deliberately takes a bold approach in order to decode the lost iconographic conventions of a civilization. The glorious illustrations, scholarly text, and extracts from Persian poetry, many translated into English for the first time, combine to create an essential new work of reference and a visual delight.




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