2. Iconoclasm – the destruction of images; also the period
from 726 to 843 CE when there was an imperial ban on images
in the Western world
Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore Mihrab from the Madrasa Imami, ca.
and George, icon, sixth or early seventh century 1354. Fig. 5-11.
3. The Fear of Images
From South Park on Comedy
Central
Cartoon by Annette Carlsen,
2005, published in Jyllands-Posten
Denmark
4. Islamic Art & Architecture
Dates and Places:
• 7th century to present
• Mecca, Medina
(west coast of Arabia)
• Middle East, Spain, North
Africa
People:
• Muslim followers of
Prophet Muhammad
• Rapid expansion of empire
• Ummayads & Abbasids
• Communal & private
worship (facing direction of
Mecca)
• Imams (religious leaders)
5. Islamic Art & Architecture
Themes:
• Restrictions on holy images
• Geometric pattern, vegetal
design
• Calligraphic passages from
Koran
Forms:
• Non-illusionistic
• Repetition of design
• Rich colors, materials
• The word as symbolic motif
• Tile work, mosaic, stucco
Malwiya minaret, Great Mosque,
Samarra, Iraq, 848–852.
6. Architecture
• Example of convergence
of three religions (site
sacred to Judaism,
Christianity, Islam)
• Syncretism (Central
basilica plan, columns,
colonnade)
Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 687–692.
• Believed to site where
prophet Mohamed
ascended to heaven
• Dome (wooden) has
octagonal shape based
on 8-point star, 75’ high,
60’ diameter
• Exterior tile work (not
original) like textile San Vitale, Italy
• Lavish interior mosiac Pantheon, Rome, 2nd century CE 526–547
Christian
symbolizing heaven
7. Architecture -
Dome of the
Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX6CCN8qyyk&feature=related
8. Architecture
View and plan, Great Mosque, Kairouan, Tunisia, Africa, ca. 836–875. Fig. 5-4.
9. Architecture
• Mosque for collective prayer
• Muhammad’s house as model
• Hypostyle hall (communal worship,
qibla wall (facing Mecca), mihrab
(niche), domes, nave (central
aisle), minaret (tower to call to
worship & mark location)
• Maqsura for ruler
• Plain exterior, lavish interior
Apollodorus of
Damascus, Forum
of Trajan, 112CE View and plan, Great Mosque,
Roman Kairouan,Tunisia,
ca. 836–875. Fig. 5-4.
13. Architecture
• Palace of the caliph (successor of
Muhammad) in Spain
• Image of Paradise
• Multilobed pointed arches
• Ornamental stucco decoration
ceilings (dome of Heaven)
• Muquarnas (stalactite-like prismatic
forms) suggest starry sky
• Gardens, fountain
• Ornament of calligraphy (verses
from court poet) and patterns
Court of the Lions, Alhambra,
1354–1391. Fig. 5-8.
14. Architecture
Rick Steves on the Alhambra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEseJViidy8
Hall of the Two Sisters
Palace of the Lions
Alhambra, Granada,
Spain, 1354–1391.
15. Architecture
View, Great Mosque, Isfahan, Iran, 11th to 17th centuries. Fig. 5-6.
16. Architecture
• Iranian mosque type
• Courtyard with two-
story arcade
• Four iwans (vaulted
recess in wall)
• Qibla iwan is largest
• Dome before the
mihrab
View, Great Mosque, Isfahan, Iran,
11th to 17th centuries. Fig. 5-6.
18. Architecture
• Mihrab from madrasa
(religious school) in Isfahan
• Mosaic tile ornamentation
• Repeating vegetal &
geometric motifs
• Symmetry
• Calligraphy from Koran (Kufic
(early stately script) in center
& Muhaqqaq (cursive) in
exterior frame)
• Lacks figural representation
of holy figures
Mihrab from the Madrasa Imami,
ca. 1354. Fig. 5-11.
19. Luxury Arts
Koran page, 9th or early 10th century. Fig. 5-12.
20. Luxury Arts
• Principle text of Islam
• Kufic script (stately, associated
with Kufa, center of Arabic
calligraphy)
• Integration of text and ornament
(ink & gold)
• Written from right to left (“On the
Day of Judgment, the faith of
Koran page, 9th or early 10th
those who shall have disbelieved
century. Fig. 5-12.
shall not avail them. ” (from The
Visual Arts: A History, p. 351))
• Consonants with vowels
indicated by red or yellow
symbols Initial R,
Moralia in Job,
• Palm tree finial on far right ca. 1115–
(decorative ornament 1125, French
• Lacks figural representation
21. Luxury Arts
Bihzad, Seduction of Yusuf, folio 52
verso, Bustan (Orchard) of Sultan
Husayn Mayqara
Afghanistan, 1488
ink and color on paper, 117/8” x 85/8”
22. Luxury Arts
• Herat, Afghanistan center of
luxurious book production
• Secular art forms allow
representational imagery
• Narratives with human and animal
forms
• Bihzad most famous Persian painter
• Common Christian and Islamic story
by Sadi (“Seduction of Joseph”)
• Zulaykha (seducer) lured Joseph
through 7 rooms locking each
behind, doors opened miraculously
and he was freed)
• Text interspersed throughout image
in beige panels
• Decorative merging of suggested
textiles and tiled walls (2D & 3D)
Shahzia Sikander, Art 21, scroll 32 min
http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/episode-spirituality Bihzad, Seduction of Yusuf, folio 52 verso
Afghanistan, 1488
23. Luxury Arts
MAQSUD OF KASHAN, carpet,
funerary mosque of Shaykh Safi
al-Din, 1540. Fig. 5-14.
24. Luxury Arts
• Rug in funerary mosque
• Rugs replace wood furniture,
create functional multi-purpose
rooms
• Wool carpet by master designer at
Safavid court (25 million knots)
• Heavenly dome design (medallion
in center) with water and lotus
blossoms
• Lanterns in design (unequal in
size to adjust for perspective)
• Image of paradise as a garden
From Magnificent 11, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
go to 13 minutes
MAQSUD OF KASHAN, carpet,
http://www.artbabble.org/video/lacma/magnificent-11 funerary mosque of Shaykh Safi
al-Din, 1540., 35’x18’, Fig. 5-14.
Editor's Notes
How do you represent something without literally re-presenting it? This has been the challenge of many Muslim artist, architects and designers who constructed visual representations of sacred ideas in the absence of representational forms. In Islam, naturalistic (graven) representations of Muhammad, the father of the faith, as well as other beings possessed with “souls”, are prohibited for fear of idolatry, the worshipping of false idols. Consequently, an intricately abstract Islamic art emerged, one that uses decorative motifs symbolically and text quite literally to represent the concept of heaven and the word of god, Allah.
We’ve studied this fear of images in the form of iconoclasm, the destruction of religious icons, in Byzantine art in the 8 th and 9 th centuries CE. However, this was a short-lived period in a Christian tradition rich in iconic representations of saints and other holy figures. With few exceptions, Islamic art has remained aniconic throughout its history, resulting in a very different aesthetic than that of the Western world.
In addition to studying Islamic art & architecture on its own terms, we’ll examine the consequences of its interaction with a Western world steeped in representational imagery of all kinds. What happens when such cultures collide? Why are Westerners seemingly so immune to critical representations of their leaders and sacred figures? Or are they? And why does the mere rumor of a critical image of the Prophet spark international protest among some Muslims? We saw this in 2005 with the Jyllands-Posten controversy when this Danish publication posted cartoons representing Muhammad (one of them above). And we saw that this year when the American-made amateur film “The Innocence of Muslims” sparked protest in the Middle East, particularly in Libya. What does it suggest about the continuing power of such images? Since these images of the Prophet were very rarely shown and only rumored to exist, many of the protesters reportedly did not ever see them? Does this suggest that prohibited and unseen images can be more powerful than ones seen? We’ll discuss that further as we examine Art Spiegelman’s essay “Drawing Blood: Outrageous Cartoon and the Art of Outrage” in the context of Islamic art.
But, first let’s take a close look at Islamic art & architecture on its own terms. Its overwhelming beauty is often overshadowed by the ugly controversies surrounding it.
