Islamic Aesthetics: An Introduction

Product Information

Ilm al-Handasa. In Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed). Brill Online 2013. Accessed December 31, 2013, from http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ilm-al-handasa-COM_1408. This beautifully illustrated volume gathers articles by a cluster of experts that explore the art of calligraphy based on the Qurʾan in terms of both form and content. It underlines the multidirectional impact on artistic creation of the Islamic scripture as both divine message and formal paradigm, situating writing at the center of cultural and aesthetic expression in Islam. It is often argued that a very special sort of consciousness went into creating Islamic art, that Islamic art 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 of these ideas, and argues that they are misguided. Instead, he suggests that the 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. Chorbachi, W. K., & Loeb, A. D. (1992). An Islamic pentagonal seal (from scientific manuscripts of the geometry of design). In I. Hargittai (Ed.), Fivefold symmetry (pp. 283–305). Singapore: World Scientific.

With great photographs enabling get a concrete sense of Qurʾanic book art, this critical catalogue of the Khalili Collection provides a good resource to study the phenomenology of the Qurʾan as object of aesthetic experience. Published in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press. Gerdes, P. (1999). Geometry from Africa: Mathematical and educational explorations. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America. This book consists of an exegesis of Qurʾan 27:44 that evokes visual art and architecture. It combines traditional textual analysis based on period texts with modern and contemporary art theory and aesthetic philosophy. Only available in French. Blair, S. S. (2012a). Gereh-sāzī, i. Woodwork. In Encyclopaedia Iranica. Accessed October 21, 2014, from http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gereh-sazi.

Qurʾanic Aesthetics

Islamic wall art, in particular, can be a game-changer for any living space. These artworks encapsulate the essence of Islamic aesthetics. By incorporating a piece of Islamic wall art , one can: Schneider, G. (1980). Geometrische bauornamente der Seldschuken in Kleinasien. Wiesbaden, Germany: Reichert. Bier, C. (2009). Number, shape, and the nature of space: Thinking through Islamic art. In E. Robson, J. Stedall, E. Robson, & J. Stedall (Eds.), Oxford handbook for the history of mathematics (pp. 827–851). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Kaplan, C. S. (2000a). Computer generated islamic star patterns. In Bridges: Mathematical connections in art, music, and science (pp. 105–112). London: Tarquin Publications. Majewski, M. L. (2011). Islamic geometric ornaments in Istanbul. Torun, Poland: Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika.

This illustrated volume explores aspects of aesthetics in classical Islamic thought set in the context of contemporary theories. Valérie Gonzalez offers 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. This work has the great merit of providing a thematically organized and exhaustive survey of Arabic textual and artistic forms conveying a certain conception of beauty, including Qurʾanic and other religious sources. It constitutes an excellent bibliographical tool. Singer, L. (Ed.). (2008). The minbar of Saladin: Reconstructing a jewel of Islamic art. New York: Thames & Hudson. King, D. A. (1999). World-maps for finding the direction and distance to Mecca: Innovation and tradition in Islamic science. London/Leiden, Netherlands/Boston: Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation/Brill. Déroche, François. The Abbassid Tradition: Qurʾans of the 8th to the 10th Centuries AD. Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art I. New York: Nour Foundation, 1992.Baklanov, N. B. (1947). Gereh: geometričeskii ornament Srednei Azii y metodi ego postroenii. [The girikh: A geometric ornament in Central Asia, and methods of its construction]. Sovetskaya Arhetologia, 9, 101–120. Freedberg, D. (1989). The power of images: Studies in the history and theory of response. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press.