Rachel Hajar's Blog: My Life in Doha - Posts Tagged "i-m-pei"
ISLAMIC ART – WHAT IS IT?
Doha, Qatar, has a Museum of Islamic Art. It was opened two years ago, in 2008. Housed in the museum are manuscripts, ceramics, calligraphy, metalwork, pages from the Qur’an, fabulous jewels, textiles and carpets from across the Islamic world from the 7th century onwards.
To anyone who has browsed through Islamic galleries in other museums, the objects in the collection would seem familiar but in no way detracts from the objects’ inherent aesthetic appeal. Like the objects in other collections, the items fascinate and attract through their brilliant use of color and superb balance between design and form. Viewing them, one is drawn and charmed by the objects: they transcend distances in time and space and differences in language and culture. This explains the appeal and allure of Islamic art to a wide audience.
As in other collections, calligraphy, Arabic calligraphy, is omnipresent. In Islamic culture, calligraphy is considered the noblest form of art because of its association with the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book. The art of the book was not confined only to the Qur’an but extended to secular manuscripts as well as inscriptions on palaces, metalwork, pottery, stone, glass, wood, and textiles. Examples of these are found in all Islamic art collections, including the collections in the Qatar Museum of Islamic Art.
Another feature of Islamic art is the preference for covering surfaces with patterns composed of complex geometric or intricate vegetal elements (arabesques). This nonrepresentational decoration was developed to a high degree because of the ban on figural imagery. Images however, were allowed in Islamic courtly arts but figurative art is excluded in the decoration of religious monuments. These abstract designs give the objects elegance and beauty that is a delight to behold.
The primary means of artistic expression in Islamic cultures is the decorative arts as opposed to painting and sculpture in Western art. Illuminated manuscripts, woven textiles and carpets, inlaid metalwork, blown glass, glazed ceramics and carved wood and stone were mediums through which the Islamic artist or artisan expressed his creative energy. Oftentimes objects of daily use such as glass beakers, brass or ceramic plates or monumental architectural decoration such as glazed tile panels from building facades are beautifully ornamented, sometimes with rare and costly material suggesting that the people for whom they were made sought to surround themselves with beauty.
As in the arts of other cultures, Royal patronage played an important part in the evolution of Islamic art. Mosques and other religious buildings, including their decoration and furnishings was the responsibility of the ruler. Royal sponsorship of secular art, as in other cultures and civilizations, enabled the ruler to demonstrate the splendor of his court. Such objects were frequently made from precious materials. The majority of objects and manuscripts in museum collections (pottery, base metalware, carpets, textiles) however, have been viewed as the products of urban, middle class patronage. But whether produced in a courtly or urban or religious setting, Islamic art is generally the work of anonymous artists, and the technique employed is the same.
The Qatar Museum of Islamic Art is not a religious building but it was built by oil revenue from the state, under the patronage of the Amir of the state. It is a beautiful building. There is debate among private Qatari citizens whether the architecture is Islamic. As far as I’m concerned, it is: an ultra-modern interpretation and expression of the essence of Islamic architecture.
The building was designed by I.M. PEI, the celebrated Chinese-born American architect whose buildings are strongly dynamic and sharply geometrical with deep subtle touches of sensitivity to context. He knew nothing of Islam and Islamic architecture when he took on the Doha project and his quest to understand the essence of Islamic architecture took him to Spain, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt. He found his inspiration in the small ablutions fountain in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo: “That little building is a poem . . . it is the very essence of Islamic architecture . . . from the octagon to the square and the square to the circle . . .” I.M. PEI
The Qatar Museum of Islamic Art stands on a man-made island in Doha, on the south side of the Corniche, sixty meters from the shore. Under the desert sun, its simple but distinctive architectural lines come to life: squares, rectangles, triangles, and arcs play in the sun, their shadows constantly changing as the sun moves through the sky. Its geometric simplicity is the captivating element of the museum. “It is the light of the desert that transforms the architecture into a play of light and shadow. Now, I do not know which is the shadow and which is the building . . .” I.M. PEI
Beyond its obvious exterior beauty, Islamic art makes us discover the rich historical and cultural traditions from which this art emerged.
Rachel Hajar, M.D.
My Life in Doha: Between Dream and Reality
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.c...
www.amazon.com
www.barnesandnoble.com.
To anyone who has browsed through Islamic galleries in other museums, the objects in the collection would seem familiar but in no way detracts from the objects’ inherent aesthetic appeal. Like the objects in other collections, the items fascinate and attract through their brilliant use of color and superb balance between design and form. Viewing them, one is drawn and charmed by the objects: they transcend distances in time and space and differences in language and culture. This explains the appeal and allure of Islamic art to a wide audience.
As in other collections, calligraphy, Arabic calligraphy, is omnipresent. In Islamic culture, calligraphy is considered the noblest form of art because of its association with the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book. The art of the book was not confined only to the Qur’an but extended to secular manuscripts as well as inscriptions on palaces, metalwork, pottery, stone, glass, wood, and textiles. Examples of these are found in all Islamic art collections, including the collections in the Qatar Museum of Islamic Art.
Another feature of Islamic art is the preference for covering surfaces with patterns composed of complex geometric or intricate vegetal elements (arabesques). This nonrepresentational decoration was developed to a high degree because of the ban on figural imagery. Images however, were allowed in Islamic courtly arts but figurative art is excluded in the decoration of religious monuments. These abstract designs give the objects elegance and beauty that is a delight to behold.
The primary means of artistic expression in Islamic cultures is the decorative arts as opposed to painting and sculpture in Western art. Illuminated manuscripts, woven textiles and carpets, inlaid metalwork, blown glass, glazed ceramics and carved wood and stone were mediums through which the Islamic artist or artisan expressed his creative energy. Oftentimes objects of daily use such as glass beakers, brass or ceramic plates or monumental architectural decoration such as glazed tile panels from building facades are beautifully ornamented, sometimes with rare and costly material suggesting that the people for whom they were made sought to surround themselves with beauty.
As in the arts of other cultures, Royal patronage played an important part in the evolution of Islamic art. Mosques and other religious buildings, including their decoration and furnishings was the responsibility of the ruler. Royal sponsorship of secular art, as in other cultures and civilizations, enabled the ruler to demonstrate the splendor of his court. Such objects were frequently made from precious materials. The majority of objects and manuscripts in museum collections (pottery, base metalware, carpets, textiles) however, have been viewed as the products of urban, middle class patronage. But whether produced in a courtly or urban or religious setting, Islamic art is generally the work of anonymous artists, and the technique employed is the same.
The Qatar Museum of Islamic Art is not a religious building but it was built by oil revenue from the state, under the patronage of the Amir of the state. It is a beautiful building. There is debate among private Qatari citizens whether the architecture is Islamic. As far as I’m concerned, it is: an ultra-modern interpretation and expression of the essence of Islamic architecture.
The building was designed by I.M. PEI, the celebrated Chinese-born American architect whose buildings are strongly dynamic and sharply geometrical with deep subtle touches of sensitivity to context. He knew nothing of Islam and Islamic architecture when he took on the Doha project and his quest to understand the essence of Islamic architecture took him to Spain, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt. He found his inspiration in the small ablutions fountain in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo: “That little building is a poem . . . it is the very essence of Islamic architecture . . . from the octagon to the square and the square to the circle . . .” I.M. PEI
The Qatar Museum of Islamic Art stands on a man-made island in Doha, on the south side of the Corniche, sixty meters from the shore. Under the desert sun, its simple but distinctive architectural lines come to life: squares, rectangles, triangles, and arcs play in the sun, their shadows constantly changing as the sun moves through the sky. Its geometric simplicity is the captivating element of the museum. “It is the light of the desert that transforms the architecture into a play of light and shadow. Now, I do not know which is the shadow and which is the building . . .” I.M. PEI
Beyond its obvious exterior beauty, Islamic art makes us discover the rich historical and cultural traditions from which this art emerged.
Rachel Hajar, M.D.
My Life in Doha: Between Dream and Reality
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.c...
www.amazon.com
www.barnesandnoble.com.
