What is Islamic Art?
Lucien de Guise
Is there a difference between Islamic Art and Art of
the Islamic World? According to the ever fickle art
market in the West, there is. The question is whether
such definitions arise out of political correctness or
the changing viewpoints which echo the rapidly
shifting sands of the ongoing East/West dialogue.
Muslims tend to give a lot of thought to what is
Islamic, unless the topic happens to be art. Others
have been giving rather more attention to the subject.
Among the most vigorous debaters is the art market,
some elements of which have reassessed the
terminology. Up until almost a decade ago, Sothebys
held regular sales of what it called Islamic art.
Nowadays it is Arts of the Islamic world.
The new approach makes life much easier for the
auction house. There are no more awkward questions
about what makes an object Islamic. Instead, they can
include anything that comes from a part of the world
that might pass for being Islamic. Sothebys has, in
effect, opted out of the debate on what constitutes
Islamic art. Whether this is for convenience or out of
some form of political correctness is not clear.
Others do not appear to be following this example. In
New York, the capital of political correctness, The
Metropolitan Museum persists with its Department of
Islamic Art, as does the British Museum. The Louvre in
Paris will be doing the same when it opens its
dedicated new gallery in four years time.
At Londons Victoria & Albert Museum, 2006 is the date
for the re-opening of the space that will be known as
the Jameel Islamic Art Gallery, in honour of a major
benefactor. A number of newer institutions are also
happy to use the old terminology. These include the
Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I. M. Pei, which
will open in Qatar next year, and the Islamic Arts
Museum Malaysia, which has been the Asian leader in
its field for the past six years.
It seems that the term Islamic art is going to remain
in circulation, despite disapproval from a writer as
respected as Souren Melikian-Chirvani of the
International Herald Tribune. To give an indication of
the media status accorded to Islamic art, Souren is
just about the only authority on the subject whose
views appear in mainstream journalism. Fortunately for
his career, Sourens expertise ranges more widely more
than his original field of study and he can write
commandingly on anything from classical Greek ceramics
to contemporary dustball sculptures. He does not like
the term Islamic art, but with so few IHT readers
taking an interest in the subject, it is hard to push
the argument too hard.
The question that Souren and other, less-public
figures have asked is why should an object from an
Islamic land be labelled Islamic, when so few items
from Christendom are called Christian art. Europe
is still nominally Christian, but there is little from
there that anyone would term Christian. The closest
that most modern European artists get to a religious
theme is the work of Chris Ofili, whose image of the
Madonna made from elephant dung is generally
considered blasphemous.
It has to be said that even the most opportunistic
auction houses would hesitate to put the artistic
output of contemporary Muslim nations into
a sale of Islamic art. It is, however, common to put
the work of modern artists into sales of Islamic and
Indian Art.
One thing is certain: religious art of any persuasion
is usually old. Fields such as Judaica or Buddhist
artefacts do let in the occasional new boy, but
on the whole it seems to be accepted that only works
from before the 20th century have that essential
spiritual dimension. With Christian, Hindu, Jain,
Buddhist and Jewish art, the objects that collectors
seek out have a direct religious connection. These
might be a manifestation of Vishnu or a medieval
European reliquary housing the body parts of an
unfortunate saint. For admirers of Islamic art, the
entry terms are more flexible. Just about anything
counts, whatever purpose it was made for, and whomever
it was made by. The only serious requirement is that
an item should come from a place with an Islamic
tradition. As a result, the Islamic-art market offers
19th century Persian paintings of topless women
alongside vessels designed to enhance the enjoyment of
alcohol. The most expensive lot to be sold at an
Islamic art auction last year was a wine flask made
for a Mughal emperor in the 17th century.
In addition to flouting one of the most widely known
Islamic prohibitions, the flask had other features
that would appal the pious. It has substantial
quantities of gold -- discouraged for earthly use but
acceptable when a believer reaches Paradise -- and is
ornamented with a profusion of precious stones that
would also be considered inappropriate. In the end,
the export of this Indian was halted by the British
government on the basis that it was an essential part
of UK culture. This is, in itself, an interesting
reflection on the state of cultural patrimony issues.
India did not clamour to have it returned, and the
government of Pakistan certainly took no interest in
the wine flask. Its English credentials came from it
having originally been owned by the disgraced
18th-century adventurer Clive of India, who had
acquired it because of his love of gaudy souvenirs
rather than a specific interest in Islamic art. The
concept of art being Islamic is as new in Western
terms as it is among Muslims. Until the late 19th
century, an object was collected on the basis of its
quality or aesthetic appeal. Count-less weapons from
the Islamic world were acquired by European collectors
centuries ago. These would now go straight to the
Islamic section of most museums. The older collections
of weapons were established before everything from
Islam was counted as being Islamic. More recent
collections take a different view, partly due to the
dynamics of supply and demand. When collectors of arms
and armour were a more powerful force than Islamic-art
collectors, they were the ones who metaphorically
called the shots. Nowadays, life is harder for those
who want to move weapons around the world, or keep
them in their homes, unless they live in certain US
states. Islamic art has become a bigger field, and
less troublesome too. Most of what is for sale comes
with none of the hassles that accompany fields where
cultural-property laws are rigorously enforced. Buyers
of unprovenanced works of Italian origin are asking
for problems. Those who take on the Greek government
will usually regret it, unless the object in question
is of Islamic interest. Greece puts considerably more
effort into reclaiming the Parthenon marbles than it
ever has with its Islamic past.
The Islamic-art market has only been significant money
maker for a few decades. It went from being a small
circle of Western connoisseurs with Orientalist tastes
to being much more international. Oil wealth has been
the usual driving force, although Turkeys economic
success raised prices enormously in some areas. The
new collectors need collectables. The cream of these
items often come from countries like Afghanistan, a
powerhouse of creativity in the past. The ease with
which newly excavated or looted works leave
Afghanistan makes its heritage more available than,
say, Iraqs, until recent events.
A market deprived of supplies is unlikely to provide
the best definition of Islamic art. At the same time,
demand keeps growing. There are not only new museums
to stock; older institutions have tried to respond to
growing worldwide interest in Islam. Some, like the
Victoria & Albert Museum, already have superb
collections which they would like to augment, although
the V&A declared that it was dropping out of the race
while prices remain as high as they have become in
recent years.
The most sought-after artefacts tend to be the oldest.
Those looking for the purest examples of Islamic art
might be expected to look to the formative years of
the religion. Its development was indeed remarkable.
Back in the 1920s, when frank discussion of
non-European cultures was more common than it is now,
the authoritative A.H. Christie wrote: When Islam
began that dramatic career which, in its Western
course, was destined to plant a new form of art in
cities overlooking the Atlantic, it set out from
regions where art was in a primitive and backward
state.
This was indeed a time of great change. Within a
century, Islam had created an artistic model that
remained the envy of Europe until the Renaissance.
Some of its earliest manifestations are distressing,
and not because they are struggling to free themselves
from a primitive and backward state. They are simply
not Islamic in any way that would be expected of a
new world order. The desert hunting lodges of certain
rulers of the Umayyad dynasty (661750) suggest a
lifestyle closer to the emperor Caligula than the
Rightly Guided Caliphs. Semi-clothed dancing girls
cavort on frescoes amid references to hard drinking.
Al-Walid II was one of the least inspiring role models
for those hoping to find the Message in these remote
and rather haunting palaces. He was unrepentant in his
addiction to pleasure. Let the paradise seekers plod
on to perdition is one quote attributed to this
dissolute ruler.
Regardless of the disappointments presented by these
Umayyad struc-tures, the key to Islamic art lies in
architecture. Instead of secular build-ings, it was
the mosque that became one of Islams most lasting
gifts to man-kind. Its greatness cannot be denied.
This is creative endeavour put to the service of the
Umma, and to the glorification of God. No one could
deny that it is both Islamic and art. It can also be
shared by almost anyone. This is in contrast to the
sort of art that collectors pursue.
Islamic art as it exists now is considerably less
public than it was before it was considered to be
art. Whilst no collectors have yet transported
entire mosques to the privacy of their gated
communities, in the way that London Bridge was moved
to the Arizona desert, little bits of the original
buildings have become important collectables. Ceramics
tiles are the most likely fixtures to end up in the
auction room. Older mosques now need as much vigilance
as older churches. The field of Islamic-art dealing is
filled with as many dubious practices as the art of
the classical world. Fortu-nately, museums these days
are more rigorous in their vetting procedures than
they used to be.
For more portable objects, museums and other
collectors have provided a sanctuary against turbulent
times. The Taliban are known to have deliberately
destroyed considerably more than the giant Buddhas of
Bamiyan. Their actions also dealt a blow to much that
would be considered genuinely Islamic. Negligence and
incompetence were to blame for a lot of the losses in
Afghanistan. Similarly, American activity in Baghdad
probably saw the end of manuscripts of incalculable
value while the world watched events taking place at
another building in horror. It was mainly Iraqs
pre-Islamic culture that was pillaged in the early
days of the US invasion, leading to claims that
170,000 objects had gone missing. This total came down
to about one thousandth of the original estimate.
While the international community raged against the
loss of these mainly pre-Islamic artefacts, less
attention was paid to the more considerable
devasta-tion of mostly Islamic manuscripts at the
National Library.
It is the written word that comes closest to the
mosque as a manifestation of Islamic art. There can be
no denying that a copy of the Quran is Islamic,
although it could be argued that it is not art.
Being the literal word of God places it at a higher
level than that. From the collectors point of view,
this is the purest form of the art. It is
incontrovertibly sacred and at the same time
universally considered beautiful. Beauty is not a
topic tackled in detail by the Quran itself. The
closest association is the commonly quoted hadith,
God is beautiful, and He loves beauty. If it is
assumed that beauty is integral to art -- as was
assumed by most societies until the 20th century --
then Quranic calligraphy is acceptable to all but the
most prejudiced.
Although considered a minor or decorative art by
most early histo-rians of Islamic art, manuscripts are
now ranked among Islams most sublime achievements.
The original evaluation is not surprising, since the
pioneers of Islamic art analysis were non-Muslims.
Among Muslims, it had not seemed important to examine
fields such as calligraphy in terms of art. While
China and Europe have had their own art critics for
centuries, the same was not true of Islam. Even
without this self-conscious form of assessment, the
scribe was accorded the highest status of any artisan
in the Islamic world.
Nor was it beneath Muslim rulers to demonstrate their
calligraphic pro-wess, which was by no means a
tradition for Christian monarchs.
Copies of the Quran can go further than being works
of calligraphy. Later versions are often so elaborate,
it is hard to see the words at all. This goes against
the spirit of the early Qurans, which are stunning
examples of minimalist power. The oldest extant
examples are from the 8th century, although some
conspiracy theorists insist that earlier copies
existor did until the US military forces in Iraq
supposedly eliminated them. These formative works
feature plain Kufic script on vellum. Simple though
they may seem, the way that ink and space are combined
transforms them into masterpieces. The austerity and
sense of mission that existed in early Islam are
summed up perfectly in these works.
The absence of a fine art tradition in Islam puts
early Qurans at the same level of importance as the
sculptures of antiquity or Renaissance paintings. In
all other respects they are different. Not least is
the anonymity of these transcriptions of Gods word
when compared with the near-celebrity status of
Christian and pre-Christian artists.
As Western art historians have long been determined
that any culture of interest should have its own forms
of art, they have had to include many categories of
Islamic creativity that in Western terms would seem
folksy. Islam has seldom placed much value on art to
hang on the wall, and sculpture was an even lower
priority. The minor arts that were referred to in
the 19th and early 20th centuries have now become
major. It is not just the auction houses that would
have chess pieces and scientific instruments elevated
to the global hall of art fame. The more the glories
of Islamic culture are examined, the more natural it
seems to put sometimes prosaic-sounding items on a
pedestal. One of the most significant objects in
Islamic art has the unpromising name of the Bobrinsky
bucket. This bronze, cauldron-like vessel from 12th
century Herat is indeed a bucket, but with its
exquisite decoration, it is also evidence of a society
that was able to transform the mundane into the
magnificent.
Most of the artefacts that are classified as Islamic
art had an original pur- pose that would now seem
humble. Bronze vessels and other utilitarian items
clearly had a greater meaning to their owners than a
pewter dish or tankard had in Europe. Similarly, the
ceramics of the Islamic world were far from being the
Tupperware of their time. Whatever the medium, they
were likely to have inscriptions, and in most cases
these would have religious significance. The simple
beauty of the Arabic alphabet is as apparent on a
12th-century earthenware bowl as it is in a Quran
commissioned by a ruler.
In Islam, art was all-embracing. It may not have been
called art by those who made or used it, but there was
an understanding that any object could an _expression
of Gods presence in a believers life, whether or not
it expressed a central tenet such as the oneness of
God. Taking pride in crea-tivity went hand in hand
with the application of ideas of technology. The great
eras of Islamic artistic _expression coincided with
times of technological progress. Muslims are forever
being exhorted to remember that theirs was once the
culture of progress, the transmitter of ancient
knowledge to the modern world. Ideas were an
inspiration to more than just philosophers and
mathematicians. By looking at Islamic art, it becomes
apparent that the whole of society was part of
something important. The prices paid for these objects
now shows that their quality is appreciated.
It is only the past that generates this excitement.
Just as the most sought-after Islamic art is from
times when Islam was a powerful force in the world,
there is little from contemporary Muslim artists that
sets paddles waving in the saleroom. There are also
some types of older artefacts that create the same
apathy. These include objects that both the market and
art historians leave out for no apparent reason other
than their geographical origins. A prominent example
is the Islamic art of Southeast Asia, which is
excluded from almost every academic survey of Islamic
art. The reasons are far from obvious, as works from
the Malay world include magnificent textiles,
manuscripts and metalwork that were produced by
Muslims for Muslims, serving an Islamic purpose. They
feature Quranic invocations and other elements that
should have museums around the world clamouring for
them. They remain ignored, although this might be
rectified by a pioneering exhibition at the Islamic
Arts Museum Malaysia later this year.
It seems that a double standard exists. The world
accepts that Islamic art does exist, and there is a
surprising amount of common ground between scholars
and the marketplace on what this consists of. At the
same time, an almost identical object is somehow seen
as being less valid when it comes from a place that is
not the original Islamic heartland. Muslims in general
take as little interest as everyone else in the
magnificent work of the Umma on the southeast frontier
of Islam. Does this suggest that an interest in
Islamic art has little to do with admiration for the
universal religion and more to do with collecting
national treasures, especially when they come from
Turkey, Iran and the Arab world?
[About the Author]
Lucien de Guise is the Acting Head Curator of the
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. After completing his MA
in Islamic Studies, Lucien de Guise worked as the
deputy editor of Arts of Asia magazine. Since then he
has specialised in Oriental art and writes a monthly
column for eight publica-tions in Asia. In addition to
contributing to magazines in the UK and USA, he has
written the only guide to collectibles in Malaysia.
Taken from:
www.islamica magazine. com/issue- 13/what-is- islamic-art. html
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