Show:
Website
Online Exhibition and Resources on the Great Mosque of Djenne, the Djingareyber Mosque in Timbuktu, the Great Mosque of Gede, Remains of Islamic architecture in Judani Island, Tanzania, and other sites of interest
Part of the online exhibition, “Black Monuments Matter,” organized by The Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and the Zamani Project at the University of Cape Town.
Black Monuments Matter recognises and highlights African contributions to world history by exhibiting World Heritage Monuments and architectural treasures from Sub-Saharan Africa.
In doing so, this exhibition sweeps away ideas based on racist theories and hopes to contribute to both awareness of African identity and pride of African Heritage. The exhibition is inspired by the “Black History Month” in the United Kingdom.
Black monuments matter and Black cultures matter. Sites and monuments are physical representations of histories, heritage, and developments in society. This exhibition aims to display the diversity and richness of African cultures as part of world history through the study of African Monuments; bringing awareness and pride of African roots and contributions to other cultures.
Book
Mekka and Medina Maps and Illustrations: from 15th to 20th Century, by Mehmet Tütüncü
Drawings and images of Islam’s holiest places, the Kaaba and the city of Mecca, alongside Medina with the Mosque of the Prophet, have been very popular over the centuries. These images have been used for various purposes and had also been executed for these purposes (drawn, sketched, coloured, incised, stencilled, cut, knitted, printed or even built) on or using a variety of materials, such as stone, ceramics, paper, textiles, wood, marble/tiles (in the form of frescoes), etc. This book is a publication and description mostly for the first time of nine key objects representing mecca and Medina. The book describes and analyses the contents from these images and its relevance to the buildings, history and topography of the holy cities of Islam.
Buy bookBook
From Granada to Berlin: the Alhambra Cupola, by Anna McSweeney
The new book by Dr Anna McSweeney – From Granada to Berlin: the Alhambra Cupola (Verlag Kettler, 2020) – tells the long history of the Alhambra palace through the prism of one of its most extraordinary survivors: the Alhambra cupola, a carved and painted 14th century ceiling which is now in the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin.
Through a close examination of the cupola, it traces the long history of the Alhambra from medieval Granada to contemporary Berlin. It examines the methodology of object biography in relation to architectural fragments, while the loss of the cupola from Granada, its acquisition by the museum in Berlin and the complex reasons behind this loss remain central. Through a focused, chronological study with extensive new research on the object and the changing societies through which it moved, including many previously unpublished images, this book explores the material and cultural history of the cupola and offers a new perspective on the legacy of Islamic art in Europe and its continuing relevance today.
More infoBook
Muthanna/Mirror Writing in Islamic Calligraphy. History, Theory and Aesthetics by Esra Akın-Kıvanç
Muthanna, also known as mirror writing, is a compelling style of Islamic calligraphy composed of a source text and its mirror image placed symmetrically on a horizontal or vertical axis. This style elaborates on various scripts such as Kufic, naskh, and muhaqqaq through compositional arrangements, including doubling, superimposing, and stacking. Muthanna is found in diverse media, ranging from architecture, textiles, and tiles to paper, metalwork, and woodwork. Yet despite its centuries-old history and popularity in countries from Iran to Spain, scholarship on the form has remained limited and flawed. Muthanna / Mirror Writing in Islamic Calligraphy provides a comprehensive study of the text and its forms, beginning with an explanation of the visual principles and techniques used in its creation. Author Esra Akın-Kıvanç explores muthanna's relationship to similar forms of writing in Judaic and Christian contexts, as well as the specifically Islamic contexts within which symmetrically mirrored compositions reached full fruition, were assigned new meanings, and transformed into more complex visual forms. Throughout, Akın-Kıvanç imaginatively plays on the implicit relationship between subject and object in muthanna by examining the point of view of the artist, the viewer, and the work of art. In doing so, this study elaborates on the vital links between outward form and inner meaning in Islamic calligraphy.
More infoTeaching Islamic Art
A Discussion of Online Resources for the Teaching of Islamic Art with Christiane Gruber, Ruba Kana'an, Michael Toler and Matt Saba
HIAA-sponsored discussion of online resources for the teaching of Islamic art on July 15th, 2020.
The discussion includes a synthesis of online resources by Christiane Gruber (University of Michigan), an exploration of museum online collections of Islamic art by Ruba Kana'an (University of Toronto, Mississauga), and an overview of Archnet by Michael Toler and Matt Saba (Archnet/MIT).
Visit siteTeaching Islamic Art
Khamseen Mini-Multimedia--Short Introductory Videos by Historians of Islamic Art
“Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online” is an emerging platform of digital resources to aid the teaching of the history of Islamic art and architecture. In its initial stage, the platform provides original multimedia content developed by scholars from across the field of Islamic art, which is intended to aid educators in the creation of an interactive learning environment and to contribute to new ways of teaching in general, bringing new voices, perspectives, and materials into our classrooms. The project is spearheaded by Prof. Christiane Gruber at the University of Michigan and a team of six collaborators. Team Khamseen will make this material available to public audiences, with the aim to establish and expand a website with additional resources over the coming months. Currently available mini-multimedia files include the following presentations:
Glaire Anderson, Mihrab at the Great Mosque of Córdoba
Patricia Blessing, Water and Sound in Islamic Architecture
Alexander Brey, Al-Walid's Baths Qusayr Amra
Sam Bowker, The Egyptian Tentmakers and the Art of Khayamiya
Ashley Dimmig, Islamic Art at the Walters Art Museum
Emine Fetvacı, Ottoman Illustrated Histories
Yasemin Gencer, İbrahim Müteferrika and the First Printed Books of the Islamic World
Sabiha Göloğlu, Touching Mecca & Medina: The Dalā'il al-Khayrāt and Devotional Practices
Christiane Gruber, A Safavid Painting of the Prophet Muhammad's Miʿraj
Christiane Gruber, George Floyd in Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan: Visual Commentaries in Islamic Lands
Negar Habibi, Persian Painting in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century: Farangi Sâzi Safavid Paintings
Ruba Kana'an, The Bobrinski Bucket
Heba Mostafa, Dome of the Rock Original Mosaics
Emily Neumeier, The Paintings of Osman Hamdi Bey
Bernard O'Kane, Khanqah of Baybar al-Jashinkir, 1306-1310
Rachel Parikh, Islamic Arms and Armor: A Look at Dhu'l Fiqar, ʿAli's Miraculous Sword
Rachel Parikh, Painting the Royal Hunt in India: A Prince on Horseback Hunting a Lion
Jennifer Pruitt, Al-Aqmar Mosque
Ünver Rüstem, The Nuruosmaniye Mosque and the Ottoman Baroque
Marika Sardar, The Gwalior Qur'an
Marika Sardar, A Samanid Epigraphic Dish
Alex Dika Seggerman, Mahmoud Mukhtar’s Khamasin: Sculpture in Modern Egypt
Amanda Hannoosh Steinberg, Harvard Fine Arts Library's Stuart Cary Welch Islamic & South Asian Photograph Collection
Melis Taner, Contextualizing the Hünername (Book of Talents)
Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, Craft and Aesthetics in Byzantine and Early Islamic Textiles
Olivia Wolf, Monumental Mosques in Latin America: Key Modern & Contemporary Case Studies
Khamseen is an ongoing project and more material will be included on a rolling basis. For any questions, or if you are interested in contributing a mini multi-media file, please contact Team Khamseen at TeamKhamseen@umich.edu
Call for Papers
The Classical is Political, CAA 2021
CAA Conference, NYC, Feb 10-13, 2021
The Classical is PoliticalSince the rise of nationalism in the 19th century, the modern nation has defined state identity in the present by redefining its ties to the distant past. No longer an historical—or…
ViewBook
Islamic Manuscripts of Late Medieval Rum, 1270s-1370s: Production, Patronage and the Arts of the Book, Cailah Jackson
Islamic Manuscripts of Late Medieval Rum, 1270s-1370s: Production, Patronage and the Arts of the Book
The first in-depth survey of illuminated manuscripts from Anatolia before the rise of the Ottoman Empire
- Meticulously analyses 15 Persian and Arabic manuscripts including the Mas̲navī of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1278), the Qaramanid Qur’an (1314-15) and the Dīvān-i Kabīr of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1368)
- Translates new and unpublished primary sources on the cultural history of the period, including manuscript colophons, dedications and endowment notes
- Includes a comprehensive catalogue of key manuscripts
- Fully illustrated in colour with many unpublished or hard-to-find images
Between the Mongol invasions in the mid-13th century and the rise of the Ottomans in the late 14th century, the Lands of Rūm were marked by instability and conflict. Despite this, a rich body of illuminated manuscripts from the period survives, explored here in this extensively illustrated volume. Meticulously analysing 15 beautifully decorated Arabic and Persian manuscripts, including Qur’ans, mirrors-for-princes, historical chronicles and Sufi works, Cailah Jackson traces the development of calligraphy and illumination in late medieval Anatolia. She shows that the central Anatolian city of Konya, in particular, was a dynamic centre of artistic activity and that local Turcoman princes, Seljuk bureaucrats and Mevlevi dervishes all played important roles in manuscript production and patronage
Visit siteFellowship
Interdisciplinary Fellowships, Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
Interdisciplinary Fellowships, Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University The Yale Institute of Sacred Music is an interdisciplinary center where scholars and artists engage in academic and creative work…
ViewCall for Papers
Wonder by Design in Medieval Architecture, CAA 2021
CAA Conference, NYC, Feb 10-13, 2021
Wonder by Design in Medieval Architecture Santhi Kavuri-Bauer, San Francisco State UniversityEmail Address(s): santhi@sfsu.edu In the global history of medieval architecture, few…
ViewKhamseen-A University of Michigan Khamseen-HIAA Initiative
HIAA-sponsored discussion of online resources for the teaching of Islamic art
The discussion includes a synthesis of online resources by Christiane Gruber (University of Michigan), an exploration of museum online collections of Islamic art by Ruba Kana'an (University of Toronto, Mississauga), and an overview of Archnet by Michael Toler and Matt Saba (Archnet/MIT). Click here to view this resource.
ViewSubmit resources and publications
Please submit resources to the HIAA webmaster including the resource name and type, and several sentences about its nature, and a link to further information.