It
is often said that Islam bans images of people or
animals, but this is false. The Koran itself has
very little to say on the subject and the Traditions
of the Prophet are open to various interpretations.
As Muslims believe that God is unique and without
associate, He cannot of course be represented. As
He is worshipped directly without intercessors,
images of saints, as in Christian or Buddhist art,
have no place in Islam. As the Koran is not a narrative
like the Torah or the Gospels, there is little reason
for Muslims to tell religious stories through pictures.
Instead,
Islamic religious art has focused on the glorification
of God's word, specifically by writing it beautifully,
and accompanying the Arabic script with geometric
and floral designs known as arabesques, in which
plants grow according to the laws of geometry rather
than nature. Some people believe that these designs
have deep spiritual and mystical meaning, while
others believe they are simply beautiful patterns.
Believers are free to see in these designs whatever
they like — this sense of ambiguity is one
of the hallmarks of Islamic art. Examples of religious
art range from beautifully calligraphied manuscripts
of the Koran to intricately carved and inlaid pulpits
or minbars, from which the Friday sermon is given
in the mosque.
Islamic
secular art, on the other hand, might or might not
have representations of living beings, depending
on the local cultural traditions and the preferences
of the artist and patron. For example, North Africans
have generally shown little taste for images, while
Iranians have always enjoyed them, sometimes even
in religious settings.
Much
of Islamic secular art, like religious art, is decorated
only with geometric and vegetal patterns and inscriptions,
but many objects, whether glazed ceramics, carved
ivories, intricately woven silks, or luxurious carpets,
are decorated with lively human and animal figures
set individually or in scenes. Unlike much Christian
art, which largely developed for the use of the
Church, Islamic secular art has been characterized
by the transformation of everyday objects, whether
bowls for eating or carpets and cushions to sit
on, into things of transcendent beauty.
Given
the Islamic fascination with God's word, the art
of the book has always been one of the favorite
forms of Islamic art, and calligraphers in the Islamic
lands have the fame accorded painters and sculptors
in the West. Although transcribing the Koran and
decorating the pages with beautiful designs was
always revered, calligraphers and painters, particularly
in Iran, India and Turkey, also prepared manuscripts
of epic and lyric poetry, history and geography
with beautiful calligraphy and exquisite miniatures.
(from
the PBS Special Islam: Empire of Faith)
The
Concept Of Decoration in Islamic architecture
Decoration is a major unifying factor in Islamic
architecture and design. For 13 centuries, writes
Dalu Jones in a very interesting and informative
essay entitled "Surface, Pattern and Light"
(in Architecture of the Islamic World, edited by
George Michell), decoration has linked buildings
and objects from all over the Islamic world -- from
Spain to China to Indonesia.
Notes
Jones, "Islamic art is an art not so much of
form as of decorative themes that occur both in
architecture and in the applied arts, independently
of material, scale and technique.
There
is never one type of decoration for one type of
building or object; on the contrary, there are decorative
principles that are pan-Islamic and applicable to
all types of buildings and objects at all times
(whence comes the intimate relationship in Islam
between all the applied arts and architecture).
Islamic art must therefore be considered in its
entirety because each building and each object embodies
to some extent identical principles.
Though
objects and art differ in quality of execution and
style, the same ideas, forms and designs constantly
recur." Because little furniture is traditionally
used for daily life in Islam, decoration contributes
to the creation of a sense of continuous space that
is a hallmark of Islamic architecture.
Writes
Jones, "The layers of surface decoration are
increased and the complexity of visual effects enriched
by the use of carpets and cushions, which often
reflect the same decorative schemes as those found
on walls and ceilings. Floors and ceilings contribute
to the fluidity of space by the nature of their
decoration, since they are often patterned in the
same manner as the walls; sometimes, in the case
of floors, the decoration actually reproduces carpets.
The tomb of I'timad ad-Dawla in Agra, for example,
has an inlaid marble floor that exactly reproduces
the designs of Mughal carpets."
Jones
notes that to the West, Islamic design may seem
restricted to two dimensions but that the very character
of Islamic design implies three-dimensional possibilities.
For
example, the interlacing designs, often accompanied
by variations in color and texture, create the illusion
of different planes.
Through
the use of reflecting and shining materials and
glazes, the repetition of designs, the contrasting
of textures and the manipulation of planes, Islamic
decoration becomes complex, sumptuous and intricate.
It
is an art of repose, Jones adds, where tensions
are resolved. Jones states that, regardless of form,
material or scale, this concept of art rests on
a basic foundation of calligraphy, geometry and,
in architecture, the repetition and multiplication
of elements based on the arch.
"Allied
and parallel to these are floral and figural motifs,"
Jones writes.
"Water
and light are also of paramount importance to Islamic
architectural decoration as they generate additional
layers of patterns and -- just as happens with surface
decoration -- they transform space.
"Space
is defined by surface and since surface is articulated
by decoration, there is an intimate connection in
Islamic architecture between space and decoration.
It
is the variety and richness of the decoration, with
its endless permutations, that characterizes the
buildings rather than their structural elements,
which are often disguised. Many devices typical
of Islamic architectural decoration -- for example,
muqarnas [a honeycomb decoration that can reflect
and refract light]-- are explained by a desire to
dissolve the barriers between those elements of
the buildings that are structural (load-bearing)
and those that are ornamental (non-load-bearing)."
Jones
points to the Taj Mahal as an example of how the
feeling of continuous space is created in Islamic
architecture through the multiplication of given
patterns and architectural elements. Arches and
squinches of different types and scale are employed
for both structural and decorative purposes.
Taj Mahal
"
Dominated by the main dome," Jones writes,
"each facade of the building has two tiers
of three arched niches hollowed out of the principal
mass. The portals in the center of each side are
but a magnification of these niches. They are in
their turn each filled by miniatures of themselves,
the muqarnas. The smaller-domed pavilions on the
upper part of the building rest on open arches that
echo the blind arches of the platforms on which
the whole building rests. Each element of the decoration
therefore reproduces a structural element....
"Another
example of the conceptual basis of much Islamic
decoration is given by the floor decoration of the
Taj Mahal which, with its rippled effect, suggests
that the tomb is set in a tank of water. The decoration...
does not imitate the water... in precise details,
but it conveys the idea of water... (I)t creates
a situation, a 'landscape of the mind,' a subtler
environment than any aturalistic rendering."
Elements
of Decoration
This
section summarizes Jones' list of the elements that
make up Islamic decoration,
Calligraphy:
Because of its role in recording the word of God,
calligraphy is considered one of the most important
of the Islamic arts. Nearly all Islamic buildings
have some type of surface inscription in the stone,
stucco, marble, mosaic and/or painting. The inscription
might be a verse from the Qur'an, lines of poetry,
or names and dates.
Like
other Islamic decoration, calligraphy is closely
linked to geometry. The proportions of the letters
are all governed by mathematics. Inscriptions are
most often used as a frame along and around main
elements of a building like portals and cornices.
An
inscription also might be contained in a single
panel. Sometimes single words such as Allah or Mohammed
are repeated and arranged into patterns over the
entire surface of the walls. Calligraphic texts
might appear in pierced cartouches, providing a
pattern for light filtering through windows.
Geometry
:
Islamic artists developed geometric patterns to
a degree of complexity and sophistication previously
unknown. These patterns exemplify the Islamic interest
in repetition, symmetry and continuous generation
of pattern. "The superb assurance of the Islamic
designers is demonstrated by their masterful integration
of geometry with such optical effects as the balancing
of positive and negative areas, interlacing with
fluid overlapping and underpassing strapwork, and
a skillful use of color and tone values.
"...More
than any other type of design (geometric patterns)
permitted an interrelationship between the parts
and the whole of a building complex, the exterior
and the interior spaces and their furnishings."
Floral
patterns :
Islamic artists reproduced nature with a great deal
of accuracy. Flowers and trees might be used as
the motifs for the decoration of textiles, objects
and buildings. In the Mughal architectural decoration
of India, artists were inspired by European botanical
drawings, as well as by Persian traditional flora.
Their designs might be applied to monochrome panels
of white marble, with rows of flowering plants exquisitely
carved in low relief, alternating with delicately
tinted polychrome inlays of precious and hard stones,
Jones notes.
The
arabesque (geometricized vegetal ornament) is "characterized
by a continuous stem which splits regularly, producing
a series of counterpoised, leafy, secondary stems
which can in turn split again or return to be reintegrated
into the main stem," writes Jones. "This
limitless, rhythmical alternation of movement, conveyed
by the reciprocal repetition of curved lines, produces
a design that is balanced and free from tension.
In the arabesque, perhaps more than in any other
design associated with Islam, it is clear how the
line defines space, and how sophisticated three-dimensional
effects are achieved by differences in width, color
and texture...."
"The
underlying geometric grids governing arabesque designs
are based on the same mathematical principles that
determine wholly geometric patterns...."
Figures
and animals :
Because the creation of living things that move
-- that is, humans and animals -- is considered
to be in the realm of God, Islam discourages artists
from producing such figures through art. Nevertheless,
a certain amount of figural art can be found in
the Islamic world, although it is mainly confined
to the decoration of objects and secular buildings
and to miniature paintings. Figural sculpture is
quite rare in Islam.
Light:
For many Muslims (and non-Muslims), light is the
symbol of divine unity. In Islamic architecture,
light functions decoratively by modifying other
elements or by originating patterns. With the proper
light, pierced facades can look like lacy, disembodied
screens, Jones notes. Light can add a dynamic quality
to architecture, extending patterns, forms and designs
into the dimensions of time. And the combination
of light and shade creates strong contrasts of planes
and gives texture to sculpted stone, as well as
stocked or brick surfaces.
Water:
In hot Islamic climates, the water from courtyard
pools and fountains cools as it decorates. Water
can not only reflect architecture and multiply the
decorative themes, it can also serve as a means
of emphasizing the visual axes. Like the images
they mirror, Jones writes, pools of water are immutable,
yet constantly changing; fluid and dynamic, yet
static.
Islamic
decoration and the West
To
the untrained Western eye, Islamic decoration often
appears stultifying or excessive in its richness.
One exception to this school of thought was the
19th-century British scholar and architect Owen
Jones. In The Grammar of Ornament (as quoted in
"Surface, Pattern and Light"), he writes
that the first principle of architecture is to decorate
construction and never to construct decoration.
Ornamentation that is constructed falsely, he adds,
can never achieve beauty or harmony. In regards
to Islamic decoration he writes,
"(W)e never find a useless or superfluous ornament;
every ornament arises quietly and naturally from
the surface decorated."
(from
www.islamicart.com)
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