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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