"Changing Views: 100 years after the Exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art in Munich"
The information on the varied exhibitions and other lectures and cultural programmes that are to accompany the celebration of "Changing Views: 100 years after the Exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art in Munich"is now on the web.
Several exhibitions (see below), a series of lectures on Masterpieces of Islamic art and a conference on Modernity in Translation, might be of interests to art historians and historians.
1) Exhibition:
Haus der Kunst, Munich
The Future of Tradition – The Tradition of Future
100 years after the exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art in Munich
16 September 2010 to 09 January 2011
In 1910, the largest exhibition of art from the Islamic cultural area took place in Munich. With over 3,600 exhibits in 80 rooms, Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art set new standards for the research and reception of art from Muslim countries. Exactly one hundred years later, the exhibition at the Haus der Kunst recalls this epoch-making show with an important change in view: it not only includes contemporary art, design, photography, architecture and fashion, but also provides artists and institutions from the region to take part in the exhibition with their own concepts. The exhibition display, for instance, is by Samir el Kordy, one of Egypt's most innovative young architects. And by cooperating with Huda Smitshuijzen Sbifarès and the Khatt Foundation it will be possible to present new developments in Arabic typography. At the centre of the exhibition is the new installation of ca. 30 of the most famous artefacts from the 1910 exhibition, while invited artists and institutions fill the surrounding spaces.
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation with kind support by Schörghuber Corporate Group, Goethe-Institut Ägypten and with cooperation with the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence.
2) Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
The Wonders of Creation, Manuscripts of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek from the Islamic world, 16 September 2010 to 5 December 2010
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the exhibition "Meisterwerke
muhammedanischer Kunst" (Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art) the library presents a selection of its precious manuscripts.
3) Museum of Ethnology, Munich
The Aura of Alif, The Art of Writing in Islam
22 October 2010 to 20 February 2011
A series of Lectures: New Prespectives on Masterpieces of Art.
Starting on 19 October to 08 February 2011 (university of Munich, Main
Building, Lecture Hall M014). This series is organized by MZIS (Munich
Center of Islamic Studies)on the occasion of the 100 anniversary of the
1910 exhibition and which icludes the following speakers: Hand-Caspar
Graf von Bothmer, Barbara Finster, Claus-Peter Haase, Lorenz Korn, Holger
Schuckelt, Avinoam Shalem, Eva Troelenberg and Stefan Weber.
A day conference:
Modernity in Translation?
04. December 2010 (10 am till 4 pm). Centre of Advance Studies, Seestraße
13, 80802 Munich.
This conference aims to provide several corrective insights into existing
historiographical principles and research agendas by re-thinking modernism as an artistic practice and modernization as a political, economic and institutional manifestation.
Concept and organization: Avinoam Shalem and Cristoph Balme (LMU), Munich.
Muraqqa', Imperial Mughal Albums
Chester Beatty Library, until 3 October 2010
The Chester Beatty Library's exhibition "Muraqqa', Imperial Mughal
Albums" is currently on view at the Library in Dublin, until 03
October. In 2008-09, the exhibition was shown in four venues in the US.
For its Dublin showing, it has been expanded through the addition of just over twenty folios and objects, two videos (one a brief introduction to Mughal history and one on the production of an album) and a large-scale projection piece that allows visitors to view both sides of the double-sided album folios and many of the otherwise 'easily-missed' details of the paintings included in the exhibition.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated, award-winning catalogue with essays by Elaine Wright, Susan Stronge, Wheeler Thackston, Steven Cohen, Charles Horton and Rachael Smith.
For information on the Chester Beatty Library, see: www.cbl.ie.
Colors of the Oasis: Central Asian Ikats The Textile Museum, Washington, October 16, 2010 through March 13, 2011
The exhibition will explore the artistry of ikat in Central Asia with a focus on the textile's historic production, aesthetic principles and socio-cultural significance in the region. The exhibition will also highlight the recent revival of this complex art form in Uzbekistan after near extinction during the Soviet era, as well as its increasing popularity for use in global fashion and home décor. The luscious colors and bold patterns of ikat, a textile woven from pre-dyed thread, are instantly recognizable.
"Colors of the Oasis" features more than 60 selections from the Museum's never-before-exhibited Megalli collection, comprised of 19th-century ikat garments, cradle covers, wrapping cloths, hangings and fragments.
We will hold a press breakfast and preview tour of the exhibition on
October 14, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. with Textile Museum Curator for Eastern
Hemisphere Collections, Sumru Belger Krody. RSVP to 202-667-0441, ext.
78 or cbohlin@textilemuseum.org if you are able to join us.
To view a press release or a complete press kit, visit the museum's
online press room (http://pressroom.textilemuseum.org/)
Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, London Opens September 24, 2010
Heroic Gestes: Epic Tales from Firdawsi's Shahnama
June 18-November 27, 2010
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Floor 2
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA
Focused on the gestes, or deeds, of great heroes and kings, the Shahnama is the most important work of epic poetry in the Persian language. As it chronicles the reigns of fifty monarchs, Firdawsi's text is interwoven with a cycle of heroic tales. Rich in action, pathos, and horror, these tales have inspired many of the greatest paintings in the history of Islamic manuscript illustration. Although some of the Shahnama's heroes enjoy extraordinary strength and longevity, most are all too human. In combat with demons, dragons, or their ancient enemies, the Turanians, these paladins strive to uphold chivalric values of honor, courage, compassion, and loyalty. They struggle not only against external foes, but also with an unforgiving and capricious fate. The nine works of art in this installation explore major themes in the text: the struggle between Iran and Turan; the element of fantasy in many tales; and Firdawsi's dark view of fate. Organized by Mary McWilliams, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum; and Sunil Sharma, assistant professor of Persianate and comparative literature, Boston University. The installation is made possible by funding from the Arthur Urbane Dilley and Theron Johnson Damon Fund for Islamic Art and Culture.
Two complementary Boston-area exhibitions also celebrating the millennium of Firdawsi's Shahnama are on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston<http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.asp?key=15&subkey=9918>
(April 24, 2010-January 16, 2011) and the Houghton
Library<http://hcl.harvard.edu/info/exhibitions/index.cfm>, Harvard University (July 6-November 24, 2010).
Written Paintings: Calligraphic Masterpieces from the 16th - 18th Century
Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin
Studio Exhibition 4. 6. - 29. 8. 2010
The Museum of Islamic Art is happy to present a selection of its grand collection of calligraphic album leaves which were assembled in the second half of the 18th Century in Northern India. Many folios bear the signatures of famous Persian and Indian artists working between the16th and 18th century, amongst them well known names such as the Nishapuri calligrapher Shah Mahmud "Zarrin Qalam" who worked at the court of Shah Tahmasp (1524-76) in Tabriz and his contemporary Mir Khalilullah "Padschah-i qalam" who later continued to the Deccan. The exhibition also includes several folios by Dara Shikoh (1615-59), the unfortunate Mughal prince artist, noted for his accomplished calligraphy, and of his brother who later became Emperor Aurangzeb (1618-1707).
Roads of Arabia - History and Archaeology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Musée du Louvre, From July 14th to September 27th 2010
The Islamic Art Department and the Eastern Antiquities Department in the LOUVRE MUSEUM are pleased to announce: Three hundred works reveal the archaeology and the history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia from prehistoric times to the dawn of the modern world.
Catalogue : Musée du Louvre/ Somogy Editions, 620p.
This exhibition offers a journey through the heart of Arabia, orchestrated by photographs of the region's sumptuous landscapes. It takes the form of a series of stopovers in some of the peninsula's extensive oases, which in ancient times were home to powerful states or which, beginning in the 7th century, became Islamic holy places. The three hundred items chosen, most of which have never been shown before outside of Saudi Arabia, provide an original panorama of the different cultures that succeeded each other within the kingdom from prehistoric times through the dawn of the modern world. They reveal in particular the little-known past of a dazzling, prosperous Arabic world now being gradually discovered by archaeologists. Despite a hostile natural environment, the inhabitants succeeded in taking advantage of their country's geographical situation as a crossing point for the roads linking the shores of the Indian Ocean and the horn of Africa to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean world. Early in the first millennium BC this trans-Arabian trade flourished, bringing prosperity to the caravan cities and permeating the local culture with new fashions and ideas from the great neighbouring empires. A second section of the exhibition highlights the role of Arabia during the Islamic period. The trading roads also became those of the pilgrimage to the holy sanctuaries of Mecca and Madina, on which focused the whole Islamic world. These roads will be evoked through the archaeological material from some important stations like al-Rabadha. Following these paths as far as Mecca, funerary stelae from the Ma'la cemetery will illustrate the importance of epigraphic developments in the Peninsula, while providing precious information on Meccan society at the time. Muslim sovereigns vied with each other in their patronage towards holy sanctuaries which includes architecture and embellishments. Above different objects and pieces of furniture stands out a unique and richly ornamented door of the Ka'ba in the name of Ottoman sultan Murad IV. The vogue for representing the holy shrines is another aspect of the central place they took on especially in the ottoman period. The exhibition will end with the last attempt to lay out a pilgrimage road
- the Hijaz Railway - and the birth of the Saudi kingdom.
Symposium at the Musée du Louvre Auditorium
September 25th 2010
This one-day symposium will supplement the exhibition and catalogue regarding the present research on Saudi Arabia antiquities and history with contributions by: Juris Zarins, Christian Robin, Laïla Nehmé, J. M. de Tarragon, Donald Whitcomb, Frédéric Imbert and Jacqueline Chabbi.
Light of the Sufis: The Mytsical Arts of Islam
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, until August 8, 2010. An exhibition dedicated to the mystical branch of Islam. The exhibition was organized by Ladan Akbarnia, Hagop Kevorkian Curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum and will be on view at the MFAH until August 8, 2010.
The Future of Tradition – The Tradition of Future
100 years after the exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art in Munich
Haus der Kunst, Munich, 17 September 2010 to 09 January 2011
In 1910, the largest exhibition of art from the Islamic cultural area took place in Munich. With over 3,600 exhibits in 80 rooms, Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art set new standards for the research and reception of art from Muslim countries. Exactly one hundred years later, the exhibition at the Haus der Kunst recalls this epoch-making show with an important change in view: it not only includes contemporary art, design, photography, architecture and fashion, but also provides artists and institutions from the region to take part in the exhibition with their own concepts. The exhibition display, for instance, is by Samir el Kordy, one of egypt's most innovative young architects. And by cooperating with Huda Smitshuijzen Sbifarès and the Khatt Foundation it will be possible to present new developments in Arabic typography. At the centre of the exhibition is the new installation of ca. 30 of the most famous artefacts from the 1910 exhibition, while invited artists and institutions fill the surrounding spaces.Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation with kind support by Schörghuber Corporate Group and Goethe-Institut Ägypten
The Miracles of Creation
Manuscripts of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek from the Islamic world
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, 8 September 2010 to 28 November 2010
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the exhibition "Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst" (Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art) the library presents a selection of its precious manuscripts. As one of the world's leading universal libraries, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has built up an extensive collection of Oriental manuscripts for more than 450 years. The collection encompasses over 4,000 manuscripts from the Islamic cultural area. Following the tradition of 1910, in the library's Fürstensaal exclusively such valuable objects are exhibited which formed part already of the first exhibition, whereas in the Schatzkammer important new acquisitions of the past 100 years are introduced. Among the 80 exhibits there are superb Koran manuscripts and prayer books, illustrated Arabic manuscripts, Persian and Turkish miniature manuscripts, calligraphies and examples of special book- and paper techniques.
The Aura of Alif
The Art of Writing in Islam
Museum of Ethnology, Munich, 22 October 2010 to 20 February 2011
Writing is a key to understanding Muslim cultures – an essential link between the "lettered worlds" of Islam. The exhibition aims to open viewers' eyes to the beauty of Arabic writing and the depth of its meaning. Starting with the fascinating aesthetic qualities of calligraphy, visitors become acquainted with the contextual and symbolic intention of writing in religion, magic and poetry. Writing surfaces include not only paper and hide, but ceramic, metal, glass, wood and also textiles. The scope of the presentations spans the early period of Islam to the present; from the art of the ruling elite to folk art and everyday aesthetics. The dignity of Muslim cultures and their artistic forms of expression are brought to life in the aura of 'alif', the first letter in the Arabic alphabet that symbolises divine beauty.
"With a Trained Eye" -- Hermann Burchardt's Travels in Southern Syria
1895: Early Photographs of a German Orientalist
Goethe-Institut Damascus from 10--30 May 2010
The Damascus branch of the Orient Department of the German
Archaeological Institute presents a selection of early photographs taken by the German traveler and orientalist Hermann Burchardt (1857--1909) at the end of the 19th century. The exhibition features a collection of monuments and sites of southern Syria (Hauran) and will be supplemented by modern photographs recently taken of the same monuments. The photographs will be displayed at the exhibition hall of the Goethe-Institut Damascus from 10--30 May 2010.
An accompanying booklet with many illustrations can be ordered from the
Orient-Department in Berlin (orient@dainst.de) or the Damascus branch
(sekretariat@damaskus.dainst.org) of the German Archaeological Institute.
Arthur Pope and a New Survey of Persian Art
Art Institute of Chicago, July 17 through October 3.
Arthur Pope and a New Survey of Persian Art features ceramics, tilework, textiles, paintings, glasswork and lacquerware from the Institute’s historically important collection of Persian art, developed under the guidance of Arthur Upham Pope (1881–1969). It also examines Pope’s legacy by tracing the development of Persian art collections in Chicago during the early 20th century and his influence on the understanding and appreciation of traditional Persian art across the globe.
Treasures of the World: Jewellery of India Under the Grand Moguls (1).
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur July 28 through December 15.
Treasures of the World: Jewellery of India Under the Grand Moguls includes more than 400 pieces of jewelry from the Mughal epoch, lent by the Al-Sabah family, which constitute the core of one of the great Islamic art collections of the late 20th century. The 13 sections of the exhibition not only display those amazing and in some cases unique works but also inform the viewer about materials and techniques.
Free Me From My Chains.
Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai through August 15.
Free Me From My Chains presents a large-scale work in neon in which Algerian artist Zoulikha Bouabdellah spells hubb (“love”) in a simple animation as three intertwined lights flash on and off. She also presents works that refer to Middle East culture in the person of Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum.
Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern Indian Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through August 22
Bharat Ratna! Jewels of Modern Indian Art presents a selection of outstanding works by some of India’s most celebrated modern painters, focusing on a generation that emerged following India’s independence in 1947. Luminaries such as Francis Newton Souza, Maqbool Fida Husain and Sayed Haider Raza formed an influential artistic avant-garde at this transitional moment; their paintings are a synthesis of visual traditions, embracing both western modernism and a heritage colored by Indian art, myths and classical traditions. The exhibition’s divergent works highlight the dialogue between the traditional and modern, the indigenous and foreign and the sacred and secular as Indian artists sought an independent identity.
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The Turks in Vienna: The History of a Jewish Community
Jewish Museum Vienna through October 31
In Spain, the fateful year 1492 saw the end of 800 years of Muslim rule, the departure of Columbus for the New World and the expulsion of the Jews. After the Ottoman–Habsburg peace treaties in the first half of the 18th century, Sephardic Jews established a community in Vienna. They linked East and West, Asia and Europe not only as merchants and dealers importing wool and cotton, silk and tobacco, sugar and spices to the West, but also culturally, setting up the first print shop in Constantinople and making Arab philosophy and medicine available to the western world.
Heroes and Kings of the Shahnama
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin November 19 through March 20
Heroes and Kings of the Shahnama shows folios of the famous text from each of the Library’s 25 copies, produced in Iran and India between the 14th and 19th centuries. The Shah-nama, or Book of Kings, is the Iran-ian national epic, relating the glorious, often gory, feats of the heroes and kings of pre-Islamic Iran. Compiled in written form in the 11th century by the poet Firdawsi, these tales have been popular both inside and beyond Iran for more than a millennium. While many tell of dragons and divs, others, such as stories of Alexander the Great, derive from recorded history. The exhibition celebrates the 1000th anniversary of Firdawsi’s completion of the text in the year 1010. Fully illustrated catalog.
Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c. 1600–1900 and Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the Qur’an.
Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta through December 5.
Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c. 1600–1900 and Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the Qur’an celebrate the rich religious and artistic tradition of calligraphy, or “beautiful writing,” the most esteemed of the Islamic visual arts. The works of calligraphy—from practice alphabets to elaborately finished manuscripts—serve as traces of individuals, belief systems and cultures and create a rich material legacy that fuses esthetics and piety. Some 150 objects and works convey the elegance of the esteemed art form and reveal the skills of the many artisans—calligraphers, paper makers, gold beaters, illuminators, bookbinders, and metalworkers, to name a few—involved in the creation of the tools, the calligraphies, and the manuscript folios. Traces of the Calligrapher maps the practice of the calligrapher from the 17th through the 19th centuries through examples of calligraphy and through the tools of the trade. The objects in the exhibition include reed pens, penknives and maktas (used to hold the pen while it is cut) in addition to inkwells, scissors, burnishers, storage boxes, and writing tables. Writing the Word of God is devoted to key developments of the Islamic scripts of distinct cultural areas. A selection of approximately 20 folios from now-dispersed copies of the Qur’an from various regions will illustrate the rich variety and system of scripts.
