Inside/Outside Islamic Art and Architecture: A Cartography of Boundaries in and of the Field

Description

When we walk into a gallery, we have a fairly good idea where the building begins and ends; and inside, while observing a painting, we are equally confident in distinguishing between the painting-proper and its frame and borders. Yet, things are often more complicated. A building defines an exterior space just as much as an interior, and what we perceive to be ornamental and marginal to a given painting may in fact be central to what it represents. In this volume, a simple question is presented: instead of dichotomous separations between inside and outside, or exterior and interior, what other relationships can we think of? The first book of its kind to grapple with this question, Inside/Outside Islamic Art and Architecture focuses on a wide spectrum of mediums and topics, including painted manuscripts, objects, architectural decoration, architecture and urban planning, and photography. Bringing together scholars with diverse methodologies—who work on a geographical span stretching from India to Spain and Nigeria, and across a temporal spectrum from the thirteenth to the twenty-first century—this original book also poses engaging questions about the boundaries of the field. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Illustrations Contributors Introduction: Inside/Outside in and of Islamic art and architecture: Towards a cartographical approach Chapter 1: In and out of a local idiom : The story of a Siedlung in Yenimahalle, Ankara1 Chapter 2: Looking beyond the lens’ veil : Capturing the haram (1840–90)1 Chapter 3: Under-Writing Beirut-Mathaf, whose ghosts must be summoned Chapter 4: For close observation : Tilework imagery in the architecture of Qajar Iran Chapter 5: Potential worlds : On representation and mimesis in late Timurid painting (c. 1470–1500) Chapter 6: A collage of projections : Exploring an Awadhi miniature painting’s pictorial space through 3D modelling Chapter 7: Private and public in vernacular Space: The abandoned Nubian villages of Bîga Chapter 8: Overcoming framing devices: The Ramtā Nāth Vairāgī in Mughal painting1 Chapter 9: The ubiquitous knot : Traces of Hercules in an unknown candleholder from the Museum of Islamic Arts in Bursa Index