What Is 'islamic' Art? Between Religion and Perception

Description

Revealing what is 'Islamic' in Islamic art, Shaw explores the perception of arts, including painting, music, and geometry through the discursive sphere of historical Islam including the Qur'an, Hadith, Sufism, ancient philosophy, and poetry. Emphasis on the experience of reception over the context of production enables a new approach, not only to Islam and its arts, but also as a decolonizing model for global approaches to art history. Shaw combines a concise introduction to Islamic intellectual history with a critique of the modern, secular, and European premises of disciplinary art history. Her meticulous interpretations of intertextual themes span antique philosophies, core religious and theological texts, and prominent prose and poetry in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu that circulated across regions of Islamic hegemony from the eleventh century to the colonial and post-colonial contexts of the modern Middle East. Cover Half-title page Title page Copyright page Epigraph Contents List ofFigures List ofColor Plates Preface Note on Transcultural Communication Introduction From Islamic Art to Perceptual Culture 1 The Islamic Image 2Seeing with the Ear 3The Insufficient Image 4Seeing with the Heart 5Seeing through the Mirror 6Deceiving Deception 7The Transcendent Image 8The Transgressive Image 9Mimetic Geometries 10Perspectives on Perspective Conclusion:Out of Perspective References Index