Art History 647 - Islamic Art & Architecture I

History of Islamic art from its origins in the Byzantine and Sasanian traditions of the Near East, to its development under the Arab Empire and under subsequent Turkish and Persian dynastic patrons through the 13th century. The Islamic world from Spain to India; emphasis on the central Islamic lands of the Near East. Media include architecture, painting, textiles, ivories, ceramics, glass and crystal, and others seldom encountered in the study of Western art. Background in either art history or Near Eastern history useful. (Planned for Fall, alternate years; ART-HIST 648 planned for intervening years.)

This course looks at several iconic types of Islamic portable arts, especially textiles, ceramics, and book manuscripts in their global networks of production, exchange, and socio-political power, both past and present. Beyond the questions of stylistic development and symbolism, we will contextualize objects in trade networks, workshop practices, and daily/ritual use. In addition, we will explore critical methodological questions about how scholarly arguments are constructed around this material and how ideological concerns dictate Islamic art's popular consumption today. The course includes visits to local museum collections and hands-on exercises and research.