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Course Descriptions |
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Arts of IslamDe Anza College
Intercultural/International Studies Division
Course Outline – Final Version
Degree Applicable
INTL 97
Effective Fall 2006
I. Catalog Information
INTL 97 History of Art: Visual Arts of Islam 4 Units
(Also listed as Arts 97. Student may enroll in either department, but not both, for credit.)
Advisory: English Writing 1A or ESL 5
Four hours lecture
An exploration of the visual arts of Islam in a global context, including comparative analysis of the arts from diverse regions of the Islamic world. Examines artistic traditions of calligraphy, miniature painting, textiles, decorative arts and architecture from the beginnings of the Islamic faith to the present, and Islamic contributions to world art history. Includes interdisciplinary analysis of Islamic visual arts, emphasizing the cultural and religious contexts, as well as issues related to gender and social class.
II. Course Objectives
The student will:
A. Develop and use interpretive and visual literacy skills to analyze images, objects and works of architecture through an integration of the disciplines of art history, Islamic studies, history, cultural studies, and anthropology in an exploration of Islamic visual arts. Apply other art historical methods, such as stylistic analysis, as an introduction to the discipline.
B. Analyze the historical developments of Islamic arts and evaluate the social, cultural, political and religious contexts affecting these developments.
C. Examine core religious beliefs and practices of the Islamic faith and how these beliefs and practices affect the function and creation of visual culture.
D. Compare and contrast similarities and differences between Islamic arts and architecture from diverse regions of the Islamic world and analyze the contributions of Islam to world art history.
E. Evaluate and assess interactions and exchanges between Islamic artists and architects and artists and architects from the non-Muslim world.
F. Critically analyze non-Islamic visual representations of Islamic peoples and cultures, including discussion of orientalism, colonialism, and stereotypes evident in art and popular culture.
G. Analyze gender roles in the creation and use of Islamic arts.
III. Essential Student Materials.
None.
IV. Essential College Facilities.
Smart Classroom equipped with computer, LCD projector, internet access, opaque projector
V. Expanded Description: Content and Form.
A. Develop and use interpretive and visual literacy skills to analyze images, objects and works of architecture through an integration of the disciplines of art history, Islamic studies, history, cultural studies, and anthropology in an exploration of Islamic visual arts. Apply other art historical methods, such as stylistic analysis, as an introduction to the discipline.
1. Develop skills to interpret Islamic visual arts and architecture as primary texts illustrating history, culture, religion, gender roles.
2. Assess the use and value of the terms: craft, fine arts, material culture, and popular arts in studying Islamic art history to better appreciate the Islamic contributions to world art.
3. Analyze Islamic preferences in visual arts, such as calligraphy, and art historical methods used in Islamic scholarship, such as color and optical theories as well as Islamic approaches to perspective. Reevaluate the Western European art historical preference for figurative arts when looking at the arts of Islam.
4. Question the ethics of Western European museum collecting, colonialism, and display of Islamic arts in comparison to the objects' original uses.
5. Develop skills and a visual vocabulary in stylistic and formal analysis and apply to Islamic arts.
B. Analyze the historical developments of Islamic arts and evaluate the social, cultural, political and religious contexts affecting these developments.
1. Roots of Islamic arts, including Pre-Islamic Arab, Byzantine and Sasanian cultural influences.
2. Rise of Islam and the developing structure of the Islamic state, including a chronological framework of main periods and dynasties.
3.Architectural and artistic patronage, including politics of display in royal patronage under important Sultans, such as Suleyman the Magnificent, Shah Abbas or Shah Jahan.
4. Role of the individual artist, including contributions of major artists and architects, such as Sinan (Ottoman architect) or Bichitr (Mughal painter) and discussion of anonymity and identity as influenced by Western European trends.
5. Development of a guild system, apprenticeship, materials and techniques used.
6. Developments in mathematics, optics, engineering and the effects upon the creation of visual arts and architecture.
7. Interaction of art and literature, literary themes, and the illustration of literary texts.
8. Recent problems and issues relevant to the study of Islamic art history, such as fundamentalist Islamic prohibitions against figurative art, censorship, destruction of art and archeological sites due to looting or wartime destruction.
C. Examine core religious beliefs and practices of the Islamic faith and how these beliefs and practices affect the function and creation of visual culture.
1. The Five Pillars of Islam as expressed through the visual arts.
2. Calligraphy: expression of the Divine Word as the highest art form.
3. Verses of the Qur’an providing specific imagery for Muslim artists.
4. Importance of decorative arts as transmitters of the faith through trade.
D. Compare and contrast similarities and differences between Islamic arts and architecture from diverse regions of the Islamic world and analyze the contributions of Islam to world art history. In addition to Arab countries, Islamic art and architecture will be discussed from the following cultures, whose pre-Islamic roots merged with the new religion:
1.Moorish Spain (Al-Andalus)
2.North Africa (the Maghrib)
3.Perso-Iranian
4. Near Eastern/Central Asian provinces (e.g. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan)
E. Evaluate and assess interactions and exchanges between Islamic artists and architects and artists and architects from the non-Muslim world.
1. Building forms and materials (such as fortified city designs, and their defensive features).
2. Pre-Islamic designs adopted into the earliest Muslim architectural and decorative themes (e.g., the roundel motif in textiles).
F. Critically analyze non-Islamic visual representations of Islamic peoples and cultures, including discussion of orientalism, colonialism, and stereotypes evident in art and popular culture.
1. Explore and evaluate Said’s definition of orientalism (Said; see bibliography).
2. Discuss representations of Islamic peoples and cultures within the historical context of colonialism.
3. Analyze stereotypes through extant examples from the16th-19th centuries, such as Delacroix’s odalisques, Van Dyck’s portraits of Shirley and others, and early depictions and literary accounts of European travelers such as de Clavijo, Thomas Herbert, John Chardin.
G. Analyze gender roles in the creation and use of Islamic arts.
1. Women in textiles arts, such as nomadic tribes in which women were the primary carpet weavers.
2. Role of men in the field of painting and other arts.
3. Critically analyze depiction of women in decorative arts.
4. Role of women as patrons of the arts and in comparison to men as primary art producers.
VI. Assignments.
A. Reading assignments
1. Assigned readings of primary and secondary sources
2. Supplementary readings for research and visual analysis papers
B. Written assignments
1. A research paper requiring analysis of primary and secondary sources
2. A visual analysis paper requiring study of original works of art or
architecture within either a museum setting or Bay area mosque / cultural center.
C. Collaborative group work
1. group exercises conducting research in the library.
2. group discussions of worksheets, readings, and brief primary sources
provided in class.
3. brief in-class group presentations.
VII. Methods of Instruction
Methods of instruction may include, but are not limited to, the following:
Lecture and visual aids
Discussion of assigned readings
In-class essays
In-class Exploration of Internet sites
Quiz and Examination review performed in class
Homework and extended projects
Museum fieldtrips
Collaborative learning and small group exercises
Collaborative projects
VIII. Methods of Evaluating Objectives.
A. One mid-term and one final exam, including both of the following formats:
1. Objective questions identifying works of art, architecture and their
makers, historical periods, dates, and media; written definitions
of terms; additional questions in "short answer" format, which
require knowledge of historical events relating to the Islamic
period studied as well as issues of patronage.
2. Written essays comparing and evaluating works of art from different
periods or cultures of Islam, stressing social and religious context
as well as stylistic (formal) considerations.
B. Collaborative group work, in-class discussion and participation, during which
the student's skill in interpreting relevant issues will be addressed.
C. A guided research paper in which the student will be evaluated on her or his
ability to analyze. evaluate, and synthesize primary and secondary
sources. The research paper will be six to eight pages in length, and
will include a bibliography and proper documentation of sources.
D. A visual analysis paper for which the student will visit a specified museum
or cultural site in the Bay area and critically analyze works of art or
architecture on the basis of social or religious function, subject matter,
patronage, and style. The visual analysis paper will be two to four pages
in length.
IX. Texts and Supporting References.
*Indicates Primary Texts
Akkach, Samer. Cosmology and Architecture in Premodern Islam: An Architectural
Reading of Mystical Ideas. Albany: SUNY Press, 2005.
Allan, J. Islamic Ceramics. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1991.
Atil, E. (ed.). The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Washington:
The National Gallery of Art, 1987.
Baer, Eva. The Human Figure in Islamic Art: Inheritances and Islamic Transformations.
Costa Mesa, Ca: Mazda Publishers, 2004.
Bahari, Ebadollah. Bihzad: Master of Persian Painting. New York: I.B. Tauris,
1996.
Barry, Michael. Figurative Art in Medieval Islam and the Riddle of Bihzâd of Herât.
N.Y.: Rizzoli, 2004.
Behrens-Abouseif, D. Islamic Architecture in Cairo. Leiden: Brill, 1989.
Berinstain, Valerie. India and the Mughal Dynasty. New York: Harry Abrams, 1998.
*Blair, Sheila and Bloom, Jonathan. The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800. New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995.
Blair, Sheila S. A Compendium of Chronicles: Rashid al-Din's Illustrated History
of the World. London: Nur Foundation, 1995.
-----"The Development of the Illustrated Book in Iran," Muqarnas, X (1993): 266-274.
------Islamic Inscriptions. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
-----and Jonathan Bloom. The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1994.
-----and Jonathan Bloom. (eds). Images of Paradise in Islamic Art. Austin: University
of Texas press, 1991.
Bloom, Jonathan, ed. Early Islamic Art and Architecture. Burlington, VT : Ashgate,
2002.
Bloom, Jonathan M. Minaret-Symbol of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press,
1990.
Bravmann, Rene. African Islam. Washington: Smithsonian Press, 1984.
Brend, Barbara. Islamic Art. London: British Museum, 1991.
Canby, S. Persian Painting. London: British Museum, 1993.
Carboni, Stefano and Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Glass from Islamic Lands:
The al-Sabah Collection. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2001.
Cleary, Thomas. The Essential Koran. S.F.: Harper, 1993.
Crane, H. Risale-I Mimariyye: An Early Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Treatise on
Architecture. Leiden: Brill, 1987.
Dodds, J. (ed.). Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1992.
El-Azhary Sonbol, Amira, ed. Beyond the Exotic: Women’s Histories in Islamic
Societies. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005.
Ettinghauser, R. and Oleg Grabar. The Art and Architecture of Islam: 650-1250.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.
Ferrier, R.W. (ed). The Arts of Persia. New Haven: Yale, 1989.
Frishman, M. and Khan, H.-U. (eds). The Mosque: History, Architectural Development
and Regional Diversity. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994.
Goldstein, Sidney M. Glass: From Sassanian Antecedents to European Imitations.
London: The Nour Foundation, 2005.
Golombek, L. and Subtelny, M. Timurid Art and Culture: Iran and Central Asia in the
Fifteenth Century. Leiden: Brill, 1992.
Gonzalez, Valerie. Beauty and Islam: Aesthetics in Islamic Art and Architecture. N.Y.:
St. Martins Press, 2001.
* Grabar, Oleg. Islamic Art and Architecture, 650-1250. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2001.
Grabar, O. (ed). The Art of the Mamluks. New Haven: Yale, 1984.
------------The Formation of Islamic Art. New Haven: Yale, 1973.
------------The Mediation of Ornament. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Grube, E.J. Cobalt and Lustre: The First Centuries of Islamic Pottery. London: Nur
Foundation, 1994.
Guthrie, S. Arab Social Life in the Middle Ages: An Illustrated Study. London: Saqi
books, 1995.
Al-Hassan, A.Y. and Hill, D. Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Hillenbrand, R. (ed). The Art of the Seljuqs in Iran and Anatolia. Costa Mesa: Mazda,
1994.
---------------Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 1994.
---------------Islamic Art and Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999.
Irwin, Robert. Islamic Art in Context. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1997.
Islam: Empires of Faith. PBS video. 2000.
Khatibi, Abdelkebir and Mohammed Sijelmassi. The Splendor of Islamic Calligraphy.
New York: Thames and Hudson, 2001.
Leaman, Oliver. Islamic Aesthetics : An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 2004.
Lewis, Bernard. The Muslim Discovery of Europe. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
Lewis, Reina. Gendering Orientalism: Race, Femininity and Representation. New
York: Routledge Press, 1996.
Mitchell, George and Mark Sebrowski. Architecture and Art of the Deccan
Sultanates. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Porter, V. Islamic Tiles. London: British Museum, 1995.
Rice, David Talbot. Islamic Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1975.
Richards, D.S. (ed). Islam and the Trade of Asia. Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1970.
Roxburgh, David. Prefacing the Image: The Writing Art History in 16th-century
Iran. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
Safadi, Y.H. Islamic Calligraphy. Boulder: Shambhala, 1979.
Safwat, N. Art of the Pen: Calligraphy of 14th to 20th Centuries. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1995.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Random House, 1979.
Schimmel, A. As Through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in Iran. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1982.
------------Calligraphy and Islamic Culture. New York: New York University Press,
1990.
Schulze, Reinhard. A Modern History of the Islamic World. New York: New York
University Press, 2000.
Shatzmiller, M. Labour in the Islamic World. Leiden: Brill, 1994.
Soucek, P. (ed). Content and Context of the Visual Arts in the Islamic World.
Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press, 1988.
Stanley, Tim. Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East.
London: V&A, 2004.
Steensgaard, N. The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1975.
Stierlin, Henri. Islamic Art and Architecture : From Isfahan to the Taj Mahal.
N.Y.: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Stronge, Susan. Painting for the Mughal Emperor: The Art of the Book 1560-1660.
London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002.
Sweetman, J. The Oriental Obsession: Islamic Inspiration in British and American
Art and Architecture 1500-1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Internet sources:
Islamic Arts and Architecture Organization
www.islamicart.com
General source on Islam and arts
www.islamicity.com/education/culture
Historians of Islamic Art Association
www.historiansofislamicart.org
www.islamicarchitecture.org
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Islamic Art http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/department.asp?dep=14
Met NY timeline of Art History
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm
The British Library (for MSS)
http://www.bl.uk/
The Khalili Collection of Islamic Art http://www.khalili.org/2_nour/COLLECT_index.htm
Arts of the Islamic World, Freer and Sackler Galleries
http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/islamicHome.htm
ArchNet, Islamic architecture, MIT
http://archnet.org/lobby.tcl
Visions of Iraq, photography by Yasser Tabbaa, Associate Professor at Oberlin College
http://www.oberlin.edu/art/Iraq/Iraq.html
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