French scholar and art critic Souren Melikian criticizes the concept of an all-encompassing notion of Islamic art, stating that a European equivalent wouldn’t exist in both the museum and academia (Melikian, 2004). Indeed it would be frowned upon to be a specialist in “Western art” ranging from Greek antiquity to Futurism, yet this case for an “Islamic art” specialist. It is perfectly acceptable to demand from a scholar in “Islamic art” to know about early Islamic Abbasid architecture, and late Ottoman tapestry while also expecting the scholar to comprehend at least both languages spoken during that time. In a way, the same counts for collections and exhibitions, where an exhibition showing works from three continents and fourteen centuries
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NOT GAP SINCE IT COULD VE SAID ANDALUSIA INSPI) Even within a recurring theme that seems similar for a non-specialist there are differences that show the field of Islamic art is no unity. The Tropenmuseum and the Gemeentemuseum The Hague together organized an exhibition in 2013 called “Escher Meets Islamic Art” and “Escher and the Treasures from Islam” respectively. The Dutch etcher and artist M.C. Escher (1898-1972) took indeed a lot of inspiration from the Islamic geometric patterns of the Alhambra. Although he only went to Andalusia, the exhibition book draws the link with Islamic geometric patterns in general. The resemblance is remarkable, but as Islamic geometric pattern specialist Eric Broug pointed out, the patterns of the Alhambra were four or six sided patterns, made under the Nasrid dynasty, and Escher used this. Artists in Mamluk Cairo (1250-1517) and the Seljuq Anatolia (1077-1307) also created five or ten sided patterns which are more difficult since they are irregular and can’t be repeated to the infinite (Broug, 2013, pp. 21-27). Even though Escher took inspiration from “Islamic” geometric patterns, the fact that he was only exposed to Andalusia and not Egypt or Turkey made that he focused on four and six sided patters and never used five sided. In a way, there are still differences within the Islamic art …show more content…
Splitting up the collection in museums will make it more challenging to get recognition. Perhaps this is either a process to get through, first getting more recognition as a whole before splitting up. Or a more umbrella approach might be to combine both and get more recognition as a whole while highlighting the nuances, and historical and regional differences. Yet this is also problematic in museum settings, since it brings up questions about the way to divide a collection. (CHAPTER TAX) will cover the different ways to divide or categorize Islamic art, both within the academic field and the museum
NOT GAP SINCE IT COULD VE SAID ANDALUSIA INSPI) Even within a recurring theme that seems similar for a non-specialist there are differences that show the field of Islamic art is no unity. The Tropenmuseum and the Gemeentemuseum The Hague together organized an exhibition in 2013 called “Escher Meets Islamic Art” and “Escher and the Treasures from Islam” respectively. The Dutch etcher and artist M.C. Escher (1898-1972) took indeed a lot of inspiration from the Islamic geometric patterns of the Alhambra. Although he only went to Andalusia, the exhibition book draws the link with Islamic geometric patterns in general. The resemblance is remarkable, but as Islamic geometric pattern specialist Eric Broug pointed out, the patterns of the Alhambra were four or six sided patterns, made under the Nasrid dynasty, and Escher used this. Artists in Mamluk Cairo (1250-1517) and the Seljuq Anatolia (1077-1307) also created five or ten sided patterns which are more difficult since they are irregular and can’t be repeated to the infinite (Broug, 2013, pp. 21-27). Even though Escher took inspiration from “Islamic” geometric patterns, the fact that he was only exposed to Andalusia and not Egypt or Turkey made that he focused on four and six sided patters and never used five sided. In a way, there are still differences within the Islamic art …show more content…
Splitting up the collection in museums will make it more challenging to get recognition. Perhaps this is either a process to get through, first getting more recognition as a whole before splitting up. Or a more umbrella approach might be to combine both and get more recognition as a whole while highlighting the nuances, and historical and regional differences. Yet this is also problematic in museum settings, since it brings up questions about the way to divide a collection. (CHAPTER TAX) will cover the different ways to divide or categorize Islamic art, both within the academic field and the museum