Wanderlust and Wahi

Week 6: Islamic Ornament 

 

“Islamic art is the result of the manifestation of unity upon the plane of multiplicity” (S.H. Nasr, Islamic Art and Spirituality, p. 7)

According to some Islamic scholars, the origin of Islamic art lies in the inner content and spiritual dimension of Islam rather than in judicial sciences and theology (Nasr, 7). The creation of Islamic art to adorn places of worship such as mosques or just to venerate God surely does contain a spiritual quality linked to the love of God, but Nasr’s notion that Islamic art does not derive from external historical, cultural, and social influences is mistaken. In fact, the development of different styles of calligraphy, arabesque, and geometric ornamentation could not have occurred without external, social, cultural, regional, and even economic influences. For example, the style of the vegetal arabesques of the St. Petersburg Cathedral Mosque are quite different from the vegetal arabesques carved out of stone in the Medina Azahara in Cordoba, Spain.

Arabesques from the St. Petersburg Cathedral Mosque (Source: Wikimedia Commons).

Arabesques at Medina Azahara in Cordoba, Spain (Source: Flickr).

These intricate patterns can grab the attention of any art enthusiast, be they Muslim or not. European fascination with Islamic ornament reached its peak during the Industrial Revolution in the 19^th century due to the European assumption that Islamic art is abstract. Arabesque’s alleged absence of meaning combined with its stark differences from the iconographic tradition of western art facilitated its appropriation by European architects and interior designers (Necipoglu, 63). And although this cultural appropriation simplified Islamic art to abstract geometric figures and elaborate patterns, non-Muslim fascination with arabesque and Islamic ornamentation signals that Islamic art was able to be understood and interpreted by all, not just by “native informants” like devout Muslims.

I personally am most fascinated by the dazzling and complex geometric arabesque patterns that adorn mosques, tombs, and palaces alike. One of my favorite examples of this arabesque style is the tiled mosaic on the ceiling of the pavilion over the Tomb of Hafez in Shiraz, Iran.

Ceiling of Pavilion over the Tomb of Hafez in Shiraz, Iran (source: Wikimedia)

Taking this mosaic among others as inspiration, I decided to create my own geometric pattern.

The piece I have created showcases my own attraction to Islamic geometric art and is an attempt at a geometric and arabesque pattern. The process of creating these patterns is tedious and requires patience and repetition – a theme that coincides with the Islamic idea of “dhikr” or remembrance of God through repetition. My pattern is not perfectly symmetrical – perhaps Nasr is right to say that only the most devout Muslims can create and understand arabesque and ornamental art! According to Nasr, “Islamic art does not imitate the outward forms of nature but reflects their principles” (8). As such, I included a vegetal pattern in my design (the purple tendrils on the left and right) to reflect the idea of paradise through the analogy of flowers and God’s garden. As described in the documentary “Islamic Art: Mirror of an Invisible World”, color is an important means of demonstrating meaning in Islamic art. For this reason I used bright colors, including green (the color of Islam and Muhammad)for the geometric shapes and white to bind the patterns together, as white represents unity and is a symbol of being (Nasr). My pattern, with its imperfections, left me wondering how did these Islamic artists create these intricate patterns and how do they split their process between math, geometry, planning, and spirituality?