Picasso the Muslim. Or, how the Bilderverbot became modern (Part 2) (original) (raw)
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Manazir Journal, 2021
The art and architecture of the Islamic world had a decisive impact on the development of decorative and fine arts from 1880 to 1945. Many leading artists and architects took inspiration from the rich Islamic language of forms and ornamentation. They were fascinated by the mathematical principles and unusual harmonies of colors in Persian miniatures and rugs, stained glass windows or Iznik tiles, and punched metal works and ceramics from the Near East, North Africa and Moorish Spain. While only some of them actually visited the Islamic world and studied its art and architecture in situ, many discovered it through exhibitions and publications. Following on from Paris (1893/1903), Stockholm (1897) and Algiers (1905), Munich set new standards in 1910 with the exhibition “Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst” (“Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art”). Museums, art dealers and private collectors from a number of countries contributed some 3,600 works, including valuable carpets, ceramics, metalwork pieces and Persian miniatures. The exhibition marked a turning point not only for the academic studies of the time, but also in terms of the reception of Islamic arts. In the Western fine and decorative arts of the 19th century, the “Orient” conjured up motivic imagery heavily influenced by the colonialist perspective, whereas the artists of early Modernism investigated Islam’s stylistic devices in depth, transposing them to their own environment through a process of artistic internalization. In combination with their own traditions and their respective times, it was this very internalisation that instilled motivating creative processes, out of which artists developed countless new forms of expression. The contributions in this volume approach these questions from different perspectives, considering theoretical and practical applications developed by western artists, architects and decorators and how Islamic art was considered as a model for the renewal of European arts at the turn of the twentieth century.
Bagh-e Nazar, 2021
Problem statement: Islamic philosophy and art theoreticians, such as Burckhardt, considered Islamic art as abstract since it presents divine mysteries in Eastern art through symbolization. Hence, traditional art is sacred art with an abstract model of expression that avoids figurative and naturalistic representation. On the other hand, in Europe during the 20th century, Kandinsky started a movement in the visual arts to discover the visual features beyond the visual-narrative realm of the real world. They believed that painting, like music, should set itself free from the boundaries of mimesis or imitation of nature and narratives and influence its audience merely through forms and colors. Both of these attitudes have their theoretical foundations and reasons that are different from each other. The present study seeks to answer the following questions: What is the meaning, function, and characteristics of the word "abstraction" in both the abovementioned perspectives? What are the concepts of traditionalists and Western art critics from the term "abstraction" and how are they related to each other? Research method: This basic research used a descriptive-analytical method and first attempted to find the exact meaning of the word "abstraction". Afterward, it examined and compared the characteristics of Islamic art from the traditionalist thinkers' points of view and the concept of "abstraction" in Western artists' opinions. Research objective: This study discusses art and stylistics in the theoretical field of art research and can be effective in the development of discussions on "the nature of art". Conclusion: There are similarities and differences in the use of the word "abstraction" in Islamic and Western art. In both of them, the artist and the audience are detached from the material and objective world. Both of these perspectives try to present something beyond what is visible and for this reason, the artists try to employ mysteries and symbols to present their artworks.
The Concept of Islamic Art: Inherited Discourses and New Approaches
The Journal of Art Historiography June 1, 2012, vol. 6 (Special Issue on the Historiography of Islamic Art and Architecture, guest-edited by Moya Carey and Margaret S. Graves), 2012
The article examines the shift in the field, since the 1970s, from a predominant focus on the early period of Islamic art and architecture in the 'central zone' of the Fertile Crescent to a broader chronological and geographical scope. This shift has contributed, among other things, to a change of emphasis from artistic unity to variety, accompanied by an increasing diversification of concepts and approaches including dynastic, regional, media-based, textual, theoretical, critical, and historiographical inquiries. The article seeks to address the unresolved methodological tensions arising from the expanded scope of the field, along with concomitant anxieties over the fragmentation of its traditional 'universalism'. It begins by outlining the premises of still prevalent approaches inherited from the construction of the field during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a field rooted in the entangled legacies of Orientalism, nationalism, and dilletantism. The article then reviews recent statements on the state and future of the field before turning to personal reflections on challenges posed by its expanding horizons and its relationship to the Museum. “The Concept of Islamic Art: Inherited Discourses and New Approaches,” in Islamic Art and the Museum: Approaches to Art and Archaeology of the Muslim World in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Benoît Junod, Georges Khalil, Stefan Weber, Gerhard Wolf (London: Saqi Books, 2012), 57-75. (Electronically reproduced in The Journal of Art Historiography, June 1, 2012, vol. 6; Special Issue on the Historiography of Islamic Art and Architecture, guest-edited by Moya Carey and Margaret S. Graves, 1-26).
LIVENARCH VII: Livable Environments and Architecture: Other Architect/ure(s), 2021
Considering the reasons of volition for art, the content of Aesthetic Science is questioned. The aesthetic phenomenon, by its structure, involves a process between subject and object interest. The artist, who is a subject, affects and transforms the object by taking an aesthetic attitude. This effect reveals the aesthetic work of art. In certain periods, aesthetic research was directed at the object, and works of art were studied only in the field of objectivist aesthetics. At the beginning of 18th the century, as a result of the Renaissance, human research led to the importance of subjectivist aesthetics. An understanding called a subjectivist or psychological aesthetic regards an aesthetic object as a screen in which the emotions and thoughts of the subject are reflected. It accepts the analysis of these psychic transmissions of the subject as both an essential and only reasonable way to determine the aesthetic object (Tunalı, 2011). From this point of view, it is possible to see every image that forms the essence of the work of art as the embodiment of a style of vision, and every style of vision as a reflection of the trends represented by the subject. Examining the need for art prompt through subject matter leads to a psychological interpretation of the meaning of art. Views through which a person understands the work of art with an inner sense are encountered in the process from antiquity philosophers to modern time researchers (Tunalı, 2011). According to these views, a person has a sense of beauty, which is natural, and the meaning of a work of art is understood only by this feeling. The end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, with the dominance of the discipline of psychology, theory of knowledge, logic and morality are desired to be taken back to psychology, as well as aesthetics and philosophy of art are desired to be based on psychological foundations, taking the same path. These opinions indicate that thoughts and intuitions are weighted in explaining works of art. In the understanding of aesthetics, the whole competence is the ability of thought and image, because it is related to the beautiful spiritual universe. Theodor Lipps, a famous representative of this understanding, is described as the founder of modern psychological aesthetics. According to Lipps: Aesthetics is the science of beauty. “An object is called beautiful because it evokes or can evoke a special feeling in me, that is, a feeling called a 'sense of beauty'. According to this, ‘beauty ' is the ability of an object having a certain effect on me.” (Lipps, 1906) Lipps explains the analysis of this special feeling that the object evokes in the subject with a theory that he calls empathy(einfühlung). That is the feeling leading the person to aesthetic pleasure. According to this, the source of aesthetic pleasure is not the object that it grasps first with sensory and then emotional activity, but its own spiritual activity. The subject experiences this activity in an object that is an entity other than itself. (Lipps, 1906) Although the theory of empathy may seem to Lipps as the main requirement of artistic creation and aesthetic pleasure, it is not sufficient to explain the desire for art, given the parallel between the history of art of the period and geographies. Looking at the history of art, there are stylistic variations in the arts of many nations and eras. For example, given the differences in the arts of Eastern Civilizations, another condition should be sought instead of empathy. So what is this "other art prompt"? Can the theory of empathy, which the Modern Western world uses in explaining the psychology of style, be sufficient in explaining the demands of art of other civilizations? Or should another explanation and method be sought? May the empathy, ''which means” hearing something from within", be valid in abstract art while it is enough to explain the art styles of societies that establish intimate relations with the world? Art historian Wilhelm Worringer examines the subject by asking why and how the artist chose different paths in his works, which he has put forward as a review of stylistic psychology. Connecting the distinction between art styles to the inner worlds of artists, Worringer looks for the effectiveness of empathy by looking at concrete examples of art history. As a result of his research, Worringer, who believes that he must look for another point of the handle in processes other than Greek-Roman, Renaissance and Western art, seeks the condition of an art style performed with abstraction (Aydemir, 2015).. He explains the desire for other art with the concept of abstraction, by which he puts against the theory of empathy. According to Worringer, the activity of empathy is a positive interest between man and nature, while the condition of abstract art is a reaction to the negative and insecure nature of the universe. The sense of empathy finds satisfaction in the vitality of natural beauty; the spiritual coexistence with a person, nature and life, while the abstraction found at the opposite pole finds satisfaction in inorganic forms that reject life, achieving abstract, absolute imperatives. In this study, the theory of abstraction and empathy, which has made important conclusions about stylistic psychology, will be studied through architectural works of art. The Theory, which has found a valuable place in the history of art, will be looked at in the private Sanjak mosque. Searching of the other art request at the opposite pole of the theory of empathy, which Western art especially uses when conveying the naturalist style, is considered compatible with the subject of Livenarch 2021: Other Architect/ure(s). In this context, the conditions that lead to empathy and abstraction of style in architecture will be examined and analyzed within the content of the study. By the content reading method, important concepts in Worringer's work of abstraction and empathy will be determined. The concepts detected will again be evaluated based on the physical and qualitative architectural elements passed in the work. In the example of the Sanjak Mosque selected as a sample area, the comparative concepts reached within the content of abstraction and the theory of empathy will be a new and developable step in the sense of studying the style in architecture. In this context, the study aims to make architectural works questionable and meaningful within the content of abstraction and the theory of empathy. Key Words: Stylistic Physcology; Wilhelm Worringer; Abstraction and Empathy; Architecture and Physcology; Sancaklar Mosque