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Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition: Aesthetics, Politics and Desire in Early Islam by Mohammed Hamdouni Alami (Paperback, 2013)

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What is 'art' in the sense of the Islamic tradition? Mohammed Hamdouni Alami argues that Islamic art has historically been excluded from Western notions of art; that the Western aesthetic tradition's preoccupation with the human body, and the ban on the representation of the human body in Islam, has meant that Islamic and Western art have been perceived as inherently at odds. However, the move away from this 'anthropomorphic aesthetic' in Western art movements, such as modern abstract and constructivist painting, have presented the opportunity for new ways of viewing and evaluating Islamic art and architecture. This book questions the very idea of art predicated on the anthropocentric bias of classical art, and the corollary 'exclusion' of Islamic art from the status of art. It addresses a central question in post-classical aesthetic theory, in as much as the advent of modern abstract and constructivist painting have shown that art can be other than the representation of the human body; that art is not neutral aesthetic contemplation but it is fraught with power and violence; and that the presupposition of classical art was not a universal truth but the assumption of a specific cultural and historical set of practices and vocabularies. Based on close readings of classical Islamic literature, philosophy, poetry, medicine and theology, along with contemporary Western art theory, the author uncovers a specific Islamic theoretical vision of art and architecture based on poetic practice, politics, cosmology and desire. In particular it traces the effects of decoration and architectural planning on the human soul as well as the centrality of the gaze in this poetic view - in Arabic 'nazar'- while examining its surprising similarity to modern theories of the gaze. Through this double gesture, moving critically between two traditions, the author brings Islamic thought and aesthetics back into the realm of visibility, addressing the lack of recognition in comparison with other historical periods and traditions. This is an important step toward a critical analysis of the contemporary debate around the revival of Islamic architectural identity - a debate intricately embedded within opposing Islamic political and social projects throughout the world.

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN-13
9781780765617
eBay Product ID (ePID)
138805103

Product Key Features

Book Title
Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition: Aesthetics, Politics and Desire in Early Islam
Author
Mohammed Hamdouni Alami
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Publication Year
2013
Number of Pages
304 Pages

Dimensions

Item Height
216mm
Item Width
138mm
Item Weight
417g

Additional Product Features

Title_Author
Mohammed Hamdouni Alami
Country/Region of Manufacture
United Kingdom

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Art and Architecture in the Islamic Tradition: Aesthetics, Politics and Desire in Early Islam by Mohammed Hamdouni Alami (Paperback, 2013)

About this product

Product Information

Product Identifiers

Product Key Features

Dimensions

Additional Product Features

Best Selling in Books

Atomic Habits: the life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller by James Clear (Paperback, 2018)

First Day by Andrew Daddo (Paperback, 2014)

Save on Books

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