The tolerability of depictions of Muhammad in Islam has been a very controversial issue. Oral and written descriptions are ungrudgingly acknowledged by all customs of Islam, however there are clear discrepancies concerning the opinions about visual illustrations. (Arnold, 1919) The Quran does not expressly prohibit pictures of Muhammad, but there are several supplemental teachings of the hadith that have unambiguously denied Muslims the right to produce any visual portrayals of him whatsoever. (Buk̲ārī, Qasṭallānī, 1970) It is generally agreed on all sides that there is no entirely genuine convention with regards to the visual representation of Muhammad, even in spite of the fact that there a plethora of early legends of pictures and complete physical depictions whose legitimacy is regularly acknowledged.
The subject of whether pictures in Islamic workmanship, including those delineating Muhammad, can be considered as religious craftsmanship remains a matter of dispute among researchers. They show up in represented books that are regularly works of history or verse, incorporating those with religious subjects; the Qur'an is never delineated: "setting and aim are vital to comprehension Islamic pictorial workmanship. The Muslim craftsmen making pictures of Muhammad, and the general population, who viewed
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The Museum cited complaints with respect to traditionalist Muslims that were "under audit." The gallery's activity was scrutinized as over the top political rightness, as were different choices taken near the same time, including the renaming of the "Primitive Art Galleries" to "Expressions of the human experience of Africa, Oceania and the Americas" and the anticipated "Islamic Galleries" to "Middle Easterner Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia".
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA as it is commonly known, is among the world’s largest art collections in North America, and to be specific enough the most prevalent artwork in the western United States (Compton 165). This massive art museum has a collection of over 100,000 artworks, which extends from the ancient times to present days (Gilbert and Mills 174). These collections, which are mainly from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin-America and America itself, are grouped into several departments within the museums buildings, depending on the region, culture, media, and time period. This paper analyzes the different genres of art and explains the main features that make the Islamic artworks distinguish themselves as historic masterpieces, by using stylistic and interpretive analysis methods.
Ward, Lucy. "Muslims Get Angry at 'Bad Guy' Film Images." Guardian.co.uk. The Guardian, 25 Jan.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced recently that it had acquired “the remarkable Madina Collection of Islamic art. The collection contains works of various media dating from the late 7th through 19th centuries from the vast areas that comprise the Islamic world, from Southern Spain to Central Asia” (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). While the museum already had quite an extensive collection of Islamic art, this particular exhibit truly adds the collections as a whole.
Religious strife dominated the 16th and 17th centuries. Religion was the number one subject of discord. There were numerous civil wars and conflicts between the Catholics and the Huguenots (French Protestants). This political and religious struggle spilled over into the world of art (Cothren & Stokstad, 2011, p.679). Artists needed to work within the specific guidelines of the Church, an example being the color of the Virgin Mary’s clothing. In the three paintings showcased, religion changed the perception of the artist.
Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
In the 14th century illustrated books became a very popular form of art in Iran. Dynasties in power in Iran during this period played an important role in the creation and propagation of this form of art (Bahram Gur in a Peasant’s House, n.d.). The Ilkhanid dynasty created several of these illustrated books (Bahram Gur in a Peasant’s House, n.d.). The Ilkhanids, a Mongol dynasty, was in power in Iran from 1258 C.E to 1336 C.E (Bahram Gur in a Peasant’s House, n.d.).
Throughout human history power imbalances have been prevalent in almost every civilization. One method of controlling people, in addition to power power, is to control how much knowledge gets out to the masses. This paper examines how iconoclasm is used in the Middle East as a method of controlling popular opinions and thoughts on race,sex and many other important details of everyday life. Iconoclasm is the systemic destruction of religious or cultural pieces of artwork for political or religious reasons. The destruction of artifacts can rewrite cultural history and change opinions on how the history of a nation is perceived. This also results in extensive loss of cultural history which can never be recovered. The Middle East is of particular interest in this research paper as it has been in the news recently for such acts. Most Middle Eastern countries have Islam listed as their official religion. In Islam it is forbidden to show the face of Allah, the God of Islam, in any form of artwork. It is also seen as taboo to have any living creatures such as humans or animals depicted in a mosque, the Islamic place of worship. As such, many buildings which have been converted into mosques have been defaced to suit the proper Islamic code. One such incident of this happening is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Once a Roman Catholic church, it was converted into a mosque after the conquer of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks and all mosaics depicting Jesus, His mother and saints were removed. Another popular incident attributed to iconoclasm within Middle Eastern countries include the missing nose of the Sphinx in Egypt(World Heritage Site). One confirmed incident of iconoclasm in within the past few decades is of the defacing and d...
One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.
The censorship of art was a common occurrence during the time of the reformation, and can still be seen in modern times. Strong emotions towards art can create a push people to protect or destroy work. Most works are meant to elicit some form of emotion, be it love or hate . David Freedberg is an author who looks at people’s relationship with art. In David Freedberg’s The Fear of Art: How Censorship Becomes Iconoclasm, Freedberg evaluates how the destruction of artworks can give hints at the historical use and function of the art piece and how people interacted with it. This review will discuss how Freedberg tackled the psychological response of the viewer, and the social and religious impacts leading to iconoclasm. While there is scholarship on iconoclasm, Freedberg brings Northern Renaissance and modern events such as the one’s involving the Bamiyan Buddhas and the iconoclasm of Murray’s The Spear of Africa together, as well as discusses the censorship of the artworks and the possible causes.
Throughout history Christian art has been a valuable resource for spreading the word of God, but it is the Holy Bible that provides the foundation from which it originates. Therefore, it is important for a viewer of Christian art to analyze the integrity of the piece by becoming familiar with the Bible itself. In order to judge the integrity of Christian artwork it must be compared to Biblical texts and analyzed to check for its accurate depiction and context found in the Bible.
In Charles Harrison’s An Introduction to Art and Brian O’Docherty’s Notes on the Gallery Space, both authors discuss the influence that the gallery setting may have on the visitor’s experience of the artwork on display. Harrison believes that the visitor’s experience is improved when the gallery places equal focus on history and aesthetics, whilst O’Doherty argues that the gallery context should isolate art from the outside world. Harrison states that few artworks are produced with the intention of being placed in a gallery (15) - especially excavated artefacts - therefore, information should be provided which gives the visitor an insight into a work’s historical origins (23). However, he warns that simply studying this information may neglect the work’s individuality, so a historic approach should be combined with an aesthetic approach concerning the work’s formal characteristics (24). Harrison stresses the importance of balancing both these approaches, stating that conditions for interpretation are optimised in galleries
”(Tabor, 2012, p. 171) The Old and New Testament painted
Flood explains the origin of Islamic iconoclasm through a quote by K.A.C. Creswell stating, "the inherent temperamental dislike of Semitic races for representational art" and believes iconoclasm is contested among Muslims as well. The Hadith, which is the narrative of the Prophet's life forbids "all representations that have shadows (whose defacement is obligatory), and some schools of thought go so far as to liken artists to polytheists." Although the impact of iconoclasm depends on the time and place in which it occurred, the Hadith definitely helped to promote "the eschewal of figural imagery" and "the destruction or mutilation of existing figural imagery." In 696-697 figural imagery was repla...
On the surface Muhammad is usually considered to be a prophet and messenger of God, but when looking closer we can see that He played many more roles in His life time including one of a Statesman.
I have been somewhat critical of the author at times, but this is only because he opens the door for the reader to think. I would not be able to formulate opinions if he hadn’t questioned whether Muhammad was being a fair and effective leader. After all, he greatly changed the course of history as we know it. Cook’s objective way of looking at Muhammad’s life allows one to attain a clear view of just how deep of an impact he made.