Fine Arts of Islam

The art of Islam is a type of artistic creativity, mainly in countries where the state religion is Islam. In its main features it was formed during the Middle Ages. It was then that the Arab countries and regions where Islam was brought to, made a huge contribution to the treasury of world civilization. The special appeal of Islamic art, its originality and traditions, made it possible to go beyond time and space and become part of the universal human heritage.

History

Islamic culture emerged as a phenomenon in the seventh century AD. But the principles of this religion, set forth by her theologians, and mainly based on the interpretation of the Torah, forbade the representation of living beings. Even more severe rules concerned the impossibility of translating God (Allah) into painting or sculpture. Therefore, when this religion spread from the Arabian deserts to the east, up to India, and collided with local cultures, it initially treated them hostilely. First, Islam considered the art of other countries pagan, and, secondly, there dominated the images of various deities, people and animals. But over time, Muslim culture still absorbed some of the principles of art, reworked them and created their own styles and rules. So the fine art of Islam arose. In addition, just as Muslim theology in each region has its own characteristics, so culture has become dependent on the country and its traditions.

Characteristic features of the fine arts of Islam

First of all, the canon of this culture was developed in architecture and ornament. It was based on the traditions of Byzantine, Egyptian, and Persian art of the pre-Islamic period. In some countries, the ban on the image of people and animals was very ephemeral, as, for example, in Iran. Later, Islamic painting and plastic forms of art arose. The Muslim culture is characterized by the construction of buildings with large domes, much attention that was paid to interior paintings, mosaics and interior, rather than appearance, bright and juicy colors, symmetry, the presence of arabesque and so-called mucarnasses. These are arches in the form of honeycombs, with numerous depressions and depressions.

Varieties

Islamic art has developed its greatest development in the field of architecture. In this style, not only religious buildings were built, such as mosques or madrassas, but also secular buildings. One of the most important types of this art is calligraphy, which left us a rich heritage of ornamental compositions. In Iran and Muslim India, such rare kinds of fine arts of Islam as painting and miniature became widespread. And practically in all countries where this religion was professed, such popular applied types of creativity as carpet weaving and ceramics production were developed.

Architecture

It is customary to single out such major arts of Islam in this area - the Egyptian style, the Tatar, the Moorish and the Ottoman. The other types of architecture are considered secondary or derived from the main ones. Muslims developed their own rules for building and decorating buildings, when Islam became the state religion in different countries, the number of worshipers increased, and for their meetings it was necessary to build mosques. Initially, the architects proceeded from the functional needs. That is, for the mosque it was necessary to have a hall where people gather, a mihrab (a niche facing Mecca), a minbar (pulpit), a courtyard with galleries, a pond for ritual ablutions, and minarets, from which calls for prayer. The first such temples include the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem, the seventh century AD). At its core, it has an octagon and stands in the middle of the courtyard with galleries. In addition to mosques and religious schools - madrassas - specific Muslim features have different public buildings. This is mainly caravanserais (inns), hammams (bathhouses), covered bazaars.

Countries and regions

The art of Islam has developed in the Egyptian style of architecture. An example is the mosque of Ibn Tulun (ninth century) and Sultan Hassan (14th century) in Cairo. These temples make an impression of power, they have impressive dimensions. They are covered with bizarre mosaic inscriptions, and their walls are ornamented with arabesques, that is, with stylized geometric and plant elements. Such repetitive ornaments filling all voids symbolized the reasoning of Islamic theologians about the infinite "tissue of the Universe". Vaults in mosques have the form of a dome, and they rest on columns in the form of stalactites. As a typical example of Iranian and Central Asian architecture, the Samadin dynasty mausoleum in Bukhara is brought. In Muslim Persia, mostly loved to use in the construction of buildings tiles in the form of stars and crosses, from which laid out various compositions.

Moorish style

The fine art of Islam, like its architecture, reached its peak in the time of Arab domination in Spain. The most striking manifestation of it can be called the palace of the Alhambra rulers in Granada. This luxurious structure with many ornate rooms and halls is surrounded by a wall with towers and fortresses. The so-called Mirtovy Dvor with a colonnade deserves special attention. From it you can go to the Hall of Messengers, covered with a dome. According to tradition, the rulers of Granada received representatives of other countries. Another famous courtyard is the Lion's. It is named so, because the fountain, which is in the middle, rests on 12 sculptures depicting these animals. In the palace there are many other halls - Two Sisters, Trial - rooms and rooms decorated with luxurious mosaics and balconies, porticoes. The buildings of the Alhambra are located among gardens and flower gardens. In the same style built and the Great Mosque in Cordoba (Mesquita).

India

Features of the art of Islam are perfectly embodied in such a masterpiece of Muslim architecture as the Taj Mahal. It is a product of later times. It refers to the seventeenth century and was built by order of the ruler of the Islamic Mughal dynasty in India, Shah Jihan the First. In terms of this structure has a cut square with a dome at the top, standing on an artificial platform of marble. In the corners of the building are minarets. The mausoleum is built of white marble and pink sandstone and decorated with precious stones. The building is also ornamented with gold inscriptions on a black background. Therefore, it stands out in the middle of the sky and greenery. Inside it has a rich interior decorated with ornaments of gold, silver and a mosaic of jewelry.

Turkey

The art of the countries of Islam is adequately represented in this country. At first, the Turks built their mosques in the same way as the Arabs. But from the fifteenth century, after the conquest of Byzantium, their architecture was greatly influenced by the architecture of the empire they had captured. By the type of local churches they began to build mosques of rectangular shape, with a lot of domes and adjacent buildings, as well as an inner courtyard - ayvan. The greatest prosperity of Turkish architecture reached in the era of the Ottomans, especially in the work of Sinan. This architect designed and built a huge number of mosques, but he personally singled out three: two in Istanbul (Shah-Zade and Suleimaniye), and one in Edirne (Selimiye). These structures are distinguished by refined minarets, huge domes and lancet arches.

Calligraphy

The fine art of Islam has such an important branch as Muslim applied painting. It evolved from the artistic copying of the Koran - the holy Book. Then it was used to decorate mosques. This letter was called Arabic script or "Kufic", because it was believed that it comes from this Iraqi city. In various Islamic countries calligraphy has been brought to the highest degree of perfection. The master of this letter was simultaneously a stylist, a mathematician and an artist. Types of calligraphy in Muslim countries have even been canonized. In the XV-XVII centuries a new type of writing appeared - the so-called whale, where a whole picture was created by the authorized handwriting of one or several species. The artist's tool was a reed pen (kalam), the very method of cleaning which determined the style. The calligrapher had to demonstrate his refined taste not only with the ability to gracefully display Arabic ligature, but also the knowledge of spatial geometry, as well as the mastery of the art of ornament - geometric, plant, zoological or anthropomorphic.

Miniature

Features of the fine arts of Islam are also in the fact that in this religion they do not allow the anthropomorphy of God. Therefore, artistic creativity was excluded from the sacral area and remained only in secular culture. But its distribution depended on different countries. In the Quran there is no direct prohibition on the image of people and animals, but there are such censures in the hadiths - Islamic legends. In general, painting was distributed as an ornament of luxury goods and book illustrations - miniatures. Basically, it reached its peak in Iran, in Central Asia and the Indian Mughal Empire. Persian miniature is based on the wall paintings of this country pre-Islamic period. It evolved from book illustrations, but Iranian artists quickly made an independent genre from it. They developed an excellent picturesque system in which color, shape, composition and expression were combined to create a single whole. Persian artists deliberately used a planar image type, rather than a 3D image. The heroes of this painting, as a rule, are idealized and live in a beautiful world. Workshops of miniatures most often served as Shah's libraries, or Kitabhane. Since the eighteenth century, European technique and traditions have become a major influence on Iranian painting.

Applied art: ceramics and weaving

These industries have developed in Iran, Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Turkey. Architectural ceramics were especially famous. It could be patterned brickwork or carved terracotta. But the most famous was the facing of buildings with the help of a multicolored painted majolica. It is she who gives such a chic and shine to the eastern palaces. As for the painting of dishes, the prohibitions on the use of silver and gold in economic needs played a role here. However, the Islamic masters tried to give the earthen vessels the radiance and brilliance. For this purpose, lead glaze was made, and also tried to create something similar to Chinese porcelain. So, white enamel was invented to cover dishes, as well as effects of gold and silver in watering. The most ancient carpets were found in Egypt. They belong to the ninth century. Carpet weaving was born from the manufacture of bedding for namaz. There were two kinds of this art - ornamental, where patterns and geometric figures intertwined, and fine, with scenes of hunting, battles and landscapes. The latter species is less common. The brightest and fuzzy Persian carpets, and the special technique of the Turkish masters, won the greatest fame.

Importance of the art of Islam

Despite the fact that we are talking about the cultural features of a particular religion, the meaning of this term extends to secular life. In the Muslim world, painting, architecture, and other forms of art reflect people's perception of spirituality, values and what surrounds them. The main feature of this culture is the desire for beauty, which is a sign of divinity. Geometric shapes and ornaments seem to reveal the ciphers of the language of the universe, and repeated patterns indicate its infinity. Applied art tries to make fine everyday things. The culture of Islam had a huge impact on the development of Western Europe, beginning with the Middle Ages.