Islamic aesthetics : an introduction / Oliver Leaman.
Material type: TextSeries: New Edinburgh Islamic surveysPublication details: Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, c2004. Description: viii, 211 p. ; 24 cmISBN: 0748617345; 0748617353 (pbk.) :Subject(s): Islamic art | Islam and art | Aesthetics, Arab | Islamic architectureAdditional physical formats: Online version:: Islamic aesthetics.DDC classification: 709.17671 LOC classification: NX688.A4 | L43 2004bItem type | Current library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Books | The BIAA David H. French Library Shelf 37 - Main Room | G1e LEAMA 26659 | Not for loan | BOOKS*000000020225 |
Includes bibliographical references (p. [190]-198) and indexes.
Eleven common mistakes about Islamic art -- God as creator, calligraphy and symbolism -- Religion, style and art -- Literature -- Music -- Home and garden -- The miraculousness of the Qur'an -- Philosophy and ways of seeing -- Interpreting art, interpreting Islam, interpreting philosophy.
"It is often argued that a very special sort of consciousness went into creating Islamic art, that it is very different from other forms of art, that Muslims are not allowed to portray human beings in their art, and that calligraphy is the supreme Islamic art form. Oliver Leaman challenges all these ideas, showing them to be misguided. Instead he suggests that the sort of criteria we should apply to Islamic art are identical to the criteria applicable to art in general, and that the attempt to put Islamic art into a special category is a result of orientalism." [Publisher's description].