Gabriele Mandel (1924–2010)

This is a slim volume int the Penguin series about different genres of Art. They all suffer from the size of the volume. There is just not enough space there to really do justice to a subject as large as Islamic Art. If the aim is merely to learn how to recognise Islamic art then I suppose that criticism does not hold quite so strongly. But even with this, more restricted, aim it's difficult to say that one could recognise all examples of Islamic art from the limited selection on offer here. For example, they don't seem to cover (or have any example) for the geometric wood patterns ...Khatam.. (made from different coloured wood, glued together in combination), Nor is there any example of the steel work with swords.
The book follows the general contents of the others in this series: Architecture followed by a range of other arts.....though this books differs a bit from the others in it's coverage.
1. Architecture... a reasonable coverage here but the main feature of Islamic Architecture here seems to be the minaret.
2. Decoration ....typically carved stonework on capitals of buildings..but also includes the beautiful pierced stone and inlayed stonework ...in intricate geometric patterns.
3. Metal, glass, Ivory and Wood...rather limited. Some credit given to elaborate metal works such as the ornamental Griffin and Peacock but no mention of the Damascus Blade and Islamic sword art/technology
4. Ceramics ...(nothing about the splendid tiled patterns of the Alhambra but a bit about the adoption of Chinese themes and techniques after the Mongol conquest/Invasion).
6. Miniatures...seems to be the only sort of painting of figures and animals that they could get away with under Islam.....though they do mention Islamic Calligraphy in this section. (Probably needs a section to itself).
7. Rugs and carpets...a rather brief coverage of rugs ..which makes the point that they can be roughly divided into three; knotted, woven and chain stitched. Again the patterns are largely geometric.
I guess, my single main take-away from all this is of the stultifying effect the Islamic prohibition against images has had on the development of their art but also the astonishing creativity of the artists operating under these prohibitions. It's also pretty clear that art is too important to be entrusted to a bunch of clerics. They should stick to pure theological speculation. I give the book 3 stars.… (mer)