History of Painting - Islamic Painting

Islamic Painting

• Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî, Iraq, 1237

• Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî, Iraq, 1237

• Syrischer Maler, 1315 Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Ilkhanid Shahnameh, ca. 1330-1340, Smithsonian

• Kamal-ud-din Bihzad (c. 1450 – c. 1535), The construction of castle Khavarnaq (الخورنق) in al-Hira, c. 1494-1495 C.E. British Museum

• Persian miniature painting, CE 1550

• Reza Abbasi, 1609

• Razmnama, 1616, British Museum

• Two Lovers by Reza Abbasi, 1630

• Persian miniature Harun al-Rashid in Thousand and One Nights

• Reza Abbasi (1565–1635), Prince Muhammad-Beik of Georgia, 1620

• Adam and Eve, Safavid Iran, from a Falnama (book of Omens) c. 1550 AD.

• A painting depicting Abû Zayd, 1335 AD.

• A scene from the book of Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Ahnaf, showing two galloping horsemen, 1210 AD.

• The angel Isrâfîl, Iraq, 1280 AD.

• The Clerk, Iraq, 1287.

• An ornamental Qur'an, by al-Bawwâb, 11th century AD.

• Mehmet II, from the Sarai Albums of Istanbul, Turkey, 15th century AD

• Maiden in a fur cap, by Muhammad ‘Alî, Isfahan, Iran, mid-17th century

• Youth and Suitors, Mashhad, Iran, 1556–1565 AD

The depiction of humans, animals or any other figurative subjects is forbidden within Islam to prevent believers from idolatry so there is no religiously motivated painting (or sculpture) tradition within Muslim culture. Pictorial activity was reduced to Arabesque, mainly abstract, with geometrical configuration or floral and plant-like patterns. Strongly connected to architecture and calligraphy, it can be widely seen as used for the painting of tiles in mosques or in illuminations around the text of the Koran and other books. In fact, abstract art is not an invention of modern art but it is present in pre-classical, barbarian and non-western cultures many centuries before it and is essentially a decorative or applied art. Notable illustrator M. C. Escher was influenced by this geometrical and pattern-based art. Art Nouveau (Aubrey Beardsley and the architect Antonio Gaudí) re-introduced abstract floral patterns into western art.

Note that despite the taboo of figurative visualization, some Muslim countries did cultivate a rich tradition in painting, though not in its own right, but as a companion to the written word. Iranian or Persian art, widely known as Persian miniature, concentrates on the illustration of epic or romantic works of literature. Persian illustrators deliberately avoided the use of shading and perspective, though familiar with it in their pre-Islamic history, in order to abide by the rule of not creating any lifelike illusion of the real world. Their aim was not to depict the world as it is, but to create images of an ideal world of timeless beauty and perfect order.

In present days, painting by art students or professional artists in Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries follows the same tendencies of Western culture art.