Islamic Art and Architecture

The arts of Islam include the great works of architecture and the illustrated book, as well as decorative arts such as metalwork, textiles, pottery and glass, produced in Muslim lands (from Central Asia to Spain and Africa) from the 7th century A.D. to the 19th century.

Online catalog: some broad subject headings for searching include:

Architecture, Islamic
Art, Islamic
Islamic calligraphy
Costume, Islamic
Islamic decoration
Islamic decoration and ornament
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Islamic
Islamic antiquities
Islamic art and symbolism
Miniature painting, Islamic
Painting, Islamic
Textile fabrics, Islamic

Also search using more specific terms, e.g. Ottoman or Timurid (dynasties) or specific object types, e.g. Iznik pottery or kilims, or buildings e.g. Great Mosque or Alhambra.

Reference Works for the Islamic World (general)

Cambridge History of Islam. (2 vols.) Davis Ref. [DS35.6 .C3]

Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World. Davis Ref. [DS35.63 .R63 1996] An introductory yet scholarly work covering all aspects of the Islamic world.

Encyclopedia of Islam. Volumes 1-9 (Davis Ref. CD-ROM--see also E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Davis Ref. [DS35.53 .E53 1993])

Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. Davis Ref. [D114 .E53 1999] See entries on Islam and Islamic art (pp. 741-3.) Includes cross-references and bibliographies.

Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Davis Ref. [CB361.E52 1999] See "Islam" and "Islamic thought" in v. 3, pp. 283ff.

Gale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of 25 reference books and encyclopedias in electronic format. The titles cover a wide range of subjects, from the arts to medicine, and from multicultural studies to social science. Search the "Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World."

Historical Dictionary of Islam. Davis Ref. [BP50.A33 2001]

Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia (2 vols). Davis Ref. [DS36.85 .M434 2006]

Muslim Almanac. Davis Ref. [BP40 .M83 1996] A useful introduction to the Muslim world; see sections on arts and architecture. Includes B&W illustrations and bibliography.

Oxford History of Islam. Davis [BP50 .O95 1999]

Quick Reference: Understanding Islam (UNC Libraries Reference Department)

Selected Texts Online

Koran at UVA Electronic Text Center.

Koran, Harvard Classics edition.

Reference Works for Islamic Art

Grove Dictionary of Art, Art Ref. [N31 .D5 1996] See especially v. 16, pp. 94-560. This entry for Islamic Art is comprehensive, with extensive authoritative bibliographies and a chapter on historiography, the"history of Islamic art history". See also Grove Dictionary of Art Online, which has image links and updates to the text.

Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, Art Ref. [NA380 .P43 1996]. Comprehensive for Islamic Architecture worldwide.

Islamic Art Collections : an International Survey. Art Ref. [N6260 .I85 2000]. Sponsored by UNESCO, a comprehensive guide to museums in 41 countries, and to libraries with illuminated manuscript collections. Includes scope of collection and number of objects, including "objects of unique interest" as well as brief bibliographies of print collection catalogs.

Selected Recent Surveys

Baer, Eva. The Human Figure in Islamic Art: Inheritances and Islamic Transformations. [N7625.5 .B34 2004]

Blair. Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800. Art Ref. [N6260 .B56 1994]

Bloom. Islamic Arts. [N6260 .B57 1997]

Brend. Islamic Art. [N6250 .B76 1991]

Ettinghausen and Grabar. The Art and Architecture of Islam, 650-1250. Art Ref. [N6260 .E885 1987]

Hillenbrand. Image and Meaning in Islamic Art. [N6260 .I63 2005]

Hillenbrand. Islamic Art and Architecture. [N6260 .H55 1999]

Irwin. Islamic Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Literary World. [N6260 .I75 1997]

Leaman, Oliver. Islamic Aesthetics: An Introduction. [NX688.A4 L43 2004]

Other Surveys Particularly Useful for Extensive Pictorial Content

Die Kunst des Islam . Art Ref. [N6260 .S68] A scholarly work in German, useful for non-readers of German for its more than 400 plates (B&W and color) , plans and bibliographies.

Islam: Art and Architecture. Art Reserve, [N6260 .I725 2000] A heavily-illustrated popular work.

Key Art Journals (shelved by title unless otherwise indicated)

Archives of Asian Art
Ars Islamica (1934-51 only)
Ars Orientalis
Arts & the Islamic World
Arts of Asia
Asian Art
Historians of Islamic Art Newsletter
Islamic Art
Mimar (Storage; non-current)
Muqarnas [N6260 .M83]
(see also Muqarnas supplements, Studies and Sources in Islamic Art and Architecture.)
Oriental art
Orientations

Other Relevant Journals:

Bulletin of the Asia Institute (Davis, with TOCs and subject indexes online)

Journal of Islamic Studies (Davis, with TOCs online, full text online from 2001-)
see also s=islam-periodicals in online catalog

Bibliographies, Image Databases, Indexes and Abstracts

Bibliography of Asian Studies

CAMIO offers rights-cleared, high-quality art images for class projects, art history and studio art programs, course Web sites, lectures, presentations, and research resources.

Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain
This collection from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center contains over four thousand color slides and black and white photographs of medieval Spain, spanning over one thousand years of architectural history, from the seventh to the seventeenth century. Searchable by pre-defined subject group, as well as by place/time, date, subject and/or title.

Creswell, K. A. C. A Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts, and Crafts of Islam. Art Reference [Z5956.I8 C741] (also Davis). The major bibliography for Islamic art, to be updated soon. Also available as a website.

The Creswell Archive: the Creswell Photographic Archive
(Architecture of the Islamic world from Spain to Iraq, 7th-18th centuries) A database containing 6,523 images.

Index Islamicus
A bibliography of publications on Islam and the Muslim world since 1906 (see also print editions in Davis)

Mamluk Bibliography at the Middle East Document Center, University of Chicago. The Mamluk Bibliography is an on-going project of the Middle East Documentation Center at the University of Chicago, the aim of which is to compile comprehensive bibliographies of all primary sources relating to the Mamluk sultanate of Egypt and Syria, as well as all research and discussion--scholarly and popular--germane to the subject.

Selected Collection and Major Exhibition Catalogs

al-Andalus : the Art of Islamic Spain. [N7103 .A4 1992] A landmark exhibition. The Media Resources Center has a video on the same subject.

The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. [N7165 .A85 1987] Major exhibition on the art of the Ottoman world.

Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Collection of Nasser D. Khalili. [N6264.G7 L66737 1995] Catalog of a major traveling exhibition.

The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. Art Oversize, [N6264.G7 L667 1992] Multiple volumes dealing with manuscripts, painting, decorative arts, etc.

Sultan, Shah and the Great Mughal: the History and Culture of the Islamic World. [N6264.D4 C674 1996]

The Topkapi Saray Museum. (multiple catalogs; search s=topkapi) See also catalog of recent exhibition, Palace of Gold & Light : Treasures from the Topkapi, Istanbul. [N7164 .P35 2000]

The Victoria & Albert Museum Collection.
Art microfiche 5-11 with guide
Images from the vast Departments of Architecture & Sculpture, Ceramics, Furniture & Woodwork, Metalwork, and Textiles; international in scope, including objects of Islamic origin.

The Art of India: Paintings and Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Art microfiche 5-254 with guide. Color fiche of the V&A's extensive collection of illuminated manuscripts.

Web Sites

Carolina Duke Emory Institute for the Study of Islam

Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Includes useful links for architecture.

Mamluk Studies Resources A cluster of resources provided by the University of Chicago Middle East Documentation Center - includes a preview of the Chicago Online Encyclopedia of Mamluk Studies.

Middle East Virtual Library (MENALIB) Includes a major portal, the ALMISBAH database of online resources, as well as a periodical contents database. See "Source Type" catalog for links to museums.

Ottoman Studies Resource Index. A gateway to resources on the Ottoman world.

Oxford Center for Islamic Studies

Selected Islamic Art Sites

Discover Islamic Art Virtual Museum
Launched by the Museum With No Frontiers (MWNF), the Discover Islamic Art Virtual Museum includes a Permanent Collection, a database, a section dedicated to the Partner Museums as well as a Travel & Book platform. A Temporary Exhibition space will be inaugurated in spring 2007. Please note that some of the translations are still in progress.

Gulbenkian Museum/Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon
Islamic art from the 12th to the 18th c. Includes some digitized images with excellent documentation.

Hermitage, St. Petersburg
A major site of great collection, with searchable, well-documented digitized images, as well as archived exhibition pages.

Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris
Information about their exhibitions, with some images and text.

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Includes an archived exhibition on the Fatimids, with a few digitized images of objects from other collections.

Louvre, Paris
A few of the objects from the Islamic collection are digitized. See also the JOCONDE database, which includes documentation and some images of works from 70 French museums, (some representing the Islamic world).

Topkapi Palace Museum (Topkapi Saray Musezi), Istanbul
Website devoted to the great collections of the Ottoman sultans.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Art from the Islamic world, 700-1900.

Note: the Sloane Art Library has catalogs from many of these museums.

Videos

Church and Mosque. Art Video 5-219

Circle in the Square. Art Video 5-198

Islamic Art [Architecture of Sinan]. Art Video 5-178

Word Power in Islamic Art. UL Nonprint Video 65-V4359

See also UNC's Media Resources Center,
which has one of the best selections of Middle East and Islamic world videos in the United States.

Special Topics: a bibliographic sampler

Behrens-Abouseif. Beauty in Arabic Culture. [BH221.A65 B3413 1999]

Bloom. Minaret, Symbol of Islam. [NA4670 .B55 1989]

Burnett and Contadini. Islam and the Italian Renaissance. Davis [DG533.I75 1999]

Clivenot. Ornament and Decoration in Islamic Architecture. Art Oversize [NA380 .D5713 2000]

Gelik. Displaying the Orient : Architecture of Islam at Nineteenth-Century World's Fairs. Davis [NA957 .C44 1992]

Glassie. Turkish Traditional Art Today. [NK1011 .G63 1993]

Howard. Venice & the East : the Impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture 1100-1500. [NA1121.V4 H69 2000]

Islamic Art and Culture in Subsaharan Africa

Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine.

Kuban. Sinan : an Architectural Genius. Art Cage Oversize [NA1373.S5 K85 1999]

Mack, Rosamond. Bazaar to Piazza : Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300-1600. [NK959 .M267 2002].

Mandel Khan. Arabic Script: Styles, Variants and Calligraphic Adaptations. [NK3633.A2 M3613 2001]

Petruccioli (ed.), Gardens in the Time of the Great Muslim Empires : Theory and Design. [SB457.8 .G37 1997]

Prussin. Hatumere : Islamic Design in West Africa. [NA1598 .P77 1986]

Shalem. Islam Christianized : Islamic Portable Objects in the Medieval Church Treasuries of the Latin West. [NK720 .S52 1998]

Tadgell. Four Empires of Islam : Imperial Achievement. [NA380 .T34 1998]

Thackston. Album Prefaces and Other Documents on the History of Calligraphers and Painters. [N7283 .T48 2001]

Vernoit (ed.), Discovering Islamic Art : Scholars, Collectors and Collections, 1850-1950. [N6260 .D58 2000]