Reem Al-Alusi Shares Her Passion for Islamic Art, Near Eastern Influence on the West
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 2009, pages 34-35
Northern California Chronicle
Reem Al-Alusi Shares Her Passion for Islamic Art, Near Eastern Influence on the West
By Elaine Pasquini
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SCHOLAR REEM Al-Alusi discussed the impact of Islamic culture on the arts of the Renaissance in a Jan. 8 presentation at San Francisco’s Arab Cultural and Community Center. The Cambridge University graduate holds a master’s degree in the history and philosophy of Islamic architecture and specializes in the influence of Islamic architecture on the Italian Renaissance and High Baroque.
“Islamic art encompasses a myriad of cultural and religious precedents,” Al-Alusi told her audience. “The genius of Islamic art was its ability to adopt and synthesize the cultures that came before into an artistic language that adequately represented the religion and the region to the world. As Islam spread around the world, it collected, renewed and improved upon the immense learning of its predecessors.”
Islamic influence in Spain dates to the early 8th century, when the Umayyad military commander Tariq Ibn Ziyad conquered the region. The Great Mosque of Cordoba, built in 784 during the reign of Abd Al-Rahman I, with its double radius of the horseshoe arch—one of the recognizable trademarks of Islamic architecture and now a staple of Spanish buildings—remains one of the grandest testimonies to Spain’s Islamic history.
In the Renaissance (14th through 17th centuries), Al-Alusi explained, “knowledge acquired from the East was reconstructed, deconstructed, and disseminated, which resulted in an amalgamation of ancient philosophical wisdom and modern learning conveyed via the medium of Eastern contact.” These contacts took place through trade, as with the Venetian Republic, and through the military campaigns of the Crusaders in the Holy Land throughout the 11th and 12th centuries.
Along with painting and sculpture, architecture was one of the primary arts of the Renaissance. An important influence on Renaissance architecture was the Dome of the Rock, famous for its spatial harmony, balance and overall perfection. Construction of the Jerusalem masterpiece, revered by Muslims as the third holiest site of Islam, began in 687 under the rule of Umayyad Caliph Abd Al-Malik and was completed four years later. “The Dome of the Rock is basically a Byzantine building,” observed Al-Alusi. classical columns, topped by arches in alternating black and white marble, the dome, and the gold and semi-precious mosaics that decorate the walls all speak of Byzantine heritage.”
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The returning Crusaders introduced these elements to Europe. “Because the Near East is where Christ lived, where he walked and taught,” she noted, “the buildings he would have seen made them worthy of emulation.”
Many Islamic architectural characteristics later appeared in churches in Europe, such as King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, Italy’s Florence Baptistery, and England’s Durham Cathedral.
Since Venice was a major trading center with the Near East, many buildings in the island city reflect the influence of the Levant and also of the Mamluks, who ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517. The Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace), with its variegated brick ornamentation, pointed arches and decorative crenellation along the top, is an excellent example.
Mamluk decorative arts—especially enameled and gilded glass, inlaid metalwork, woodwork, and textiles—were prized throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.
Also during the Renaissance, a lucrative market developed for leather book covers and engraved manuscripts due to the importance of education in many Eastern centers. Thus, new techniques of working and dying leather were transferred to Europe via Venice. “The technique of illuminating manuscripts was probably gleaned from the gold leaf Qur’ans the Crusaders encountered,” Al-Alusi said. “Monks would eventually adapt this art form and illustrate sacred scenes with scrolling arabesques and calligraphy.”
A vast array of art forms and techniques were introduced to Europe from the Near East, including the technique of applying iridescent glaze to ceramics, known as lusterware. Europeans delighted in acquiring luxury goods, including embroidered textiles and woven carpets in unique designs. In addition to these material items, customs, philosophy, science, technology and mathematical knowledge were also imported from the East.
“If there is something that I should like for all of us to take away from the magnificent world of Eastern art, it is our interconnectiveness,” Al-Alusi concluded. “The art of Islam was influenced by that which went before, and it, in turn, influenced that which came after in a historical continuum of global flows of people and ideas.”
Islamic-Inspired Architecture in San Francisco Bay Area
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The Islamic world influenced architectural design not only in Europe, but also in the United States. This influence can be seen in buildings in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Marin County, California’s civic center, located in San Rafael, was the last commission by Frank Lloyd Wright prior to his death in 1959. The national- and state-designated historic landmark reflects the powerful influence of the architect’s May 1957 visit to Baghdad at the invitation of King Faisal II to participate in a project to modernize the Iraqi capital. The building’s blue dome, arched windows and minaret-like 172-foot slender gold spire reflect Lloyd Wright’s interest in the architecture of Baghdad.
Two San Francisco theaters—the Alcazar and Alhambra—are landmark buildings which share typical features of Islamic architecture, including arches, arabesques and Arabic calligraphy. The Alhambra, designed by Timothy Pflueger, also features two minarets.
Not all of Northern California’s Islamic-esque structures are public buildings, however. A large, white private houseboat which resembles India’s mausoleum of the Taj Mahal—considered the finest example of Mughal architecture—has been a fixture in Sausalito’s yacht harbor for 30 years.
Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
SIDEBAR
The Story Behind the March Washington Report Cover Photo
- Amnah Ibrahim and her 2-year-old daughter, Jenin Jafar (Courtesy Amnah Ibrahim).
“I never knew my little sign would cause so much interest and get such coverage,” Amnah Ibrahim told the Washington Report, referring to the sign her daughter is holding in the photo on the cover of the March 2009 issue. “I knew as a mother that all children of the world deserve to be safe and happy. This should be their right, not a privilege. I knew that the message would be much more powerful if it came from a child.” She has taken her 2-year-old daughter, Jenin, to only two demonstrations protesting Israel’s attack on Gaza, Ibrahim said, but they have had a profound impact on her. “After the Jan. 10 protest, I removed the sign which reads, ‘The kids in Gaza deserve a safe & happy life like me,’ from her stroller,” the mother recalled. “When Jenin saw that the sign was missing, she got upset. Although she doesn’t know what her sign says or means, I know she will grow up to appreciate the life she has.”
Jenin is named for the Palestinian hometown of her father, Rami Jafar, and his family, which Ibrahim visited prior to her daughter’s birth. “My father-in-law in Palestine is going to be so proud when I tell him,” Ibrahim said.
During the large march in San Francisco Jan. 10, this reporter and her photographer husband, Phil Pasquini, noticed Ibrahim and Jenin with her poignant sign and a Palestinian flag on the back of her stroller. Since exchanging contact information and names was difficult amid the noise and overall exuberance of the crowd of some 7,000 marchers, we returned home after the protest without knowing their names or the inspiration for writing the sign. Our subsequent attempts to locate the mother and daughter in the Palestinian community were unsuccessful.
But Ibrahim’s cousin had picked up a copy of the Washington Report at a Santa Clara mosque and alerted the young mother. Overjoyed to see her daughter’s photo, Ibrahim promptly contacted Pasquini. “Thank you so much for giving us this gift,” her e-mail read.
Recounting her daughter’s first experience at a Dec. 30 protest outside the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, Ibrahim explained, “I definitely feel that my daughter should be exposed to these types of events. Sure, she’s too young to understand, but she will grow up to know that people of all walks of life are against the injustices occurring to the Palestinian people. Our people. Her people.”—E.P.
| &larr Emergency Town Hall Meeting in New York City Condemns Israel’s Attack on Gaza | U.N.’s Richard Falk Finds Israel Guilty of “New War Crime”: Targeting Trapped Civilians &rarr |
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