“A past for a present”. This is the common name of the 18 exhibitions open since the end of November in 18 cities, devoted to the arts of Islam, with the assistance of the Louvre. The plural is required. It is a question, through objects and secular as well as religious representations, of 13 centuries of a civilization stretching from India and Asia to Africa and Europe to Spain and the south. from France… That is to say that it is not only a question of showing works.
For the president and director of the Louvre museum, Laurence des Cars, “showing the uniqueness, the beauty and the refinement of these arts is also an educational and cultural tool in an era already under tension”. In other words, it is to ignore the caricatures and simplifications which today take the place of arguments in too many political debates.
Human figures, gallant images
The achievements of the Islamic area over the centuries do not in fact come down to constrained forms of expression, under the pressure of religious dogma. Thus, it was believed for a long time and still now that Islamic art prohibited the representation of the human figure. This is not the case and the paintings adorning many places, hunting lodges, palaces and others bear witness to it, including with gallant images.
More broadly, the works presented in the 18 cities bear witness to the multiplicity and diversity of exchanges between different regional influences and geographic areas. It is also this expanse of territories that has given artists and artisans profuse precious materials. Ivory, gold, precious stones, diamonds …
The importance of the commands of power
Director of the Islamic arts department at the Louvre, which opened only ten years ago, Yannick Lintz also evokes the importance of the commands of power. Caliphs of Damascus, Baghdad, Cordoba, sultans of Cairo, Morocco, kings of Iran, Ottoman and Indian emperors… All of them maintain artists’ studios in their yards, experts in all fields, from painting to precious crafts .
In Nancy, a large Persian carpet invites us to travel in the forests and parks of the princely hunts. © Libraries of Nancy
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In Iran, library workshops were created in the 14th century, paving the way for a remarkable art of the book. Thus, in Angoulême, one can discover a manuscript of the “Book of Wonders”, a fantastic work by a Persian writer of the thirteenth century, Al Qazwini. In Mantes-la-Jolie, we discover a painted cup with a couple of lovers from eastern Iran. In Nancy, a large Persian carpet invites us to travel through the forests and parks of the princely hunts. In Narbonne, a 13th century manuscript brings together 13 treatises on astrology, alchemy and magic …
A book-catalog with around fifteen contributions evoking in a manner both scholarly and accessible to all audiences the multiple aspects of these arts accompanies each of the exhibitions. A work which, for Laurence des Cars, must show that these exhibitions are not an ephemeral episode but that it is a question of “giving the impetus for a lasting action which relies on art to shed light on the debates. of society, in particular for our youth ”.
“ARTS OF ISLAM. A PAST FOR A PRESENT ”
Exhibitions until March 27 in 18 cities: Angoulême, Blois, Clermont Ferrand, Dijon, Figeac, Limoges, Mantesla-Jolie, Marseille, Nancy, Nantes, Narbonne, Rennes, Rillieux-la-Pape, Rouen, Saint-Denis, Saint -Louis (Reunion), Toulouse, Tourcoing.
Information : https://expo-arts-islam.fr/fr/presentation
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