3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

Despite the widespread misconception that Islam forbids images of humans and animals, figural representation played a rich and varied role in the historical arts of the Muslim world, particularly in the form of book painting. This course explores the production and consumption of illustrated Islamic manuscripts and albums, situating the paintings in their wider artistic and social contexts. Extending in scope from the Near East to India and from the medieval to the early modern period, the course takes a thematic approach that will introduce some of the key genres of the tradition — including chronicles, fables, and religious works — and investigate broader questions of style, meaning, viewership, text-image relationships, and cross-cultural borrowing. Students will have the opportunity to look at examples of this art firsthand in local collections