Course
Description
This course introduces the arts of the Islamic lands from the 7th c.
rise of the Umayyad dynasty of Syria to the 16th c. expansion of the
Ottoman empire. By examining the socio-historical contexts within which
Islamic art and architecture developed, the course will provide a basic
understanding of its major themes and regional variations.
Course Readings
Two required texts are available at Wheelock Books:
Robert Hillenbrand, Islamic Art and Architecture
(London: Thames and Hudson, World of Art, 1999)
Robert Irwin, Islamic Art in Context (NY: Abrams Perspectives, 1997)
Additional copies of these texts,
along with other assigned readings and additional illustrated volumes,
are available on the Reserve Shelf in Baker/Berry or online in pdf form
through online course reserve. Illustrations of the works shown in class
can be found in your textbooks, in books on the reserve shelf, and online
through Artemisia and/or ArchNet.
Online Resources:
The course syllabus and handouts will be available on Blackboard
and ArchNet. Images of Islamic architecture, a dictionary of terms specific
to Islamic art, and collections of books and articles about Islamic
art and architecture are also available online through the ArchNet website
(www.archnet.org). We will have an ArchNet tutorial Tue. Jan. 13, 12
- 12:50.
Course Requirements
* Attendance and participation (25%)
* Mid-term (25%)
* Final exam (25%)
* Term paper (6-8 pages) (25%)
Readings & Class Participation
Complete the week's readings by class on Friday. Certain weeks have
readings marked with an asterisk. We will discuss the readings so marked
in class on that Friday. Please be prepared to be chosen at random to
answer the following: what is the argument of the reading? What evidence
does the author present for his or her argument? Do you find the argument
persuasive? Why or why not? Bring at least 2 questions or issues that
the reading raised for you.
Exams
Dates and nature of the mid-term and final to be announced in class
Term Paper
Deadline for paper topics: February 9. Papers due March 8. Late papers
will lose one letter grade per day of tardiness. Please make an appointment
to meet with me well before February 9 to discuss your interests and
possible topics. All students should plan to work with the Department
of Art History Writing Editor Iona McAulay from the beginning of the
writing process. (She can be reached at iona.mcaulay@dartmouth.edu,
ph. 603-646-0434, office 302 Carpenter Hall). She will not advise on
content (please consult with me on such issues), but will work with
you on grammar, writing skills, and style appropriate to an art history
paper.
Exceptional needs
If you have concerns regarding exceptional needs, please notify me as
soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
SCHEDULE
Note: the Tuesday x-hour will be left open except for specific weeks
noted below.
Week 1: Beginnings: Pre-Islamic
contexts and early Islamic art
1/5 through 1/9
Read:
* Albert Hourani, "The Making of a World," p.1-31; "Ways
of Islam," p.147-57 In A History of the Arab Peoples
(NY, 1991)
* Irwin, "The Historical Background," p. 17-36
* Hillenbrand, "Birth of Islamic Art: the Umayyads," 11-37
Week 2: Power shifts East: 'Abbasid Mesopotamia
1/12 through 1/16
Note: x-hour meeting: Tue. Jan. 13, 12 - 12:50, for ArchNet tutorial.
Meet in Instructional Center, 61 Carson Hall (look over ArchNet brochure
before class, available as pdf in online reserves, Blackboard). Prepare
for class discussion of Rabbat article on Friday.
Read:
* Hourani, 32-37
* Irwin, " 'Abbasid Palaces," 106-111; "Calligraphy,"
177-81
* Hillenbrand, " 'Abbasids," 38-60
* *Rabbat, Nasser. 1989. "The Meaning of the Umayyad Dome of
the Rock." In Muqarnas VI: An Annual on Islamic Art
and Architecture. Oleg Grabar, ed. Leiden: E.J. Brill (available as
pdf)
Week 3: al-Andalus
1/19 through 1/23
Note: Martin Luther King holiday on Mon. - class moves to Tue. x-hour
1/20
Read:
* Ira Lapidus, "Islamic North Africa and Spain to the 19th c."
299-319
OR Hourani, p. 41-43 (starting from last paragraph on p.41) along
with "The Culture of Courts and People," 189-205.
* Irwin, "Spain," 221-224; "Sicily," 224-226;
"Crystal, Jade, & Ivory," and "Textiles,"
155-165
* Hillenbrand, "The Muslim West," 167-95
* *Dodds, "The Great Mosque of Cordoba," In al-Andalus:the
Arts of Islamic Spain (NY: 1992) p.11-25.
Week 4: Early Islamic North Africa/ Fatimid
Cairo
1/26 through 1/30
Read:
* Irwin, "Fatimid Egypt and Muslim Spain," 42-43; "Fatimid
Cairo and its Palaces," 112-115; "Ceramics," 148-152
* Hillenbrand, "The Fatimids," 61-85.
* * Doris Behrens-Abouseif, "The Façade of the al-Aqmar
Mosque in the context of Fatimid Ceremonial," Muqarnas
Volume IX: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture (1992) (available
as pdf)
Week 5 Iran & Central Asia
after the disintegration of the caliphate
2/2 through 2/6
Note: Friday discussion
Read:
* Ira Lapidus, "The post-Abbasid Middle Eastern state system,"
112-32
* Irwin, "Samanid, Ghaznavid, and Seljuq Dynasties," 40-42
* Hillenbrand, "Saljuqs," 86-110.
* *Oya Pancaroglu, "Serving Wisdom: Contents of Samanid Epigraphic
Pottery," Studies in Islamic and Later Indian Art From the
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Univ. Art Museums, 2002), 58-75. (available as pdf)
Week 6 In the wake of the Mongols
2/9 through 2/13
Notes: x-hour class on Tue. to make up for the 2/13 Friday Carnival
Holiday;
Feb. 9 Paper topic deadline
Read:
* Ira Lapidus, "Iran: the Mongol, Timurid, and Safavid Empires,"
A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 2002)
226-34
* Irwin, "Mongols and Timurids," 49-50; "Patronage
Under the Mongols and Timurids," 91-95; "Palaces of the
Mongols," 126-128; "Illuminated manuscript section on Shahnama,"
bottom of 185-191.
* Hillenbrand, "Ilkhanids and Timurids," 196-225.
Week 7 Slave Rulers: the Seljuq
successor states
2/16 through 2/20:
Read:
* Lapidus, "The Saljuq Model: State and Religion" p.290-94
* Irwin, "Turkish pre-eminence and the Mamluk Sultans,"
46; "Later Mamluk Period," 48-49; "Illuminated manuscript,"
181-185 (exclude section on Shahnama)
* Hillenbrand, "Age of the Atabegs," 111-137; "Mamluks,"
138-166.
Week 8 Persianate Cultures: Safavids
and Mughals
2/23 through 2/27
Read:
* Ira Lapidus, "The Indian Subcontinent: the Delhi Sultanates
and the Mughal Empire," A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd ed.
(Cambridge, 2002), p.356-78; "Safavid Iran," 234-247.
* Irwin, "Safavid Patronage," 95-96 (exclude section from
Mehmed II on); "Palaces of Safavid Isfahan," 130-131
* Hillenbrand, " Safavids," 226-254.
Week 9 Out of Anatolia: the Ottoman
Empire
3/1 through 3/5
Note: x-hour class - meet at Hood Museum of Art; Friday discussion
Read:
* Hourani, "The Ottoman Empire," 209-48
* Irwin, "Mehmed II and Suleyman," 96-101; "Topkapi
Palace in Istanbul," 128-131; "Iznik," 152-154
* Hillenbrand, "Ottomans," 255-280.
* *Necipoglu, Gulru. 1993. Framing the Gaze in Ottoman, Safavid, and
Mughal Palaces. In Ars Orientalis, Vol. 23, 303-42 (available
as pdf)
Week 10
3/8 Term Papers Due
To be announced Final Exam
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