“From Pen to Printing Press: Ten Centuries of Islamic Book Arts”
March 6–May 10, 2009
Special Exhibitions Gallery First floor, IU Art Museum
The
IU Art Museum will host an exhibition of approximately fifty works
on paper drawn exclusively from IU collections and on display for the
first time. The show explores the materials and tools of Islamic
literate culture from the ninth century until today. Works on display
include pens, inks, and papers, Qur’ans, Persian and Mughal illustrated
manuscripts, Ottoman devotional works, cartographical manuscripts,
printed books, and modern calligraphies and marbled papers.
IU Press author
Dr. Christiane Gruber will present the opening lecture tonight at 5:30 p.m., with a viewing and reception to follow from 6:30-8 p.m.
A symposium related to the exhibit will take place on March 7 from 9 am – 3 pm in the IU Hope School of Fine Arts, Room 102. “Islamic Book Arts: A One-Day Symposium” will include eight 20-minute presentations on a variety
of objects and materials on display in the exhibition. The talks will
cover a wide range of subjects, including the collector Ruth E.
Adomeit, book miniaturization, devotional manuals, printed books,
Islamic cartography, and Islamic books arts in India during the Sikh
period and in modern sub-Saharan Africa. The symposium will be followed
by a reception to be held from 3:00 to 4:30 pm in the Thomas T. Solley
Atrium, IU Art Museum.
In conjunction with the exhibition and symposium,
The Islamic Manuscript Tradition, a scholarly volume of
eight articles illustrated with over one hundred color figures will be
published by IU Press in December 2009. This beautifully produced
volume provides a valuable new resource for students and scholars of
Islamic art, while addressing a wider audience interested in Islamic
artistic traditions.
The exhibition and volume are supported by a generous grant
administered by Indiana University’s New Frontiers in the Arts &
Humanities Program, and the symposium is funded by a College Arts &
Humanities Institute Conference Grant.