Islamic Arts from Spain Islamic Arts from Spain

Islamic Arts from Spain

Intricate, elaborate, and colorful, Islamic art produced in medieval Spain has had a lasting influence on Western decorative art. This fascinating book, lavishly illustrated with objects drawn from the V&A’s collections, includes exquisite ivory caskets, including stunning Byzantine works, marble tombstones and capitals, architectural models, jewelry, textiles, ceramics, and also examines the late 19th-century craze for the "Alhambresque" style promoted by English designer Owen Jones, the work of Antoni Gaudi, and much more.

Islamic Arts from Spain addresses the creation, suppression, rediscovery, and influence of Islamic art in Spain from the 8th to the 20th century . It looks first at patronage during the "Golden Age" of the Umayyad caliphate, from the mid-10th to the early 11th century, before discussing the Nasrid dynasty, who ruled from Granada while Christian monarchs were reemerging in northern Spain. The book also explores the phenomenon of the "Mudéjar," Islamic-influenced arts produced under non-Muslim patrons in the Renaissance.  

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mariam Rosser-Owen is a curator in the V&A’s Middle Eastern Department. She has published extensively on ivories from the medieval Mediterranean, and contributed to Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Middle East. She co-edited the volume Revisiting Al-Andalus: Perspectives on the Material Culture of Islamic Iberia and Beyond.

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Customer Reviews

A slice of Islamic history

It's tough to overestimate the influence of Islamic artistic culture on Spain and thus much of the western world. In "Islamic Arts From Spain," we get an intellectual and careful look at how first the sovereigns of the Ummayad caliphate (mid-10th Century to early 11th) and later rulers fostered the development of decorative arts, ceramics, architecture and ornaments that continues to be evident today. Using the many treasures found in the huge collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, author Mariam Rosser-Owen surveys the various movements and influences from different sources and their results, among them, the Mudejar movement, the Islamic-inflected artistic culture developed by non-Muslims.

In these pages, we see photos of carpets, textiles, intricately carved casks, water colors, ivory caskets, maps, carvings, porcelains, buildings, and much more, showing the tremendous and widespread impact of the Moors' rule and ultimate capitulation to Christian kings. It's easy to forget how close the days of Christopher Columbus' voyage and the end of the Moorish kings were to each other on the calendar. But through artwork of the period, we see the Christians celebrating their victories, even as their work resembled that of the just-vanquished Muslims.

This is an excellent overview of a piece of art history for people new to the topic or those more familiar with the subject who want get a close up look at some wonderful treasures.