An introduction to a previously unpublished major collection of Islamic, Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern art, notable for its exceptional range and breadth from earliest times to the present   The Farjam Collection of Islamic, and Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern art, comprising over 5,000 artworks, is well known in the Middle East and to the cognoscenti but has remained unpublished until now. This two-volume publication comprises over 800 highlights from the collection, introducing it as a major resource for scholars, students, and bibliophiles. Unusual amongst collections of Islamic art, the exceptional range and breadth of this collection includes the arts of the Islamic world from earliest times up to and including the contemporary Middle East. This unique characteristic, represented across the themes of the two volumes, provides an unusual cross-cultural experience demonstrating continuity, dialogue, and influences—from within as well as in between the cultures—throughout centuries. Organized thematically with high-quality photography throughout, the book reflects current trends in the study of Islamic and Contemporary art through essays and entries written by eminent scholars.

Suad Al-Attar is an extensively illustrated monograph featuring original photography of more than 100 expressive and surrealistic paintings and drawings by one of Iraq's most renowned artists. Written by the artist's granddaughter - writer and art historian Nesma Shubber - the book offers unique access to the career of a truly sensational artist and painter. In beautifully written prose, Shubber tells the story of her grandmother's life and work. Beginning with the artist's early formative years in Baghdad and her arrival in London in 1976, we discover the origins of Al-Attar's international career up to the present day in a personal account of an extraordinary woman and artist. For the first time, this book brings together treasured drawings and paintings carefully selected from the artist's archive to form the most comprehensive published collection of work by Suad Al-Attar as well as a rare document of her remarkable life.

A showcase of 500 highlights of the Farjam Collection, featuring painting, works on paper, photography, sculpture, installations, and videos   The Farjam Collection of Islamic, and Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern art, comprising over 5,000 artworks owned by Dr Farhad Farjam, is a major collection well known in the Middle East and to the cognoscenti, but which has remained unpublished until now. This volume examines around 500 highlights from the Farjam Collection of Modern and Contemporary art from the Arab and Iranian worlds. Showcased with high-quality photography throughout, the expansive collection encompasses a wide variety of media, including painting, works on paper, photography, sculpture, installations, and videos. It features numerous treasures from across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including works by modern and contemporary artists such Dia al-Azzawi, Hassan Sharif, Mohamed Melehi, Bahman Mohassess, Hussein Bicar, Kadhim Haidar, Baya Mahieddine, Ayman Baalbaki, Rashid Rana, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Farhad Moshiri, Dana Awartani, Mounir Fatmi, Shezad Dawood, Mona Saudi, Susan Hefuna, Shirin Neshat, Mahmoud Said, and Sohrab Sepehri.   Bringing together historians, critics, and curators from around the globe to reflect on these works, through essays, entries, and interviews with leading artists, this volume demonstrates how this extraordinary collection highlights important trends and histories of modern and contemporary art of the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, and beyond.

This illustrated introduction offers a fresh approach to the history of the Islamic world from its origins to the present day. Told in six chapters, arranged both chronologically and thematically, and richly enhanced with outstanding images, it provides an illuminating insight into the material culture produced from West Africa to Southeast Asia through art and artefacts, people and places. From pre-Islamic works that provided a foundation for the arts of Islam to masterpieces produced under the great empires and objects that continue to be made today, this expansive survey traces the development of civilizations at the forefront of philosophical and scientific ideas, artistic and literary developments, and technological innovations, exploring a wealth of cultural treasures along the way. Texts are accompanied by a wide variety of objects, including architectural decoration, ceramics, jewellery, metalwork, calligraphy, textiles, musical instruments, coins, illustrated manuscripts, and modern and contemporary art, all of which shed new light on the Islamic world both past and present. This book will inspire and inform anyone interested in one of the most influential and diverse cultures of the world.

The first and only book on one of the finest private collections of contemporary Iranian art This sumptuous volume features almost 250 contemporary artworks and a selection of medieval and early modern Islamic art - the heralded collection of Mohammed Afkhami, a prominent player at the cultural and regional front line of Middle Eastern art. Honar (meaning 'art' in Farsi, the language of Iran), includes works ranging from the disturbingly subversive to exquisitely inclusive, exhibiting the pain of exile, the querying of ideology, and the artistic insistence on personal independence.

Ceramic tiles have been produced for over a thousand years in the heartlands of the Islamic world, from Iraq in the ninth century to Turkey in the nineteenth. The wealth of designs and colors used to decorate mosques, shrines and palaces later provided inspiration for European artists and designers. This book first explains the various techniques of the craftsmen and then traces the development of tilework, beginning with pre-Islamic tradition, through the major periods and across a wide geographic area. Superb color photographs and informative text make this book a treasure for anyone interested in art and design.