History of Arab Art

About this book

History of Arab Art offers a new vision of this previously neglected world of cultural and artistic creativity, that has been inundated by myth and outdated convention. It is essentially a reinterpretation of a visual tradition that has existed among the Arab people for almost 4000 years, and is alive today. The book chronicles the birth and development of that diverse tradition; exploring its interaction and exchange with other cultures great and small, including Egypt and Persia, Greece and Medieval Europe.

Based on archaeological sources, academic studies, and surviving cultural materials, it provides the reader with a critical understanding of Arab visual art throughout its history. It introduces the readers to the diverse manifestations of Arab visual aesthetics through the Phoenician- Canaanite, South and North Arabian, Nabataean, and Medieval Islamic junctures. Lavishly illustrated and supplied with bibliographical references, the book is an indispensable source for libraries, educational institutions, and the general reader.

The book contains 210 color & black and white illustrations, 9 maps, and extensive lists of academic resources.