Arts of Asia Lecture Series

Fall 2014: The Arts of The Islamic World

10th-century Samanid bowl featuring a black-on-white Arabic inscription

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Videos of the lectures are now available on the Asian Art Museum’s Apple Podcasts. Click here to view the available videos from this lecture series.

This will be the first time a lecture series on the arts of the Islamic world has been presented at the Asian Art Museum. The fifteen lectures in the series have been structured to provide a broad overview of both pre-Islamic and Islamic art. The subjects include pre-Islamic art in Iran, Central Asia, Arabia and Byzantium, painting, architecture, ceramics, textiles, calligraphy, Islam in India, attitudes towards images, and contemporary art.

As always, a distinguished roster of prominent scholars and curators has been assembled, several of whom will be coming from famous UK institutions such as Oxford and the British Museum.

August 22
Introduction Study Guide
Qamar Adamjee, AAM

August 29
An Introduction to the Art and Architecture of Pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia Study Guide
David Stronach, UC Berkeley

September 5
Arts of Ancient Arabia Study Guide
Massumeh Farhad, Freer & Sackler

September 12
Assimilation and Conquest: Byzantine Sources for Islamic Art Study Guide
Helen Evans, Metropolitan Museum

September 19
Is there an Image Problem in Islam? Materials for the History of an Idea. Study Guide
Finbarr Barry Flood, NYU

September 26
Persian Painting: The First Golden Age (1300-1500) Study Guide
Robert Hillenbrand, University of Edinburgh

October 3
Seeing and Being Seen in Isfahan: Expanding Gaze for an Early Modern Capital Study Guide
Renata Holod, University of Pennsylvania

October 10
Chinese Influence on Islamic Glazed Ceramics Study Guide
Oliver Watson, University of Oxford

October 17
Building Types in Islamic Architecture Study Guide
Santhi Kavuri-Bauer, San Francisco State University

October 24
The Visual Culture of Islam in India Study Guide
Alka Patel, UC Irvine

October 31- RESCHEDULED to January 31st DUE TO MUSEUM CLOSURE FOR GIANTS VICTORY PARADE 
Ex Oriente Lux: Luxury Textiles and Oriental Carpets Study Guide
Carol Bier, Textile Museum, Washington D.C.

November 7
The Art of Islamic Calligraphy: A Journey through Time Study Guide
Maryam Ekhtiar, Metropolitan Museum

November 14
Seek Knowledge Even as Far as China: East-West Cultural Transmissions in Post Mongol Iran Study Guide
Ladan Akbarnia, British Museum

November 21
Modernism and Islamic Art Study Guide
Iftikhar Dadi, Cornell University

November 28
No Class, Thanksgiving break

December 5
Imagining Europe at the Persian Court in the Seventeenth Century (1590-1720) Study Guide
Amy Landau, Walters Art Museum

Attendance

Registered attendees of the lecture series are encouraged to attend in-person in Samsung Hall. Otherwise, registered attendees can attend via Zoom. Drop-ins for individual lectures are only available in-person in Samsung Hall on a space available basis. Drop-ins for individual lectures are not available on Zoom. The lecture series is organized as 14 separate Zoom webinars. A Zoom webinar confirmation email with information on how to join each week’s webinar will be sent to all registered attendees 2 or 3 days before each lecture. Even though it is not required by Zoom, we recommend that you download and install Zoom on your computer or mobile device in advance, and set yourself up with a free account. Attendees will have a chance to participate in the Q&A via Zoom Q&A. Read our Arts of Asia Zoom Webinar FAQs.

Registration Policies

The Society for Asian Art’s cancellation policy requires at least one week’s advance written notice in order to receive a refund of registration fees. This excludes our Travel programs, which have separate cancellation policies, as well as any programs where a specific refund policy is stated on the event page. Your fees will be returned to you through a check in the mail. To cancel, please contact us.

For programs located within the Asian Art Museum, the museum entrance fee must be paid separately and is not included with your registration fee.

Please note that by registering for a program, you are giving consent to the SAA to be photographed or videoed as a participant.

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