Center: 
Barcelona
Discipline(s): 
Religious Studies
Art History
Course code: 
RL/AH 350
Terms offered: 
Fall
Spring
Credits: 
3
Language of instruction: 
English
Instructor: 
Meritxell Martín i Pardo
Description: 

This course aims to apply visual arts techniques to the interpretation of the Spanish and European experience of Islam, both in the past (the eight centuries of Islamic presence in Spain) and in Modern and Contemporary times; therefore, the timeframe of the course goes from the Middle Ages to the 21st  Century. The course proposes a historical as well as contemporary approach to the subject in order to analyze the connections between past and present in the European experience of Islam, focusing on moments of conflict, tolerance or coexistence. The classes and field studies will help to analyze the evolution of these relations through the analysis of artistic images, architecture, popular imagery and film.

Attendance policy: 

Attendance is mandatory for all IES classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.

Learning outcomes: 

By the end of the course, students are able to:
•    apply basic art history tools to analyse historical / cultural facts;
•    identify the key moments of the relationship between Europe and Islam;
•    distinguish the key features and symbols that appear in the artworks and interpret their meaning;
•    describe the different meanings of each visual element according to the class content;
•    measure the importance of visual arts in the construction of religious and cultural identities.

Method of presentation: 

Lectures, class discussions, field studies, class presentations.

LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English

Required work and form of assessment: 

Midterm exam (25%); Final exam (25%); Term paper (20%); Class presentation (10%); Participation (20%)

content: 

Session 1: Presentation of the course. The birth of Islam.
 

Session 2: The birth of Islam and the formation of Islamic Art: What is Islamic Art? Is Islamic Art connected somehow to Islam? Should the category even exist?  
Required Reading:  Blair, Sheila S. and Bloom, Jonathan M. (2003). The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field. The Art Bulletin, Vol. 85, No. 1. 152-184.
 

Session 3: Visual Arts Techniques as a Means to Interpreting Cultural Exchange: the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem), the Great Mosque of Damascus (Syria) and the mezquita of Córdoba (Spain).   
Required Reading: Ali, Princess Widjan (2006). Islamic Art as a Means of Cultural Exchange. Available:
http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/Islamic_Art_ Means_of_Cultural_Exchange3.pdf. Accessed: October 13th 2008

Session 4: Islamic Art as Seen Throught the Western Eyes I: Unity and Plurality.  
Required Reading: Grabar, Oleg (2006). What Makes Islamic Art Islamic? In Grabar, Oleg, Islamic Art and Beyond. Aldershot: Ashgate-Variorum. 247-251.
Grube, Ernst J. (1995) What is Islamic Architecture? In Michell, George (ed.) Architecture of the Islamic World. New York, Thames and Hudson, 10 – 14.
 

Session 5: Islamic Art as Seen Through Western Eyes II: Aniconism, Paganism and Luxury.    
Required Reading: Grabar, Oleg (1987) The formation of Islamic Art. New Haven, Yale University Press: 85 – 109.
 

Session 6: Islamic Art as Seen Through Western Eyes III: Geometry, Abstraction and Morality.    
Required Reading: Grabar, Oleg (2006) “Islamic Ornament and Western Abstraction”. In Grabar, Oleg, Islamic Art and Beyond. Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum. 247 -251.
 

Session 7: Spain: A Western Country? The Theories of Américo Castro and Sánchez Albornoz.   
Required Reading:  Glick, Thomas F. (1995) From Muslim Fortress to Christian Castle: Social and Cultural Change in Medieval Spain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1- 14.
 

Session 8: Al-Andalus: The Blend of Identities in the Iberian Peninsula. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Mozarabes, Moriscos.    
Required Reading: Burckhardt, Titus (1972) Moorish Culture in Spain. London: George Allen & Unwin. 23-30.
 

Session 9: A Golden Age: the Caliphate of Cordoba.   
Required Reading:  Menocal, María Rosa (2002) The Ornament of the World. How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. New York: Back Bay Books. 53-65
Grabar, Oleg (1992) “Two paradoxes in the Islamic Art of the Spanish Peninsula”. In Jayyusi, Salma Khadra (ed.). The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: Brill. 583–591.
 

Session 10: Class debate: The Representation of the Past as a Means to Discuss Current Conflicts.
Film Viewing (prior to session): Robert Gardner, prod. Islam Empire of Faith, p.2 
 

Session 11: A Case Study of Visual Acculturation: I. The Great Cordoba Mosque.  
Required Reading: Burckhardt, Titus (1972) Moorish Culture in Spain. London: George Allen & Unwin. 9-20.
Dodds, Jerrylinn (1994) The Arts of Al-Andalus. In Salma Khadra Jayyusi (Ed.) The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: Brill. 599 – 620.
 

Session 12: Islamic Forms in a Christian Context. 1492: Denial of the Past. A New Visual Program for a New Empire.  
Required Reading: Grabar, Oleg (2006). Islamic Architecture and the West: Influences and Parallels. In Grabar, Oleg, Islamic Visual Culture 1100-1800. Aldershot: Ashgate-Variorum. 381-387.
Cammy Brothers, C. (1994). The Renaissance Reception of the Alhambra: The letters of Andrea Navagero and The Palace of Charles V. Muqarnas, Vol. II. 79 -102.
 

Session 13: Review Session 
 

Session 14: Midterm Exam 
 

Session 15: Re-discovery (18th & 19th Centuries): the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon’s Campaigns. Images of Threat.
Required Reading: Irving, Washington (2002) Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses. In Tales of the Alhambra. Granada: Miguel Sánchez. 139-162
 

Session 16: Class debate: The Artistic Representation of Minorities.
Film Viewing (prior to session): Welles, Orson (1952) The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice. USA. Manga Films. 
 

Session 17: Orientalism. The Other From a Distance.
Required Reading: Said, Edward (1995) Orientalism. London: Penguin Books. 31-49
 

Session  18:  Self-Guided  Visit:  Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya 
 

Session 19: The Exotic: the Appropriation of the Other.
FINAL PAPER DUE
Required Reading: De Botton, Alain (2002). The Art of Travel. New York: Vintage Books. 67 -98
 

Session 20: Spanish Colonialism and the Civil War. The Image of Islam During the Franco Period. Popular Imagery. Spanish Sahara Research 
 

Session 21: Islamic Art in the 20th C.
Required Reading:  Grabar, Oleg (2002) The Mosque in Islamic Society Today. In Frishman, Martin & Khan, Hassan-Udin The Mosque. History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity. London: Thames & Hudson. 242-245.
Arkoun, Mohammed (2002) The Metamorphosis of the Sacred. In Frishman, Martin & Khan, Hassan-Udin The Mosque. History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity. London: Thames & Hudson. 268-272.
Ali, Princess Widjan (1992) The Status of Islamic Art in the Twentieth Century. In Muqarnas XI. 186 – 188.
 

Session 22: Other Visions of Islam in 20th Century Art I.
Required Reading:  Esposito, John L. (1999) Clash of Civilizations? Contemporary Images of Islam in the West. In Martín Muñoz, Gema (ed.) Islam, Modernism and the West. London / New York: I.B. Tauris. 94–108
 

Session 23: Oral presentations 
 

Session 24: New Conflicts and Their Images.
Required Reading: Said, Edward (1995) Orientalism. London: Penguin Books. 284-293
Rushdie, Salman (2002) Step Across This Line. Collected Nonfiction. New York: The Modern Library, 2002. 286–288; 336-341

Final exam

Required readings: 

Ali, Princess Widjan (1992) The Status of Islamic Art in the Twentieth Century. In Muqarnas XI. 186–188

Ali, Princess Widjan (2006). Islamic Art as a Means of Cultural Exchange. Available: http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/Islamic_Art_Means_of_Cultural_Exchange3.pdf Accessed: October 13th 2007

Arkoun, Mohammed (2002) The Metamorphosis of the Sacred. In Frishman, Martin & Khan, Hassan-Udin The Mosque. History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity. London: Thames & Hudson. 268-272

Blair, Sheila S. and Bloom, Jonathan M. (2003). The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field. The Art Bulletin, Vol. 85, No. 1. 152-184.

Burckhardt, Titus (1972) Moorish Culture in Spain. London: George Allen & Unwin. 9-20, 23-30.

Cammy Brothers, C. (1994). The Renaissance Reception of the Alhambra: The letters of Andrea Navagero and The Palace of Charles V. Muqarnas, Vol. II. 79 -102

De Botton, Alain (2002). The Art of Travel. New York: Vintage Books. 67 -98

Dodds, Jerrylinn (1994) The Arts of Al-Andalus. In Salma Khadra Jayyusi (Ed.) The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: Brill. 599 - 620

Esposito, John L. (1999) Clash of Civilizations? Contemporary Images of Islam in the West. In Martín

Muñoz, Gema (ed.) Islam, Modernism and the West. London / New York: I.B. Tauris. 94–108

Glick, Thomas F. (1995) From Muslim Fortress to Christian Castle: Social and Cultural Change in Medieval Spain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1- 14

Grabar, Oleg (1987) The formation of Islamic Art. New Haven, Yale University Press: 85 - 109

Grabar, Oleg (1992) “Two paradoxes in the Islamic Art of the Spanish Peninsula”. In Jayyusi, Salma

Khadra (ed.). The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: Brill. 583–591

Grabar, Oleg (2002) The Mosque in Islamic Society Today. In Frishman,  Martin & Khan, Hassan-Udin

The Mosque. History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity. London: Thames & Hudson. 242–245

Grabar, Oleg (2006). Islamic Architecture and the West: Influences and Parallels.In Grabar, Oleg,

Islamic Visual Culture 1100-1800. Aldershot: Ashgate-Variorum. 381-387

Grube, Ernst J. (1995) What is Islamic Architecture? In Michell, George (ed.) Architecture of the Islamic World. New York: Thames and Hudson. 10 - 14

Irving, Washington (2002) Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses. In Tales of the Alhambra. Granada: Miguel Sánchez. 139-162

Menocal, María Rosa (2002) The Ornament of the World. How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. New York: Back Bay Books. 53-65

Rushdie, Salman (2002) Step Across This Line. Collected Nonfiction. New York: The Modern Library, 2002. 286–288; 336-341

Said, Edward (1995) Orientalism. London: Penguin Books. 31-49, 284-293.