Art from the Islamic world or “Islamic art” is a relatively recent term coined in reference to the different artistic traditions that have flourished since the advent of Islam in the seventh century over a vast geographic area extending from Morocco and Spain to the islands of Southeast Asia.
The three principal vehicles for artistic expression in the Islamic world are architecture, the arts of the book (calligraphy, illustration, illumination, and bookbinding), and the arts of the object (ceramics, metalwork, glass, woodwork, textiles, and ivory).
In this episode, we raise the following questions:
What is Islamic art? What inspires Muslim artists? How has Islamic art influenced the Western world? What place does Islamic art have in contemporary society? Has Islamic art evolved in the contemporary world?