Art of Islam: Sacred beauty and artistic traditions of Islamic culture (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781646992294)

Islamic art is not the art of a nation or of a people, but that of a religion. Spreading from the Arabian Peninsula, the proselyte believers conquered, in a few centuries, a territory spreading from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Multicultural and multiethnic, this polymorphic and highly spiritual art in which all representations of God were prohibited developed canons and various motifs of great decorative value. Thorough and inventive, these artists expressed their beliefs by creating monumental masterpieces such as the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Alhambra in Granada, architectural works in which one recognises the stylisation of motifs of the Muslim ceramics. Lively and colourful, Islamic art mirrors the richness of these people whose common denominator was the belief in one singular truth: the absolute necessity of creating works whose beauty equalled their respect for God.