Islamic Arts ASIAN ART 35 By Lucien de Guise Islamic Arts Diary


MATERIAL CULTURE Te latest round of Islamic-art auctions reignited some of the old vigour that has not been seen for a while. Tere were many unsold lots – in some cases less than half the offerings found a buyer – but there were also some spectacular results for certain items. In terms of percentages, Bonhams had the least to celebrate. Christie’s were slightly ahead of Sotheby’s, until it was South Kensington’s turn. With less than 60 percent sold, it looks like confirmation that we won’t be hearing again from this much-loved venue. It will be closing soon, for reasons that were spelled out by Christie’s management: the biggest growth markets are in Asia and the Americas. South Kensington is not really on the map any longer. It’s sad news for someone like this writer who remembers it opening more than 40 years ago. At that time, nobody would have


envisaged East Asia having the spending power that it has now. Te Middle East was already a force in Islamic-art collecting but buyers still preferred to come to London. Token efforts were made by the auction houses to take their wares to the Gulf, but even now London is at the summit of this field. At least the Bond Street and St James’s neighbourhoods are; South Kensington is not. Te total value of the recent sales


exceeded £12 million, with Sotheby’s ahead of the others. Te figures look impressive until compared with a single sale of modern or


BUILDING REPUTATIONS Women artists of the Middle East have really got going since the time of Fahrelnissa Zeid. To mark their progress, the new Institute of Arab and Islamic Art (IAIA) in New York presents its first exhibition, titled EXHIBITION 1. Te luminaries taking part are Dana Awartani, Nasreen Mohamedi, Zarina Hashim and, of course, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian. Te theme is more ambitious than just bringing out some key women artists. According to the organisers, it also ‘seeks to examine how architecture, and its geometries, enters an artist’s consciousness, their vocabularies, and, in turn, their work’.


Although the timing of the IAIA


may look like a direct response to the latest Trump travel ban, it was envisioned in 2014 and formally established in 2016. It is an independent, non-profit hub that promotes and advances the artistic and cultural dialogue between New York City and the Arab and Islamic worlds. It serves as a much-needed platform for creative, innovative and forward-thinking artists, curators, critics, scholars and intellectuals. Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Tani, founder and director of IAIA, states, ‘We have founded IAIA to be a beacon to challenge social misconceptions and artistic stereotypes. We will create dialogue between societies by valuing and nurturing artistic traditions and


Impressionist art, which can fetch more than £100 million. Even within the Islamic field it is barely half of what was being achieved seven years ago. All the same, there were records broken this time around, and Sotheby’s had the star lots. Not since Bonhams’ sword of Tipu Sultan, two years ago, have prices of more than a million pounds been seen. In April 2017, the first prize must


go to Sotheby’s textiles from the collection of Argine Benaki Solvago. Te middle name will be familiar to those who visit Athens with an


Sotheby’s sold the cintamani silk panel for a record-breaking price in excess of £1 million


strong involvement in textiles, this was an appropriate field for collecting. Argine’s appreciation of the finest work is a relic of a time when Ottoman work was as appreciated as it is again now. Te Greek families of Egypt were not hoarders; they displayed their favourite Ottoman textiles and ceramics as other collectors at the time would have displayed their paintings. Tere was a great appreciation of the applied arts. Photographs taken at the turn of the century show how their homes were. It would be hard to replicate the effect at today’s prices. Te highest-priced lot at the April


interest in Islamic art. Argine’s brother, Anthony, gave his collection to the Greek state. Te different Greek trading dynasties that controlled the port city of Alexandria were avid collectors of Islamic art, and Argine was no less interested. She was also a renowned beauty, as comfortable and desirable in Paris as she was in Egypt. Te story of her collection is a reminder of how cosmopolitan and economically significant the Mediterranean world used to be. Being part of a family with a


Sotheby’s sale was a length of cloth that might, if it were not Ottoman, be seen as just an impressive piece of material that was never made up into something wearable, like a kaftan. Te panel of voided silk with metal thread is from the late 16th to early 17th century. Te condition is exceptional. Most of all it is the design that stunned potential buyers. Tere is little as popular as the cintamani motif, consisting of three circles (similar to the Medici three pawnbrokers’ balls) and some wavy lines. Te origins of this motif lie much further to the east, in Chinese Buddhist tradition. Under Ottoman rule, it became an auspicious symbol that gave added luxury to the sultans’ already sumptuous wardrobes. As a symbol of power at the time, it was unparalleled and more practical than the outsize turbans that they also favoured. Other textiles from the Argine


Ottoman Revival


A descendant of the Ottomans is currently making an impression at London’s Tate Modern. Fahrelnissa Zeid has been described as the best abstract artist you have probably never heard of. As well as being brilliant and relatively unknown in the West, the artist is also a woman. Just like Argine Benaki, she was at home in both Paris and the eastern end of the Mediterranean. She also spent a lot of time in London. Another strand to the fairytale was becoming a princess after marrying the Hashemite Prince Zeid. As a leading member of the Turkish avant-garde in the early 1940s and the École de Paris in the 1950s, she combined Islamic, Byzantine, Arab and Persian influences fused with European approaches to abstraction. Although she exhibited prolifically in the 1950s she is almost forgotten now in the West but not in the Middle East; her work made a record price for a female artist from the Middle East in 2013, when one of her paintings fetched almost US$3 million. She was an innovator at a time when innovation was all around. Her special


Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian is one of the artists whose relationship to geometry is explored at the new Institute of Arab and Islamic Art


expression, and look to create a dynamic and engaging programme that enriches the global and local art community’. With backgrounds in Saudi


Arabia, Iran, India and Pakistan, the artists in EXHIBITION 1 share the experience of living with Islamic architecture, a widespread phenomenon, despite originating in vastly different places and environments and leading vastly different lives. Te exhibition examines how we respond to the spaces we have experienced and how they compare to the way we remember them. When memories are recollected, how are they told? How much do history, nostalgia, self-exile and solitude affect the way we visualise our memories? How and


when do we share them? Whilst the buildings that make up the Islamic world’s architectural heritage often remain untouched throughout time, our individual personalities shape the way we perceive them, resulting in a diverse range of expressions. Tis exhibition explores these artists’ relationships to geometry within their respective vocabulary. EXHIBITION 1 presents a small number of significant works on paper and prints from each artist from 4 May 2017. It will take place at 3 Howard Street as the institute continues to search for a permanent home for its future programming.


contribution was painting on turkey and chicken bones, which she later cast in polyester resin panels that are curiously reminiscent of stained-glass windows. Tis was a digression from her main body of work, which relied on more conventional paint and canvas to achieve some explosive abstract effects. Strangely, having made a sizeable international reputation based on these works, she later went back to painting the figural subjects that she had started with. • Fahrelnissa Zeid exhibition at Tate Modern, London, 13 June to 8 October


Te chrysanthemum motif on this textile panel aroused almost as much interest at Sotheby’s recent sale


Benaki collection also fetched very high prices, albeit far short of the record-breaker above. Another panel of silk velvet went for just above £400,000, which was ten times its lower estimate. Te size, colour and technique were very similar to the ‘cintamani’ panel, but it did not have quite the cachet of that definitive Ottoman design. It did, however, have flowers. Although not immediately apparent, the metal thread has been used to create stylised chrysanthemums. Te Ottomans used floral motifs in many ways, not least of which are the fabulously colourful works of Iznik ceramics. When rendered in two colours, on a textile, it seems that buyers still can’t get enough. Another item that made big money was described by this writer as a ‘personal favourite’ two months ago, before it came to the block. Te astrolabe from Islamic Spain sold for £600,000. With most of it being from the 11th century, and being an object of superb aesthetic appeal as well as historic value, it was good to see objects from the other end of the Mediterranean to the Ottomans being truly appreciated.


Untitled, circa 1950s © Raad Zeid Al-Hussein Collection


SUMMER QUARTER 2017 ASIAN ART


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