Islamic Arts 23 Islamic Arts Diary


Calligraphic batiks from the Malay Archipelago combine the aesthetics of Southeast Asia with symbols such as the Ottoman tughra


by Lucien de Guise


ARTICULATE OCEANS Occasionally an exhibition comes along that includes the most populous Muslim nation on earth – Indonesia – and even its smaller neighbours, such as Brunei and the Philippines. One exceptional occurrence was at the National Gallery of Australia almost 20 years ago; usually when it happens, the cultural celebration is in Southeast Asia itself. Once again, the drift is back to that region, where the biggest display for a long time is happening in Malaysia. Oceans that Speak: Islam and the


Emergence of the Malay World takes a new tack. Instead of being all about borders and land, it’s about the unifying force of the sea, or seas, as this corner of the region is the meeting point of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea plus a few others. Trade has been the essence of these communities, long before the Spice Route made it the most contested region in the world several centuries ago. Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, and England all fought it out for shiploads of the most precious substances on earth at the time. Cloves, mace, and nutmeg are now in every supermarket, but at the time they caused wars between European powers desperate to boost


SEEING IS BELIEVING


Right in the middle of the Muslim heartland, another museum of Islamic art is exhibiting an entirely different meeting of East and West. Seeing Is Believing: the Art and Influence of Gérôme takes a look at the grand homme of Orientalism. Qatar’s Lusail Museum describes the exhibition as a ‘multi-lensed approach to the art and legacy of the French, 19th-century Orientalist artist Jean-Léon Gérôme’. Multi-lensed is a useful way of


looking at a man who was once the most popular artist in the world, and then reviled for generations. He loved photography, which is apparent in much of his work, but this exhibition goes much further in presenting, questioning and re-evaluating Gérôme’s oeuvre. His works are highlighted for their technical accomplishments and scene-setting contrasted with backdrops that are unlikely ever to have been witnessed by a Western artist, regardless of his standing at the Paris salons. Te exhibition marks what might have been an entirely overlooked anniversary – 200 years since the birth of the artist. To avoid taking sides in the arguments initiated by


art created by the various communities of Southeast Asia. Nowadays there is more enthusiasm. Keris daggers and ikat textiles are serious collectables all over the world. In fact, the wavy- bladed weapons have been appreciated for centuries; James I of England is thought to have owned and admired one as a diplomatic gift. Textiles, metalwork and woodcarvings all have a long history. Tey are a complex blend of Islamic and other aesthetics, often from Hindu-Buddhist and animist traditions. Te arrival of Islam, with its


contested dates that go back at least 800 years, brought changes to language and writing systems. It was out with Indic scripts and in with calligraphy, especially when of the Arabic style. Tere were also less-total overhauls, such as the pre-existing monstrous head of Kala runes into discreet vegetal motifs found on wood carvings. Images such as the Ka’ba in Mecca became important parts of local design and manuscripts. Te global exchange of goods saw


Wooden room partitions from Java are a massive canvas for calligraphy and virtuoso carving


their revenue and improve their cuisine. It was not just the products that the


Western nations were determined to take; it was the trading ports as well. Te fight to control the Straits of Malacca continuously grew more intense in the seventeenth century. It took three attempts for the Dutch to finally capture the city of Malacca in 1641. Te British took it much later. At various points, each of these


nations dominated – even France had a toehold for a while – leaving a small legacy of art and customs to be absorbed. In the end, it was regional culture that proved to be the most enduring. Tat does not mean all the


Edward Said and Linda Nochlin, the exhibition encourages visitors to question the interpretation and reception of artworks through time and formulate their own opinions and responses to what they see. Te display revolves around ‘witnessing’ and ‘seeing’ in the context of visual cultural storytelling. Te aim is to challenge ‘Gérôme’s mythologised and ethnographic images of the “East” … to debunk racialising and patriarchal optics, poetically encouraging debate on conscious visioning’. It is an ambitious task, complicated by the different ways people have viewed the supposed stereotypes over the years. Tis artist was a master of


ambiguity. He was an anti-slaver who painted the slaves of ancient Rome as often as the slaves of 19th-century Egypt. His message was somewhat misunderstood five years ago when one controversial work received a rare airing in public. Te anti-immigration German nationalist party AfD created a stir by using an 1866 painting of a female slave having her teeth inspected by a potential customer. Te AfD decided that this was a white woman being handled inappropriately by an Arab man. For


art and crafts produced over the centuries have fared as well. Many of the region’s most prized possessions were imported from elsewhere anyway. Asian and European traders explored various routes in their quest to reach the Spice Islands and key port cities. Te traders carried with them porcelain, beads, and textiles to exchange for spices, as well as commodities such as exotic animals from Borneo, tin from the Malay Peninsula, gold from Sumatra, and wax from the Maguindanao in the southern Philippines. Te items that seem to have been in less demand in the past were works of


new materials entering the Malay world from distant regions. Tese ranged from betel-nut and tobacco containers to wooden dowry chests and textiles. All of these are prominently on display at the exhibition, along with more hidden symbolism. Talismanic devices such as the Ottoman tughra and the Seal of Solomon appeared across various materials for protective or decorative purposes. In the current environment of


hostility towards migration, the Malay world stands out as a region built on the moderately free movement of people. Individuals from Muslim Southeast Asia resettled in distant locales like Mecca, while the Malay Peninsula and the archipelago were magnets for migration from


The keris remains one of the


most admired representatives of Malay-world art


diverse global locations including the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the South China Sea. Te mobility at the beginning of the 18th century contributed to increasingly multicultural urban societies. Some became agents promoting the culture of the region, especially photographers, batik makers and silversmiths. Te emphasis remained much the same as in the Islamic heartlands: to embellish the mundane was more important than creating what is now considered fine art. In the Malay world this tended to mean multiple connections with nature. Tere is no part of the Islamic community with as many tendrils and sundry lush vegetation in their art as in Southeast Asia. Everything from Qur’an illumination to wooden architectural features is alive with the richness of the natural world. Tese are mostly unfamiliar treasures, even to the residents of the region.


• Oceans that Speak: Islam and the Emergence of the Malay World,


at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, from 12 December to June 2025


Rider and His Steed in the Desert by Jean-Léon Gérôme, courtesy Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia


viewers in the 19th century, she was presumed to be as much a part of the Oriental furniture as the indifferent crowd in the background. Gérôme’s contemporary, the traveller and photographer Maxime Du Camp, who also considered himself an authority on matters of undressed women, described her as ‘an Abyssinian’. Part of the Lusail’s complicated


Prayer at the House of the Arnaut Chief Jean-Léon Gérôme, courtesy Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia


process is bringing in contemporary artists who have a lot to say on the subject. Some of them are becoming like old friends. Inci Eviner’s 2009


• Seeing Is Believing: The Art and Influence of Gérôme, the Lusail Museum in collaboration with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar, until 22 February 2025


video Harem was shown at the British Museum’s Inspired by the East and was just about the most popular attraction there (apart from a delightful painting by the ‘Orient’s’ most celebrated Orientalist artist, Osman Hamdi Bey). Eviner has created a beguiling work, based on etchings made more than 200 years ago by long-time resident of Istanbul Antoine Ignace Melling. It has a strangely sinister soundtrack and some bizarre happenings on the screen. It is a subtle answer to the question of what Orientalist artists really saw. Te answer is just about nothing, except for one of the rare females of the genre, Henriette Browne. She visited a harem, unlike the men, and the impression is one of genteel dullness. Something else that Gérôme probably never saw was a horse dying in the desert with its rider by its side. It is still my favourite of this artist’s works and is one of the most moving evocations of the bond between master and beast in a hostile environment. Happy 200th birthday, Jean-Léon!


ASIAN ART | WINTER 2024


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