Islamic Art and Modernism: Formal Elements in Painting, Architecture and Film

Islamic Art and Modernism are both terms which have been written about, discussed and mentioned as a period or style extensively- yet both terms remain fluid. Islamic Art stretches dynasties, periods and huge swaths of the globe. Much has been written about the workshop structure and the role of the Sultan, Emperor or Emir in commissioning works of painting or architecture in the history of Islamic art and contradiction to the ideas of the last two centuries in the West, where the individual artist is credited with making a conceptual statement while working alone. The reality presented here is somewhere in the middle - individual poets, artists and architects play a prominent role historically in Islamic art while the position off the Ruler is also extremely valuable and stylistically relevant. The movement of artists and architects to cities that are centers of a particular style, movement or patronage was common throughout history and the interchange in Ottoman and Safavid-Persian and Mughal and Deccani India are examples of methods and techniques spreading, developing, influencing and changing regional trends. Modernist painting is defined by fragmentation, line and color as subject matter and a relentless march through abstraction towards minimalism; form and space are used in sculpture towards similar ends. In Modern architecture multiple movements place the extreme vertical and horizontal development of structures, the idea that form follows function and the embrace of industrial methods and materials at its core. The precise and efficient use of space, form and light emphasizes these qualities. Modernist cinema experiments with the magic of capturing light and is emphasized by the possibilities of moving away from traditional narrative approaches and instead manipulating, highlighting and spinning time as well as a self-reflexive acknowledgement of the medium itself.In this study, selected paintings, buildings and films that cross genres, styles and dynastic periods are explored in both a socio-historical context and, more importantly, in terms of their striking formal innovations. It is a thematic new look at how we position Islamic art - how it in fact embodies, exemplifies and invents many aspects of Modernism in Painting and Architecture and Film.