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1. Write a critique/review of the two textbooks you were required to read for th
1. Write a critique/review of the two textbooks you were required to read for this class. In an online class there is much heavier reliance on written texts than in a conventional classroom-based class, so many of you have become intimately familiar with the Bloom/Blair and Hillenbrand texts. How do these texts try to present the study of Islamic art and how successful are they? In other words, think about the way the material was presented in each book, how it was arranged and the approaches that were used. You can obviously compare/contrast, but this assignment is much more than a simple “I liked Bloom/Blair but found Hillenbrand too difficult” evaluation. You are thinking about how one presents a complex subject like Islamic art with all its variables and permutations. How do these texts work, particularly for someone being exposed to Islamic art for the first time?
2. More and more museums are presenting their collections on the web and allowing virtual visitors access to the objects in their collections. Look at the web sites for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (www.metmuseum.org) and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (www.vam.ac.uk). Assess the information on the web sites that presents Islamic art. What sort of information is presented and how is it presented? Do these museum sites offer just an introduction to Islamic art and architecture or do they attempt to be more comprehensive? Again you may compare and contrast but try to imagine you are visiting the site as a newcomer to Islamic art; what impression would you come away with? You may comment on the design of the web sites, the arrangement of information, whatever you think is relevant.
3. If you are in the New York area, visit the new (as of late 2013) galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the arts of the Islamic lands and write a review of the installation as if you’d been sent by a newspaper or magazine to cover the new galleries. What are the highlights? How does the MMA present its collection? Are the galleries used more as an educational tool or a traditional museum showplace? Make sure to be as specific as possible in your analysis/critique.
Robert Hillenbrand, Islamic Art and Architecture (London and New York: Thames and Hudson, new edition, 2021), paper, ISBN 978-0-500-20455-9
Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, Islamic Arts (London: Phaidon, 1997), paper, ISBN 0-7148-3176-X
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