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Complementary Exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Showcase Exceptional Masterworks of Islamic Calligraphy and
Related Objects: Traces of the Calligrapher and Writing the Word of God
For
Immediate Release
Complementary Exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Showcase
Exceptional Masterworks of Islamic Calligraphy and Related Objects:
Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c.
1600-1900 and Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the Qur´an on
View November 3, 2007 — February 3, 2008
Museum Formulates Plans to Collect Art of the Islamic World
Houston, October 2007—The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has unveiled
plans to broaden public awareness of the artistic traditions of the
Islamic world and to raise funds to begin a collection of its art, Peter
C. Marzio, director of the MFAH has announced. In undertaking the "Art
of the Islamic World Initiative," the museum will commit exhibition and
educational resources to the display and study of Islamic art. To bring
immediate focus to this area, the MFAH is presenting complementary
exhibitions, Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in
Practice, c. 1600-1900 and Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the
Qur´an, which open November 3 and run through February 3, 2008. The MFAH
is also holding a benefit gala on November 1 to raise funds for
acquisitions of Islamic art.
"The MFAH is pleased to have the enthusiastic support of Houston´s
Islamic communities in launching this new endeavor," said Peter C.
Marzio, MFAH director. "It is not accidental that as Houston´s
population grows more diverse, so does the museum´s collection. Over the
course of the next several years the museum will expand its Asian
galleries to include the arts of Islam in the new configuration.
Throughout these galleries educational activities and materials related
to the cultures will enrich the visitor experience even further."
As currently proposed, the new initiative has four key components:
presenting innovative exhibitions of Islamic art; building a permanent
collection of art from the Islamic world; opening permanent gallery
space dedicated to the presentation of the art; and developing and
hosting educational programs to advance the interpretation and
understanding of Islamic art.
Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c.
1600-1900 and Writing the Word of God: Calligraphy and the Qur´an
The exhibitions Traces of the Calligrapher and Writing the Word of God
explore Islamic art´s quintessential art form, calligraphy. The practice
of calligraphy became an expression of piety as stated in the hadith (a
tradition associated with the prophet Muhammad): "the first thing
created by God was the pen." Calligraphy became a worthwhile endeavor
for men of all stations, and served as a permanent record of the
calligrapher´s character.
Together, these exhibitions examine the artistry of the tools used to
create the masterful works; examples of calligraphy, such as practice
exercises, manuscripts, and folios from the Qur´an; and the social
prestige associated with calligraphy. Approximately 150 objects and
works from an important private collection in Houston and the Arthur M.
Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums convey the elegance of
the esteemed art form and reveal the skills of the many
artisans—calligraphers, paper makers, gold beaters, gilders,
ceramicists, illuminators, painters, bookbinders, and metalworkers, to
name a few—involved in the creation of the tools, the calligraphy, and
the manuscript folios. The exhibitions are installed in the Caroline
Wiess Law Building, 1001 Bissonnet Street.
Traces of the Calligrapher maps the practice of the calligrapher from
the 17th through the 19th centuries both through examples of calligraphy
as well as through tools of the trade. The objects in the exhibition
come from Iran, Turkey, and India. For his practice, the calligrapher
used pens, paper, inks, and other tools. The small rectangular slab
called a makta provided the calligrapher a surface upon which the
critical act of cutting the reed pen took place; penknives shaped and
gave the final clean cut to the reed pens; and inks prepared from source
materials were contained in inkwells. The calligrapher prepared the
paper with a burnisher to seal the surface and cut it with scissors
before proceeding with his writing. After inking the paper, finishing
the process included ridding the paper of excess ink by sprinkling
powder from a sand shaker and using a special tool to burnish the gold.
A selection of these tools illustrate the preparation of materials and
the processes of writing. Craftsmen fashioned and fitted the tools with
exquisite care and design, and used precious materials such as jade,
agate, ivory, ebony, silver, and gold. Calligraphic works from the same
period, which were executed as practice exercises and fair copies, are
displayed alongside these implements, and a video shows a master
calligrapher at work. Together, the objects and their output present an
overview of the intimate world of the calligrapher and the environment
in which he worked.
Writing the Word of God is devoted to key developments of the Islamic
scripts of distinct cultural areas, spanning from Spain and North Africa
to Greater Iran from the seventh to the 15th centuries. A selection of
approximately 20 folios from now dispersed Qur´ans from the region
illustrates the rich variety and system of scripts.
Exhibition Organization and Sponsorship
Traces of the
Calligrapher and Writing the Word of God have been assembled by guest
curators Mary McWilliams, the Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic
and Later Indian Art at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, and David J.
Roxburgh, the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Professor of Islamic Art History
at Harvard University. In Houston, Christine Starkman, curator of Asian
art and Vivian Li, curatorial assistant of Asian art, are overseeing the
presentation. The exhibitions are organized by the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, and Harvard University Art Museums. Generous support is
provided by Cathy and Vahid Kooros; Oxus Energy, LLC; The Hagop
Kevorkian Fund; The Kooros Family: Lily, Hamid, Shirin, and Ali; Mr. and
Mrs. Ali Ebrahimi; Douglas Jaffe, III ~ Horseshoe Bay Resort; Mr. and
Mrs. Pat R. Rutherford, Jr.; Mr. Kay-Ghobad "Kiddie" Zafar; Mr. Mike
Hoomani; The Seaver Institute; Fariba and Rainer Buchecker; and Standard
Oilfield Services — Baku.
Exhibition Catalogue
Traces of the Calligrapher is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue
written by McWilliams and Roxburgh and published by the MFAH. Yale
University Press is distributing the catalogue, which is available
locally in the MFAH Shop, 713-639-7360, for $25. A special booklet about
Writing the Word of God is available in the MFAH Shop for $14.95.
Public Programs
An array of public programs for children and adults relating to the
exhibitions are offered while the shows are on view. Storytime tours for
families, tours for students, tours for adults, and resources for
educators available for free loan from the Kinder Foundation Teacher
Resource Center are among the ongoing programs. In addition, these
special programs, free with museum admission, are planned:
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Target Free First Sunday Family Day: Cultural Traditions, 1 to 5 p.m.
(Free)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Lecture: Exhibition vs. Revelation: Encountering the Sacred in the Art
Museum, Mary McWilliams, the Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic
and Later Indian Art at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 1:30 p.m.
(Repeated on Saturday, January 12 at 4 p.m.)
Treasures of the Islamic World Gala
The Treasures of the Islamic World Gala, a black-tie dinner hosted by
committee members Rania Daniel; Cathy and Vahid Kooros: Lily and Hamid
Kooros; Sima and Masoud Ladjevardian; Sultana and Moez Mangalji; Rishma
and Akbar Mohamed; Sabina and Omar Rehmatullah; and Monsour Taghdisi,
will be held at the MFAH on Thursday, November 1. Individual tickets are
available from $500, and tables for ten are available from $5,000. The
evening benefits the MFAH Friends of Asian Art and the purchase of
objects for the Islamic art collection. For additional information, call
713-639-7523.
MFAH Collections
Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is the largest art
museum in America south of Chicago, west of Washington, D.C., and east
of Los Angeles. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers more
than 56,000 works and embraces the art of antiquity to the present.
Featured are the finest artistic examples of the major civilizations of
Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Italian Renaissance
paintings, French Impressionist works, photographs, American and
European decorative arts, African and Pre-Columbian gold, American art,
and European and American paintings and sculpture from post-1945 are
particularly strong holdings. Recent additions to the collections
include Rembrandt van Rijn´s Portrait of a Young Woman (1633), the
Heiting Collection of Photography, a major suite of Gerhard Richter
paintings, an array of important works by Jasper Johns, a rare,
second-century Hellenistic bronze Head of Poseidon /Antigonos Doson,
major canvases by 19th-century painters Gustave Courbet and J.M.W.
Turner, distinguished work by the leading 20th and 21st century Latin
American artists, and The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian
Constructive Art.
MFAH Campus
The MFAH collections are presented in six locations that make up the
institutional complex. Together, these facilities provide a total of
300,000 square feet of space dedicated to the display of art. The MFAH
comprises:
• Two major museum buildings: the Caroline Wiess Law Building, designed
by Mies van der Rohe, and the Audrey Jones Beck Building, designed by
Rafael Moneo
• Two facilities for the Glassell School of Art: one with studio spaces
for children and another with studio spaces for adults
• Two house museums that exhibit decorative arts: Bayou Bend Collection
and Gardens features American works, Rienzi features European works
• The Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, created by Isamu
Noguchi
General Information
For museum information, the public can call 713-639-7300, or visit
www.mfah.org.
Media Information Only: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston:
Frances Carter Stephens, Lynn Feuerbach, Dana Mattice, Megan Whitenton,
713-639-7540; |
