"French culture of the twelfth and thirteenth century readily adopted forms from the Islamic world, with which it was in touch, and especially those forms that were of Persian origin. This elective affinity is to be seen not least in the knightly epics of both sides..[and] is prevalent in almost all knightly forms of the medieval West; minnesingers and troubadours..."
---Titus Burckhardt.
{Was going to put Debussy up here, but not particularly fond of it. Any other suggestions, dear reader?}
"Revelation came to me from the Orient, said Matisse. The Arabesque in Islamic Art represents the tenacity but also fragility of life, which can be bestowed or withdrawn at any moment. The positive forms of the arabesque create the negative spaces of the shapes in between; these empty spaces symbolize that which 'belongs to God'-the permanent but invisible reality of the divine principle. Similarly, for Matisse, there is the complementary between negative and positive shapes: what remains belongs to God."
---Betty Cuther.
You understand that this is difficult for those reared on the importance of distinctions, on the misplaced notion that there are, when all is said and done, fundamental differences, irreconcilable differences.
But there is 'neither Greek nor Jew,' and Islam is neither of the East nor of the West.
"[In] Arab interlacement the filled spaces and the empty areas, the design and its ground, are both of strictly equivalent value and balance each other out...so that one's attention never halts on a particular element of the decor. The continuity of the interlacement invites the eye to follow it, and vision is then transformed into rhythmic experience accompanied by the intellectual satisfaction given by the geometric regularity of the whole."
---Titus Burckhardt, from his magisterial Art of Islam.
To view some examples from this book click on the following link
(and no, C, still haven't read the Matisse book!)
2 comments:
Speaking of interlacement, I put up a pic of my Spirit of Geometry quilt on my Blog. (Yes, relented and blogged!)
I saw the Matisse and His Textiles exhibition in London a few years ago. Some of his paper cut-outs were renderings of Islamic patterns - put against windows they were awe-inspiring. (The star of the Matisse book, by the way, was his wife, Amelie. Her story should be read and inwardly digested by any woman who wants to understand how so many of their kind took refuge in mental illness. (C/F Alice James, sister of the more famous Henry and William.)A salutary lesson there for would-be feminists.)
refuge in mental illness? Gosh, that does sound dire!
yes, this cut out from 'Jazz' is supposed to be part homage to the arabesque. this notion of the 'eye never settling' (and there being some peace in this ) is, to me, very interesting. As with all things Islamic (at least in theory!) balance is the key.
that must have been some exhibition! Will there, I wonder, be more posts on your blog on this? I hope so!
Keep well,
b.
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