In December 2023, we hosted a panel about Islamic Arts at the Louvre Abu Dhabi featuring Fakhera Al Kindi, eL Seed and Suheyla Takesh. The event complemented a screening of the documentary “Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World”. The panellists delved into Islamic arts – traditional and contemporary – reflecting on its vast geography, history, expressions, broad scope and influence. This article looks at the core pillars of Islamic art as discussed by the panelists: vegetal and geometric patterns and calligraphy.

What is “Islamic Art”?

Is it possible to define art as “Islamic”?

As all three panelists mention, the vast geographic span and lengthy history of the Islamic world makes this a complex question. “Islamic art” can become problematic because it could risk making a monolith of what is such a diverse tapestry of expression and traditions.

During the conversation, Suheyla Takesh goes as far as to say that the region is facing a broader “crisis of terminology”, where other terms such as “Arab world” and “Middle East” have become problematized by the traumatic history of colonization. When it comes to “Islamic art”, however, she argues that on a purely practical and institutional level, the term serves a purpose – if only because it is legible to a wide audience.

We went further into this question in a recent interview with art-historian Wendy Shaw.

Core characteristics of “Islamic Art”

Non-figurative art in Islamic Art

It is important to note that a core characteristic of Islamic art is the lack of figuration or iconography. This is because Islamic scripture prohibits the depiction of any creation such as animals. As a result, Islamic art is defined as a “non-figurative” style of art that is created out of linear vegetal and geometric patterns, as well as calligraphy.

Symmetry in Islamic Art

Symmetry is a foundational characteristic of Islamic art, created through the repetition and mirroring of the core elements of the pattern. This symmetry creates a sense of balance and harmony in the artwork.

Repetition & Infinity in Islamic Art

You’ll often notice that the patterns that make up Islamic art tend to repeat and tessellate over and over. In theory, every pattern could be infinitely repeated into space.

Vegetal Patterns & Arabesque in Islamic Art

The panel opens with Fakhera AlKindi discussing vegetal patterns in Islamic art. These kinds of motifs are “semi-natural” patterns that were employed to decorate buildings, textiles, pottery and manuscripts. These linear patterns take their inspiration from the natural world, mirroring flowers and foliage that could be found across the region. Vegetal patterns trace their history back to Byzantine culture in the East Mediterranean and Sasanian Iran. They draw some symbolic meaning from references to the “garden” which represents paradise in the Islamic art tradition.

Vegetal patterns, also now referred to as “arabesque” or “biomorphic” art, emerged as a concrete Islamic style in the medieval period (10th - 12th centuries). These floral patterns represent the order and unity of nature.

“Arabesque”

This term emerged after Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt in the 19th century. Literally translating to “in the Arab fashion”, this term has fallen out of use in the modern-day due to its Colonial and Orientalist connotations.

Arabesque art and artists create art that represents and communicates spirituality without figuration and iconography.

Geometric Patterns in Islamic Art

Geometric motifs are at the core of Islamic art – again used to decorate buildings, ornamental objects and manuscripts.

A dominant narrative is that this type of geometric and mathematically-minded patterns were not the result of a distinct artistic movement with a conceptual basis, but rather the organic result of artists creating without iconography or figuration.

In the panel, Suheyla Takesh, countered this by arguing that geometric patterns did indeed spring from a deliberate line of thought that was saturated with rich intellectual and spiritual concerns. Takesh suggested that these artists were aware that however hard they tried, they would be physically unable to immaculately represent the real world – as created by God – through art. In acknowledgement of the limitations of their own human ability, they turned to geometry as a means of expressing the very nature of the universe itself.

These geometric patterns, which always start at a central nexus and can tesellate infinitely, become a metaphor for God and the origin of all. Thus art and creation becomes an act of worship in itself. This kind of pattern and motif “stresses the importance of unity and order.”

Calligraphy in Islamic Art

Arabic calligraphy is “the most highly regarded and most fundamental element of Islamic art.”

It is a form of artistic expression based on the beautification of the very script itself. The Arabic language and its script offer both aesthetic and ornamental potential, as well as a “talismanic” nature – given the Arabic’s spiritual position in Islam as the language in which the Quran was transmitted to the Prophet Muhammad.

Arabic calligraphy is both a written communication tool and an ornamental artistic expression — balancing the conveyance of a meaning or message with an aesthetic and visual consideration. Over the centuries, a diverse range of calligraphic styles have emerged – differing in structure and style.

Speaker bios

Fakhera AlKindi

Fakhera Alkindi is a senior curatorial assistant at the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum.

Suheyla Takesh

Suheyla Takesh is a curator at the Barjeel Art Foundation. Takesh works on research and curatorial development of exhibitions for the Foundation, as well as overseeing the production of their publications.

eL Seed

eL Seed is a contemporary French-Tunisian artist who uses Arabic calligraphy and lettering in his art. His practice extends to painting and sculpture and aims to unify communities and dismantle stereotypes. He likens his work as a “quest for identity”, highlighting the limitless nature of Arabic calligraphy. eL Seed’s most notable work is the painting of building facade’s such as that of L’institut du monde Arabe in Paris and in Cairo’s “Garbage City”.

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