Title: Contemporary Egyptian Art / Modern Islamic Art: Development and Continuity
Abstract:Contemporary Egyptian Art, by Liliane Karnouk. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1995. vii + 132 pages. Notes p. 130. Index p. 132. n.p. Art: Development and Continuity, by Wijdan Ali. Gaines...Contemporary Egyptian Art, by Liliane Karnouk. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1995. vii + 132 pages. Notes p. 130. Index p. 132. n.p. Art: Development and Continuity, by Wijdan Ali. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997. xii + 225 pages. Append. p. 212. Notes p. 215. Bibl. p. 218. Index p. 225. $59.95. Reviewed by Mary-Jane Deeb These two books have a great deal in common: Both focus on 20th-century in the Middle East, and both are written by women who are painters and artists in their own right. However, Wijdan Ali's study has a historical background, going back the late 18th century, while Liliane Karnouk's focuses on the second part of the 20th century. Ali looks at the Arab world, Turkey and Iran, whilst Karnouk focuses on Egypt. Ali's study is a general overview of the state of the arts in the 20th century; Kamouk's is a more in-depth analysis of a certain number of Egyptian painters and sculptors. The scope of the work of the two authors is quite different. Ali's work is more geographically dispersed and focuses not only on painting, though this is certainly the most significant part of the book, but also on calligraphy. Her goal is twofold: to trace the development of Western aesthetics and modem painting in the world and establish the continuity of in the twentieth century through the Calligraphic School of art (p. xii). Karnouk's book is a sequel an earlier study of Egyptian titled Egyptian Art: The Emergence of a National Style. ' She does not explain clearly, in either work, what is that she is trying accomplish, except record, chronologically, the evolution of in Egypt. Although, like Ali, she focuses primarily on painting, Karnouk also looks at some of the dramatic sculptures that were created by the likes of Jamal al-Sighini, Muhammad Hajras and Adam Hunayn. While conceptually different, both books raise the question of what is art? Karnouk looks at the debate on what is a modern Islamic approach art, which began in 1971 in Baghdad, where the first biennial conference on Arab took place. She concludes that it seems that integration ... [is] the essential common denominator, and that the revival of has consisted of seeking recover the cultural as well as the aesthetic meaning of tawahud' (unity, integration, all in One) (p. 79). Ali, on the other hand, whose book is titled Art, does not really define the concept: Modern is an enigma that carries ambiguous connotations, in both its name and its nature. On the one hand, the term modern conjures up a progressive, up-to-date condition. On the other hand, the word has overtones of tradition and religion, more relevant the past than the present (p. xi). Ali does say that as a contemporary artist (p. …Read More
Publication Year: 1998
Publication Date: 1998-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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