Islamic Art and the Museum

The first years of the twenty-first century have witnessed an impressive re-evaluation of Islamic art and archaeology. However, while museums and galleries become increasingly important forums for public interest in Muslim cultures, there has been little discussion about content or categories of order and their new role in the light of modern Museology, museum pedagogy and new approaches in other fields of knowledge. This volume provides a historical and conceptual analysis of Islamic art and documents the successes and failings of its presentation in museums worldwide thus far. The contributors challenge existing notions regarding the research, methodology and analysis of Islamic art and investigate the extent to which socio-historical and anthropological approaches result in new analytical perspectives. They also examine the difficulties that need to be overcome when presenting Islamic art to avoid reducing the objects merely to the visual and aesthetic. Museums covered in detail include the David Collection, Brooklyn Museum's Arts of the Islamic World Galleries, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the Hermitage Museum, the British Museum, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto and the Pergamon Museum.