Islamic Wall Art: Now, And Next
Religion has, for long, been an inspiration for art. Spiritual art is the kind of art that is inspired by matters of faith, spirituality or religion. Islamic art is perhaps the most popular category in religious art. Large Islamic wall art a dorns buildings such as the Taj Mahal and the Sulaimaniya Mosque. One can see it on the walls of mosques, mausoleums, palaces and buildings. Many Muslimsalso look for Islamic wall art online. They search for local art stores by typing ‘Islamic art wall hangings online India’ for example.
The most outstanding aspect of Islamic wall artis Arabic calligraphy. As Islam prohibits making pictures of animals and humans, artists in Muslim empires began to find expression in calligraphy. The beauty of the Arabic script, especially its loops, curves, dashes, dots, diacritical marks, and symbols depicting vowel sounds, render it well for calligraphic writing. Letters can be reduced to less than half their size and can be made to combine smoothly with other letters.
In the absence of figurative wall art, Islamic calligraphybecame the mainstay of wall artin Muslim empires, be it the Ottoman empire in the west or the Mughal dynasty in the east. Large Islamic wall art with stunning calligraphy adorns many monuments such as the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.
Besides decorating the walls and ceilings of monuments, Arabic calligraphy has also been used to enhance the beauty of handicrafts like ceramics, pottery, carpets, glass and metal frames.
Each regional Islamic empire developed its own font of calligraphy, with its own set of rules. The Kufic font which is straight and angular developed in Kufa, Iraq; the elaborate dotted Diwanistyle took off in Ottoman Turkey, the Nastaliq style thrived in Iran.
Nowadays, Islamic wall artwidely sold and bought on many ecommerce forums like Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba, Lazada, Souq, Ebay, etc. Besides, there are also quite a number of boutique online stores that trade only in Islamic wall art, offering different types of mediums like vinyl stickers, also known as wall decals, and metalwork to canvas prints and woodwork which includes large Islamic wall art. Earlier, only the very wealthy could afford to ask calligraphers to customise works of art for them. However, these days, customisation is a regular service offered by many Islamic art stores. You can choose the verse, the writing style and the material you want for your work of art. It is also a popular gifting item. You may be a resident of Canada but you can place your order from an Islamic art store in Turkey. But if you want local artwork, then you search for, say,‘Islamic art wall hangings online India’. Certainly, this interior decoration categorylooks set to expand given the potential market demand and mushrooming of ecommerce websites. What remains to be seen is whether supply matches demand. There is a dearth of Arabic calligraphers in many countries, In India, for instance, the few calligraphers that remain are mostly in their 60s and 70s. Let’s hope Islamic art outgrows their generation.