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L’Inde et son art
Le texte ci-dessous est l’extrait du livre L’Art de l’Inde: écrit par Vincent Arthur Smith, publié par Parkstone International. L’art ne peut pas être confiné, pour le moins tant que les sciences humaines sur lesquelles notre culture est basée ont une signification. De nos jours, l’éloignement ne devrait plus être un obstacle pour l’apprécier, mais plutôt une incitation supplémentaire, alors que nos explorations se limitent pour la plupart à notre créneau horaire. Il est regrettable que dans l’imaginaire de beaucoup de gens, l’Orient évoque un certain romantisme qui les attire, bien que vague. Celui-ci accentue le fait que cela ne relève que de l’exceptionnel, et a pour conséquence que seule la curiosité se…
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India and its Art
The text below is the excerpt from the book Art of India, written by Vincent A. Smith, published by Parkstone International. In discussing Indian studies I am forced to acknowledge considerable diffidence arising from a survey of the huge bulk of material to be dealt with. In the face of this complexity I find myself inclined to rely on evidence that is subjective and therefore more or less unscientific, in which personal experience and interpretation is increasingly stressed. In speaking of India, a country that in its wide extent offers more beauty to the eyes than many others in the world, a descriptive vein may well be excused. India is multiple; neither geographically,…
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KLEE AND AGUÉLI: FRIENDS OF LIGHT
Klee and Aguéli are two names you would not normally write in the same sentence. However, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm has just opened an exhibition where these two painters are looked at in the same light. And this is precisely the element of affinity the museum has found between the German and the Swedish. Their travels in the north of Africa, their shocking encounters with the light of this continent, and the spirituality which ensued the life-changing experience: in the form of colour adoption and realisation of the self for the former, and in the shape of religious conversion and language acquisition for the latter. Obsessed by colour. This…
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¿Qué había antes del imperio británico?
Entre los siglos XVI y XIX, llegó a India un nuevo conquistador, Babur, empujado fuera de su territorio por un líder afgano, se asentó en Kabul y Delhi y extendió su imperio por toda la zona norte de India. Este nuevo imperio se conoció, a causa de su ascendencia mongola, como imperio mogol. Llegaron a dominar sobre grandes partes del país, hasta que los británicos aprovecharon la decadencia del imperio para imponer su gobierno. Además de por la autoría del monumento más conocido de India, el Taj Mahal, el imperio mogol es conocido por un renacimiento artístico en forma de manuscritos, retratos, escenas de la corte y estudios de historia…
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A Searching Truth
Question for the day: What brings us to make particular choices? Choices which range from our music preferences to major life decisions? Religion is one such important life choice. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism… the Big 5 (in terms of the most well-known religions). Today I shall be looking at Buddhism. What is the draw? Why is it becoming more and more popular in the Western world?
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Did You Know…?
Islam: What has it given us? Other than the obvious furious debates surrounding it and hatred in Western countries which has stemmed from some spectacular ignorance… But that’s another story. Today, I don’t want to kick-start a massive hoo-ha (in British English that word means trouble/ruckus, in case any Americans out there thought I meant something slightly off colour), but I do want to look at some of the lesser known facts and figures of the world’s second-largest religion. 1.) Islam has been around for around 1400 years. 2.) This has led to the medieval Islamic inventions or discoveries of: – Sulfuric Acid and Hydrochloric Acid. Chemists, you may say…
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Diamonds in the Rough
Arabian nights, like Arabian days, more often than not are hotter than hot in a lot of good ways. The Arab culture has gone from gross underrepresentation in television, art, and film to an intense misrepresentation over the past twenty years or so. While film directors and screen writers are helping the media plague the minds of the public about the Middle East, it’s far less often that I experience outward hatefulness from the group of people whom are relentlessly demonised as threatening, violent, and dangerous. Children are brought up with quirky yet adorable “street-rat” Aladdin, who steals to eat and falls in love well outside of his league. We’re…
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East Meets West
The Musée du Louvre has been in the process of refurbishing their Department of Islamic Art for nearly four years now – expanding to give works of art ranging from India to Spain more, and deserved, space. Reopening the department this month, pieces spanning from the 8th through 19th centuries will be back on display for the masses – it’s about time, guys! Islamic, Central Asian, and Indian Art are all hugely underrepresented in western cultures. Many museums have one room with a few fantastic pieces devoted to entire eras of the eastern cultures. Which begs the question, should these pieces have even travelled outside of their home counties to…
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La verdadera inocencia de los musulmanes
El undécimo aniversario de los ataques del 11 de septiembre ha estado trágicamente marcado por el asesinato del embajador de Estados Unidos en Bengasi, Libia. Este atentado se confundió entre una serie de protestas, violentas y no violentas, suscitadas por el insultante y mediocre largometraje estadounidense Innocence of Muslims (La inocencia de los musulmanes). Aún no se ha confirmado el nombre del responsable de esta película que ridiculiza a Mahoma (o Muhámmad, según se prefiera) y que, supuestamente, trata de demostrar que «el islam es un cáncer», pero las secuencias publicadas por ese desconocido en YouTube han desatado una violencia difícilmente contenible. Realmente es una desgracia que sucesos como estos…
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Vom Schatten ins Licht – Das Département des Arts de l’Islam
Paris ohne das Musée du Louvre und das Musée du Louvre ohne sein gläsernes Pyramidendach? Heute unvorstellbar! Über zwanzig Jahre sind vergangen, seitdem der chinesische Architekt Ieoh Ming Pei (*1917) seinen spektakulären Entwurf für den neuen Eingang des Louvre vorstellte, und es ist schwer zu sagen, ob die Mona Lisa oder die 1989 eingeweihte Glas-Stahl-Konstruktion über dem Eingangsbereich heute mehr Besucher anzieht. Sicher ist jedoch, dass die Glaspyramide einen entscheidenen Einfluss auf das Pariser Stadtbild genommen hat. Dass das Musée du Louvre eine der weltweit bedeutendsten Sammlungen von Kunstwerken der islamischen Welt besitzt, ist dagegen weniger bekannt. Für die bereits in Zeiten der Monarchie begonnene Sammlung wurde 2003 eine eigenständige…
This is an interactive art blog in multi languages, you will find new articles on artists, art history, exhibitions, etc. Contributions welcome.
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