Organizers of a major exhibition
say they hope their 'Art of the Islamic Civilization' show which
opens Friday at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale may help to bridge
differences heightened in today's tense geopolitical world.
"Art is the best ambassador of these cultures and
civilisations, now over a thousand years old," says a statement
written for the exhibition at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale.
"The rich and varied Al-Sabah Collection...will allow
visitors to explore an art that is multi-faceted, rich, elegant,
sophisticated and in many ways a true surprise - a challenge to
foster dialogue and understanding, and at the same time a
discovery of outstanding value".
More than 300 works of historic Islamic art, tracing a long
and storied history of the region that is today Kuwait, have
been drawn from the Al-Sabah Kuwait collection and will be on
display until September 20.
The pieces, some dating back more than a millenium, were
collected over about 40 years by Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad
al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah.
Some pieces have survived wars in the region, including the
1990 US-led coalition war in Iraq, according to the exhibition
organizers.
That speaks to the role of art in understanding
civilization, organizers suggest.
"The world is wondering how to respond to the dramatic and
violent reality that surrounds us, and 'men and women of good
will' ceaselessly seek out and travel a path made of dialogue
and of understanding despite their differences, which are indeed
never denied; if anything, they are perceived as an important
value".
The collection is shown in two distinct parts, with the
first, in a chronological order, following the development and
growth in the Islamic art, arising from the influences of the
great historic empires of Byzantium and Persia.
This aims to illustrate the culture's beginnings and its
formative years leading to the three great 16th century empires
that were to become fully-fledged political and cultural giants
on the world stage: the Turkish Ottoman empire in the
Mediterranean; the Iranian Safavid empire; and the Indian Mughal
empire with its fairy-tale opulence, reads the catalogue.
The second part of the exhibition examines themes of
Islamic artistic experiences: the beautiful calligraphy, the
suggestions of mathematical and geometric forms; the endless
variations in the pattern of arabesques; the floral motifs;
stylized representations of figures.
The exhibition was organised in collaboration with Dar
al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, the National Council for Culture, Arts &
Letters in Kuwait.
The couple's entire collection of Islamic art, and art of
the Middle East that predates Islam, included about 35,000 items
and has been described by the Scuderie as on of the world's most
important in terms of both its size and quality and the
originality of the works of art it contains.
The collection was placed on permanent loan to the Kuwait
National Museum in February 1983, to mark Kuwait's National Day.
However, it was moved at the time of the Iraqi invasion in
August 1990 in an attempt to protect the valuable pieces.
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