Beauty and Islam: Aesthetics in Islamic Art and Architecture [Hardcover]

Valerie Gonzalez (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1860646913 | ISBN-13: 978-1860646911 | Publication Date: November 3, 2001

Five essays explore aspects of aesthetics in classical Islamic thought in light of contemporary theories, offering new perspectives on Islamic art and architecture with examples ranging from the Qur'an and the Alhambra to the works of present day artists and philosophers. Tracing the roots of Islamic aesthetics back to the works of the philosophers of the Middle Ages such as Avicenna and Averroes, Valerie Gonzalez finds that aesthetic theory in Islam must be seen within the much wider context of parallel thinking on theology, ethics, physics, and metaphysics. She balances her analysis of this philosophy (moral, logical, and scientific) of beauty with the equally important analysis of the perceptual experience of beauty.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is a fascinating, mind-teasing, and frustrating, at time brilliant, sometimes convoluted, but always stimulating investigation of Islamic aesthetics. Choice

About the Author

Valerie Gonzalez has been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and is currently a Research Associate at the School of Architecture, Marseille.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris (November 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860646913
• ISBN-13: 978-1860646911
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,157,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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