Human Body in Islamic Art

Abstract

Not central to worship in Islam, representation of the human body has occurred in many forms in Islamic societies: on walls, fabrics, sculptures, and paintings in manuscripts about diverse subjects, including astronomy, history, fables, mythology, medicine, religion, and poetry. Schematically incorporated within narrative or symbolic scenes in most early examples, ruler portraits led to more individualized portraiture even before the adoption of European norms of figural depiction. Not limited by visual verisimilitude, representation of the human form can also be found in lettering, through metonymic representation, and through spatial and sensual modes of embodiment that continue to inform some contemporary art. The relationship between the human body and Islamic art invites two interpretive frameworks. Reflecting the importance of the human body in the European artistic tradition, the first emphasizes figural representation in Islamic visual traditions. Reflecting the distinct role of the body in Islam, the second treats the body as a sensory agent enhancing the capacities of the body in Islamic thought. The vast historical, geographic, and ethnographic range of Islamic cultures further complicates the consideration of the human body in Islamic arts, as each locus of Islamic culture coexists within a multitude of representational and experiential norms reflecting multireligious and multiethnic environments. The role of the body in the arts shifts again with the modernist universalization of European artistic norms and bodily practices, which have been globally met with assimilation as well as resistance. Among the distinct aspects of representing the body in the Islamic world are representations of the human body in the first centuries of Islam, as Islam gained hegemony in regions with diverse religions and ethnic populations. The use of human forms in multiple media is another aspect, as is the emergence of representational restrictions. Additionally, the human body was represented in manuscript painting under the large empires that consolidated much of Islamic culture following the 13th-century Mongol conquests of western Asia. The transition to modern oil-on-canvas representation marks another shift in representations of the body. The mutual representation of body and object that is enabled through Islamic thought has also accommodated and enhanced the sensory role of the body in recognition of the divine.