Islamic Art.

• Author: Swietochowski, Marie Lukens

Islamic Art is an introduction to the subject geared to the general public or beginning student. The book is divided into eight chapters which are arranged chronologically and geographically and has in addition an introductory and concluding essay. There is a select bibliography, a glossary, and an index. While no list of illustrations has been provided, there is one of illustration acknowledgements. There are no footnotes.

Each chapter is provided with a short historical introduction followed by subsections starting with architecture and architectural design and followed by the arts of the book, metalwork, glass, pottery, and textiles and carpets, with coins, rock crystal, woodwork, stone, ivory, gems and hardstones added where appropriate. Illustrations are divided more or less equally among the chapters, averaging 19 per chapter, about 7 of which are black-and-white and the rest in color, for a total of 162.

Islamic Art is well organized and is written in a clear and readable style, albeit a bit overloaded with thuses and whences, and there is an occasional awkward passage. ("The message which Muhammad proclaimed had a divisive effect amongst the tensions of Mecca between those growing in prosperity and those who had been left behind".) The work is at its best when describing or analyzing techniques and explaining the meanings of terms.

The book has two major flaws. The first is that many highly important objects that are cited in the text, described in detail and related to other objects or classes of objects are neither illustrated nor is any indication given as to where illustrations of them might be found. As a teaching tool, Islamic Art could still play a useful role as an informative guide, if supplemented in the classroom by the missing reference and visual material. However, for the general public, for whom the book must stand alone, these omissions can only prove to be exasperating.

The second major flaw in this volume is the quality and sometimes the choice of the illustrations. In a general study on such a rich and varied topic, with only 162 illustrations, each one should be carefully selected, professionally photographed, meticulously printed, and should supplement the text. Regrettably, that is not the case here. To take quality first, almost all of the illustrations of paintings and calligraphy are so red (usually the sign of an old transparency or sloppy printing) as to disastrously distort the true colors. In the...