Islamic Art:
A GLOBAL VIEW
WONDROUS WORLDS: ART & ISLAM THROUGH TIME & PLACE January 26 – May 26, 2019 Asian Art galleries
20
EXHIBITION
When the Newark Museum first conceived of an idea for a new exhibition exploring the intersections of art and Islam, the goal was to showcase the diversity of its own significant collection. As the global political climate shifted and as the collection yielded more and more extraordinary objects, the idea’s scope and scale expanded. The resulting exhibition spans a millennium and represents nearly every continent on the globe, with the hope that it helps to build awareness and create cultural common ground by celebrating love, faith, family, and creativity through art.
W
ondrous Worlds: Art & Islam Through Time & Place features more than 100 artworks, including handwritten texts, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, photographs, and paintings from across the Islamic world. On view from January 26 through May 26, 2019, it is the first exhibition on Islamic art presented at Phoenix Art Museum since the 1980s. “We are excited to welcome Wondrous Worlds to Phoenix,” said Janet Baker, PhD, the Museum’s curator of Asian art. “Because of its dramatic scope, this exhibition will offer our community a
global view of Islam and may help to redirect the national conversation.” Curated by a team led by Katherine Anne Paul, PhD, curator of the arts of Asia at the Newark Museum, Wondrous Worlds is organized around the Five Pillars of Islam—shahada (declaration of faith), salat (daily prayers), zakat (almsgiving, or charity), sawm (fasting for Ramadan), and hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). Each section of the exhibition features a range of artworks from various countries and centuries, illustrating how Islamic art transcends any one place and time to connect people. continued on page 23 EXHIBITION
21
