The Beginning of Islamic Art Historiography in the Crucible of Orientalism, Colonialism, and Collecting

The field of historiography and study of Islamic art appeared about two centuries ago on the fringes of oriental studies of Western linguists, litterateurs, and historians. The New approaches to historiography and passion for getting acquainted with Islamic texts through translation and correction, facilitated understanding of the various aspects of Islamic civilization, including art. The setting up of Arabic language courses at European universities was another way of Westerners acquaintance with Islamic culture. Following these trends, the interest in Islamic art and architecture began to develop from the late eighteenth century onwards, receiving a great impetus from the first wave of European expansion. A little later, some groups of architects and draftsmen, enthusiast for visiting Islamic monuments, went to Spain, which had great monuments of Islamic architecture. The colonial occupation and political relations of Western authorities, specially Germany, France, and United Kingdom, in Islamic lands, from Morocco and North Africa to Anatoly, India, and Iran, brought travelers with architectural and designing skills to these area. Drawing and registering survived and destroyed buildings, collecting objects and items, as well as designing and categorizing them, were among common practices. The results of such efforts were a copious of designs and pictures from Islamic monuments, which introduced Islamic architecture to the Western people. Thus, until about the middle of the nineteenth century, travelling to Islamic lands and drawing monuments were the most important attempts of those who interested in the arena in the West, most of them either were architects or had interested in architecture. In another phase, trading of Islamic items between European clients and local brokers, led to be acquired a plenty of works of Islamic art and crafts by Western museums and collections. Meanwhile, the role of the agents of South Kensington Museum in London was more prominent. The buyers and collectors of Islamic items in this period considered the main source of artistic creativity in the Islamic world not Anatolia, Syria and Egypt, but Iran. The esteem for Persian Art that was developing among European collectors and art institutions resulted in a period of intensive acquisition in Iran. Several years of drought and famine in Iran exacerbated the situation. The first European collector to be active in Iran was the Frenchman Jules Richard, also known as Mirza Riza. Among the latter, the most prominent was Robert Murdoch Smith, who in 1873 offered his services to the South Kensington Museum. These, and other, activities enabled new area of Persian art to become known in Europe. As we have seen, the study of Islamic art as it emerged in the early twentieth century has clear political and cultural reasons. In this article, we read the story of the Westerners encounters with the legacy of Islamic art by revising the narratives of European scholars themselves. In the end, we will see that the arena today known by the name of Islamic art for all the art scholars in the world, product of these initial encounters.