Exhibition "Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst" ("Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art") took place in Theresienhöhe, München since 14 May 1910 thanks to art collector Bavarian crown prince Rupprecht.
With around 3,600 objects from more than 260 international collections in 80 halls, it was the largest exhibition of the Islamic art before WW1. It gave the western viewer a comprehensive historical picture of the arts in Muslim countries and thus prepared the ground for further scientific research into them. Objects that had previously been considered popular or arts and crafts were elevated to the status of "masterpieces".
According to modern scholars it was the turning point: it broke away from the previously dominant idea of orientalism and exotic fantasy and led to an objective view of the visual culture of the Islamic world. Naming the Islamic items as "masterpieces", it laid claim to bestow upon Islamic art “a place equal to that of other cultural periods”.
Bibliography
- After One Hundred Years. The 1910 Exhibition "Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst" Reconsidered. Ed. Andrea Lermer and Avinoam Shalem. 2010. ISBN 978-90-04-19001-6
- Eva-Maria Troelenberg. Regarding the exhibition: the Munich exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art (1910) and its scholarly position. In: Journal of Art Historiography 6, Juni 2012, 1-35
- Emily Christensen. Wassily Kandinsky at the Exhibition "Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst" in Munich, 1910 A Modernist Artist’s Interpretation of Persian Art. In Manazir Journal, vol. 3, pp. 165–173, 2021
Links
- Die Ausstellung von Meisterwerken muhammedanischer Kunst in Munchen, 1912. (Catalogue)
- Gallery (page scans of catalogue)
- Wassily Kandinsky's letter about exhibition (Russian language)
References
- Eva-Maria Troelenberg. Regarding the exhibition: the Munich exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art (1910) and its scholarly position. In: Journal of Art Historiography 6, Juni 2012, 1-35
- ^ "Zukunft der Tradition — Tradition der Zukunft. 100 Jahre nach der Ausstellung "Meisterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst" in München". Haus der Kunst (in German). Retrieved 2024-08-20.
- "After One Hundred Years: The 1910 Exhibition "Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst" Reconsidered", After One Hundred Years, Brill, 2010-08-23, ISBN 978-90-04-19102-0, retrieved 2024-08-20