MFAH’s Art of the Islamic Worlds gallery readies for grand opening
of years, thousands of miles and varied cultures that flourished on multiple continents harmonize with the Art of the Islamic Worlds gallery, which opens March 5 at the Museum of
Fine Arts, Houston.
A Moroccan Quran manuscript in Maghribi script from 1318 greets visitors with splendor, its pages covered in ink, gold and watercolor. The 17thcentury “King Umberto II Polonaise” carpet hangs from a wall with a glorious sheen from its silk and foil-wrapped silk. The gallery benefits from the daylight from a window wall that looks out on a garden. The light pours through an Indian Jali, a piece of carved sandstone from the early 17th century, as well as numerous assembled glass vessels, which take on a particular radiance in the morning hours.
A few numbers are worth noting before getting farther into the works of art. Announced a year ago, the Art of the Islamic Worlds gallery courses through 6,000 square feet of museum space and draws from the MFAH’s collection of more than 170 pieces, along with more than 1,000 works on loan from collector Hossein Afshar and another 300 secured a decade ago through a loan from the alSabah Collection from Kuwait.
The project sprouted from a seed of a simple query: In 2006, former MFAH director Peter Marzio was asked by a patron if the museum had any Iranian art.
It did not.
The permanent gallery presents works from Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Aimée Froom, curator of the arts of the Islamic worlds at the MFAH, says the development of the collection “is one of the things that drew me to Houston.”
Froom expresses admiration for the initial dialogue that set the gallery into motion, “a unique partnership between the museum and supporters.”
Conversation is a theme that runs through the space.
Froom points out motifs and color choices that connect items throughout the gallery, despite the span of time and the vastness of space represented.
“It’s diverse culturally, regionally, geographically all under the umbrella of Islamic art,” Froom says, “which is not a monolithic entity.”
Cultural conversations
Visitors are greeted by a turquoise bowl with fish silhouettes from the Middle Ages. Opposite that bowl is “MFAH Blue Forest,” a new piece by Boris Aldridge that pulls together the fish as well as various other motifs soon to be discovered by those who wind through the gallery.
“Dish With Lion,” a stonepaste bowl, speaks to a cultural conversation between China and Iran, which Froom calls “a two-way road and not just China exporting items. There are wonderful cultural exchanges going back and forth in these galleries.”
The periphery of the vessel shows the influence of Chinese porcelain, but Froom says “the lion at the center is not at all Chinese.”
Seemingly utilitarian items — ink wells and dining vessels — are elaborately painted and engraved. Because they dealt with sacred words, calligraphers enjoyed prominent standing. Dishes bear proverbs, suggesting a feasting ritual peppered with thoughtful conversation.
Farther from the windows are the textiles and other works that require more protection from daylight. Muham Hundreds mad Baquir’s “Dancing Girl” from 1778 enjoys a renewed appearance after a specific mix of solvents were used to remove layers of lacquer that dulled the brilliant and varied vermilion of her hair and shawl and the white from the underside of an upturned sleeve.
Froom also points out the “coveted cornflower blue” throughout an 1800 Shakhrisyabz Suzani textile that likely would have been made for a bridal dowry.
MFAH director Gary Tinterow marvels that it “is particularly well preserved.”
Goodbye café
The Art of the Islamic Worlds Galleries flows effortlessly, so it’s easy to lose sight of the effort that went into its creation. The space served other purposes, including a café and the museum’s library, but when the MFAH’s café migrated across Binz to the Kinder Building, he saw an opportunity. Even then, though, significant alterations were required. For one part of the gallery, a more slender air duct was installed, granting the museum another foot of vertical space. A lower ceiling rests above some of the smaller works that invite close viewing, while the bigger space proves more inviting for the larger works.
On Sunday the MFAH will host “New Beginnings,” a spring festival to celebrate the new gallery. The event is family friendly and free and will include music, dance, food and art-making activities as well as an opportunity to see Art of the Islamic Worlds.
Investing in works and securing loans was also a process that took years. The loan from Hossein Afshar began with 100 items and quickly increased to nearly 300 and eventually more than 1,000. They represent a collection built over half a century.
“This is his life and soul,” Tinterow says. “Each of these objects were bought individually through great connoisseurship and passion. And yet … yet, yet, yet, his entire goal throughout all this — despite his love and interest and fascination for these objects — has always been to share it with the public. His motivation has been to make art available to a larger community. So his motivation and our institutional mission corresponded precisely.”