Global Art Histories

Providing a springboard for further readings on global art histories

Rosalind Noor

5 min readJul 16, 2024

The Ancient Mediterranean

Collecting Practices: The Soane Museum Sarcophagus

Treasure hunting in Egypt for national glory

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Recommended Texts

Restitution: The Return of Cultural Artefacts

Debates about the restitution of cultural objects have been ongoing for many decades, but have acquired a new urgency…

amzn.to

The Whole Picture: The colonial story of the art in our museums & why we need to talk about it

The Whole Picture: The colonial story of the art in our museums & why we need to talk about it : Procter, Alice…

amzn.to

Europe

Bosnia’s Monument in Waiting

A memorial kilim by artist Azra Aksamija documents cultural genocide during the Bosnian War.

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Recommended Texts

Looking East: Rubens's Encounter with Asia

Looking East: Rubens's Encounter with Asia [Schrader, Stephanie, Jungmann, Burglind, Young-Jae, Kim, Gottler…

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Art of the Americas

Recommended Texts

Art beyond the West : the arts of the Islamic world, India and Southeast Asia, China, Japan and…

367 pages : 28 cm

archive.org

Restitution: The Return of Cultural Artefacts

Debates about the restitution of cultural objects have been ongoing for many decades, but have acquired a new urgency…

amzn.to

Recommended Websites

Gilakas'la, Welcome to Living Tradition

Introductory feature for the Living Tradition Virtual exhibition includes slideshow of five images (portrait and…

umistapotlatch.ca

African Art

Highways of the Seas

Zanzibar: Arts and Trade across the Indian Ocean

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Restitution of the Benin Bronzes

One hundred and twenty-five years after the plunder of Benin City, the movement to return the Benin Bronzes is finally…

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Maghreb: Across the Sahel and Sahara

Not Just Mint Tea and Camels: The Contemporary Photographers Redefining Morocco

Both part of the Moroccan diaspora, Lalla Essaydi and Hassan Hajjaj each use photography to explore their cultural…

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Recommended Texts

Unveiling the Algérienne: French Colonial Photography | Sacred Footsteps

Take a look at this photograph. Three women sit on a rug on the floor. All of them wear 'traditional' clothing, flowers…

sacredfootsteps.com

6 Ways to Challenge the Orientalist Narrative in Photography

Six ways to challenge the orientalist narrative in photography today, and resources to further understand the tropes…

sacredfootsteps.com

Egypt, Levant and the Gulf

Foundations of a Mamluk Qur’an

How a folio in the collection of the Art Gallery NSW represents a culmination of development in the Arabic script

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Illustrating the Bahri Mamluks

An art historical examination of dress in Mamluk Cairo during the Bahri Dynasty (1250–1382 CE / 647–783 AH)

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Developments in Ceramics: Three Oil Lamps

How three simple oil lamps show the change from earthenware to stonepaste

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The Spirituality of Light

The mosque lamp stands as a short-hand motif for the light and knowledge of God

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‘Ajami Rooms: A Syrian Treasure

In the 19th and 20th Centuries, many of Syria’s beautiful ‘Ajami rooms were removed in favour of more European designs…

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Silk Roads, Turkey and Iran

The Lotus and the Dragon: How Chinese Visual Motifs Came to Persia

Close ties between the Yuan and Ilkhanid Mongol courts greatly impacted Persian ceramics, textiles and painting

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Incense

A brief look at the history and use of incense

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Movement of Ideas: Blue-and-White

The Chinese and Persian origins of blue-and-white porcelain

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A Heavy Hat

BENI’s ‘The Doppi Project’ shows how globalisation can help preserve cultural heritage

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Ehl-i Hiref: Artistic Patronage in the Ottoman Empire

Topkapı Palace in Istanbul was the symbolic and political heart of the Ottoman Empire, supporting guilds and artistic…

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In Conversation: Natalie Fisher

Discussions with pioneering needlepoint artist Natalie Fisher on Islamic architecture and design, navigating cultural…

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The Journey to Mastery: Farzana Razzaque

Conversations with master calligrapher and trained illumination artist Farzana Razzaque on studying the Islamic Fine…

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Recommended Texts

Treasures of Herat: Two Manuscripts of the Khamsah of Nizami in the British Library

Treasures of Herat: Two Manuscripts of the Khamsah of Nizami in the British Library [Brend, Barbara, Sims-Williams…

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South Asia: Sri Lanka to the Himalaya

Iconoclasm and the Bamiyan Buddhas

The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was a political, not religious act

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The Long Arm of Colonialism

Contemporary artists highlighting refugees and the hypocrisy of the West through their art

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Afghanistan’s Carpets of War

Are Afghan War Rugs a response to war and trauma, or a market-driven macabre souvenir?

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Portraiture in Islamic Visual Culture: the Problem with Charlie Hebdo

Islam and the Islamic Arts are known to be “aniconic” in the West, shunning portraiture and favouring the geometric and…

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Shahzia Sikander: Radiant Dissonance

The Sean Kelly exhibition marks Sikander’s first solo show in Los Angeles

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The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Empire

Examining the Mughals through an art-history lens

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Recommended Texts

Rembrandt and the Inspiration of India

This sumptuously illustrated volume examines the impact of Indian art and culture on Rembrandt (1606-1669) in the late…

amzn.to

Physical Tactics for Digital Colonialism

Performance-Lecture at New Museum, February 28 2019

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Finbarr Barry Flood, Between Cult and Culture: Bamiyan, Iconoclasm, and the Museum

Nusantara: South East Asian Art

Tāj al-salāṭīn: An Instruction Manual for Kings

This stunning manuscript from southeast Asia has an unusual illumination style for the region.

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Five Types of South-East Asian Qur’an Design

Curators at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia have identified five different types of Qur’an designs. What are they, and…

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Recommended Texts

Woven cargoes : Indian textiles in the East : Guy, John, 1949- : Free Download, Borrow, and…

192 p. : 32 cm

archive.org

Interwoven Globe:The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500 -1800

This fascinating exploration will appeal to anyone interested in art history, fashion and style, textile design and…

amzn.to

Japan, Korea and China

Japan

A vision of Nirvana at the NGV

The ethereal reflection model of Itsukushima Shrine by Japanese artist Takahiro Iwasaki creates a breathtaking…

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Korea

Do Ho Suh at the MCA

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney presents the South Korean artist’s first solo exhibition in the Southern…

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Keem Jiyoung: Scattering Breath

Keem Jiyoung’s paintings of candlelight encourage social change

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China

Focus On: Ma Cong AbuBakr Zaki

A brief biography of a rising star of Arabic Calligraphy in the Chinese Style

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Recommended Texts

Flowering Plums and Curio Cabinets: The Culture of Objects in Late Chosŏn Korean Art

Flowering Plums and Curio Cabinets: The Culture of Objects in Late Chosŏn Korean Art [Kim,Sunglim, Sorensen,Clark W.]…

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Chaekgeori: The Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens

Chaekgeori: The Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens [Chung, Byungmo, Kim, Associate Professor…

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Museums

Building an Islamic Art Museum

A Critical Analysis of Existing Collections Worldwide and Their Development

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Can Islam and the Museum Coexist?

The recontextualisation of figural representations within the museum setting raises interesting questions regarding…

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Leighton House and the Arab Hall

A quiet street in Kensington and Chelsea hides a magnificent jewel

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