The Formation of Islamic Art (1st edition) (1978)

Most surveys of Islamic art proceed chronologically or geographically to synthesize several centuries of material covering a region stretching from Spain to Afghanistan. Oleg Grabar's book, The Formation of Islamic Art, instead focuses thematically on the earliest centuries of Islam. The resulting related essays seek to define the nature of "Islamic" art through themes such as architecture, ornament, luxury art, and attitudes towards images. Grabar is interested in whether "classical" visual traditions inherited from the Roman, Byzantine, and Sasanian worlds survived into the Umayyad period and beyond. However, he is ultimately concerned with the innovations of the first Muslim patrons and artists in creatively appropriating and recombining these styles, motifs, and forms.
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1973. Yale University Press. Hardback with Dustjacket