Abstraction

Catalog description

The making of abstract visual forms is a near-universal human activity across time and cultures. Some of the earliest known cave art, dating back approximately 40,000 years, is abstract. The use of abstract forms in ornament and for symbolic communication is found at different periods of history and in different locations across the globe. And abstraction has become prominent in modern art all over the world. This course takes a comparative approach to abstraction and asks why human beings in different places and at different times have drawn and carved similar shapes, lines, and patterns. What are the meanings of these forms? Why have some cultures with long traditions of representational painting turned to abstraction? How have religious, political, and social contexts shaped this turn? What has been the role of abstraction in Islamic and other non-Western traditions and how have these traditions influenced Western art? Although the course will range widely historically and culturally, it will take the Middle East as one of its key areas of interest and will include visits to galleries, private collections, and selected centers for traditional arts in the UAE.