ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY: A BOND OF TIMES AND PEOPLE AT “KHAZINEH”

 

A small and exquisite exhibition under run on June 18, 2010 – July 12, 2010 highlights remarkable aspects of the Arabic calligraphy from the 19th to 21st centuries.

 

Two epochs emerge on the exhibition. First, the exhibition presents a selected collection of shamails, mostly taken from the fonds of the National museum of the Republic of Tatarstan and the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan along with copies of the print shamails from the collection of the Mardjani foundation, which are considered the only national calligraphic tradition in Russia, related to Islam.  The nature of their manufacture and commission as well as their meaning beyond the immediate pictorial content are discussed in the exhibition.

 

Secondly, a series of works by  Tatarstani contemporary calligraphers from the Alif association as well as a collection of 40 artworks from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,  Iraq, Syria, Iran, Morocco, Palestine and Germany, given by the Center of the Islamic Art (Kuwait),  demonstrate modern tendencies in calligraphy.

 

The exhibition is initiated by Center of the Islamic Art under the Grand Mosque in Kuwait City and organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan in association with the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to develop cultural cooperation between Kuwait and the Republic of Tatarstan within the interrelations between Kuwait and Russia.