Bridge-building Islamic art exhibition
Monday, July 16, 2007
PROFESSOR Nasser David Khalili believes there is more that unites the religions of Islam and Judaism than divides them.
And he says the secret to bridging the gulf between the faiths lies in art.
The Iranian-born Jew owns the most comprehensive private collection of Islamic art in the world and says exhibitions such as his "The Arts of Islam", currently at the Art Gallery of N ew South Wales in Sydney, illustrate the common cultural heritage of the world's great religions — Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Khalili, chairman of the Maimonides Foundation, which promotes peace and understanding between Muslims and Jews, says that there has never been a greater need for the world's religions to understand each other's faith and culture.
"Culture now has a tremendous role to play to bring the religions of the world together," he told The Australian newspaper.
Khalili was born into a family of art dealers, which fostered his passion for collecting. But it was Iran's multicultural society in which he grew up and the lack of segregation between Muslims and Jews that influenced his views on faith and tolerance.
"I was of the belief all the time that we are all the children of the Almighty. I looked at all the other religions the same and I respected them," he says.
After completing his schooling and national service, Khalili left for the United States in 1967 as a 22-year-old, dealing in art while at college in New York, and eventually settling in Britain in 1998.
He began collecting Islamic art in the mid-1970s, long before anyone else came to realise its value, and within a decade was considered the most important collector of Islamic art in the world.
"The reason I collected Islamic art is that I was born in a Muslim country. "I did not collect it because it was Islamic. I collected it as an art. It just so happened that it was Islamic. It had all the qualities of an international culture," he says.
Financing his passion through real estate ventures and other investments, his collection includes more than 20,000 pieces. It has been valued at A$12 billion ($16 billion), but Khalili says this is irrelevant.
"What's important to me is all the academics' and experts' admission that the collection is irreplaceable. An infinite amount of time and money cannot replace it."
Collecting, he says, is about researching, conserving, publishing and exhibiting. His is considered one of the most thoroughly researched in the world.
Since 1992 he has published 32 volumes of the collection catalogue, and while he employs academics to write the catalogues and research the collection, he says he has personally sourced every item.
Khalili says Islamic culture is often misunderstood and undervalued, but he believes that art can play a huge role in breaking down interfaith barriers.
"My realisation that culture has a big role to play came gradually as I was collecting. I started to think that maybe collecting would build a bridge," he says.
"The world has now come to understand that the greatest tool for bringing nations together is culture. At the end of the day, when you look at the world broadly, you will see that religion and politics have always had their own languages, but the language of art is universal," he adds.
Khalili says that although nearly a fifth of the world's population lives in 50 Muslim countries, Islamic culture is often misunderstood and undervalued.
"One of the problems with the way people look at Islamic culture is that they look at it as religious," he says.
But he points out: "Islamic art is not like Christian art, which is 90 per cent religious. Islamic art is at least over 90 per cent secular."
Most of the 350 rare pieces from his collection that make up the "Arts of Islam" exhibition have no religious connotations, including finely crafted carpets, ceramic vases and cups, glass jugs, and metalwork.
The portion of the exhibition that does feature religious items, including 40 Quran and other manuscripts, highlights the importance of the written word in Islamic art.
"The Arts of Islam" includes pieces from almost every period in Islamic history, from the 7th century to the 20th, with materials from Spain, Turkey, North Africa, Syria, India, Iran and China.
Items on display range from exquisite pieces made for kings to everyday objects such as coins and scientific instruments. Among the manuscripts is Rashid al-Din's Jami al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), for which Khalili paid A$11.8 million in 1990.
But the common theme running through the exhibition is the links between the cultural heritages of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.Bernama
And he says the secret to bridging the gulf between the faiths lies in art.
The Iranian-born Jew owns the most comprehensive private collection of Islamic art in the world and says exhibitions such as his "The Arts of Islam", currently at the Art Gallery of N ew South Wales in Sydney, illustrate the common cultural heritage of the world's great religions — Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Khalili, chairman of the Maimonides Foundation, which promotes peace and understanding between Muslims and Jews, says that there has never been a greater need for the world's religions to understand each other's faith and culture.
"Culture now has a tremendous role to play to bring the religions of the world together," he told The Australian newspaper.
Khalili was born into a family of art dealers, which fostered his passion for collecting. But it was Iran's multicultural society in which he grew up and the lack of segregation between Muslims and Jews that influenced his views on faith and tolerance.
"I was of the belief all the time that we are all the children of the Almighty. I looked at all the other religions the same and I respected them," he says.
After completing his schooling and national service, Khalili left for the United States in 1967 as a 22-year-old, dealing in art while at college in New York, and eventually settling in Britain in 1998.
He began collecting Islamic art in the mid-1970s, long before anyone else came to realise its value, and within a decade was considered the most important collector of Islamic art in the world.
"The reason I collected Islamic art is that I was born in a Muslim country. "I did not collect it because it was Islamic. I collected it as an art. It just so happened that it was Islamic. It had all the qualities of an international culture," he says.
Financing his passion through real estate ventures and other investments, his collection includes more than 20,000 pieces. It has been valued at A$12 billion ($16 billion), but Khalili says this is irrelevant.
"What's important to me is all the academics' and experts' admission that the collection is irreplaceable. An infinite amount of time and money cannot replace it."
Collecting, he says, is about researching, conserving, publishing and exhibiting. His is considered one of the most thoroughly researched in the world.
Since 1992 he has published 32 volumes of the collection catalogue, and while he employs academics to write the catalogues and research the collection, he says he has personally sourced every item.
Khalili says Islamic culture is often misunderstood and undervalued, but he believes that art can play a huge role in breaking down interfaith barriers.
"My realisation that culture has a big role to play came gradually as I was collecting. I started to think that maybe collecting would build a bridge," he says.
"The world has now come to understand that the greatest tool for bringing nations together is culture. At the end of the day, when you look at the world broadly, you will see that religion and politics have always had their own languages, but the language of art is universal," he adds.
Khalili says that although nearly a fifth of the world's population lives in 50 Muslim countries, Islamic culture is often misunderstood and undervalued.
"One of the problems with the way people look at Islamic culture is that they look at it as religious," he says.
But he points out: "Islamic art is not like Christian art, which is 90 per cent religious. Islamic art is at least over 90 per cent secular."
Most of the 350 rare pieces from his collection that make up the "Arts of Islam" exhibition have no religious connotations, including finely crafted carpets, ceramic vases and cups, glass jugs, and metalwork.
The portion of the exhibition that does feature religious items, including 40 Quran and other manuscripts, highlights the importance of the written word in Islamic art.
"The Arts of Islam" includes pieces from almost every period in Islamic history, from the 7th century to the 20th, with materials from Spain, Turkey, North Africa, Syria, India, Iran and China.
Items on display range from exquisite pieces made for kings to everyday objects such as coins and scientific instruments. Among the manuscripts is Rashid al-Din's Jami al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), for which Khalili paid A$11.8 million in 1990.
But the common theme running through the exhibition is the links between the cultural heritages of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.Bernama
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