See Islamic Art At 'Beauty and Belief' Exhibit At BYU

A unique art show opens at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art in Provo on Feb 24. It's title: "BEAUTY AND BELIEF: CROSSING BRIDGES WITH THE ARTS OF ISLAMIC CULTURE"

The museum provided this summary: "Renowned Islamic art scholar Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir is serving as Project Director of the exhibition that will feature more than 250 works of art from more than 40 lenders in ten countries and will travel throughout the United States. The exhibition will be on display in the galleries on the main level of the museum."

See the exhibit web page for details.

The Provo Herald has this interesting article describing the exhibit. Here are some excerpts.

Starting Friday and continuing through Sept. 29, “Beauty and Belief” will be hosted in the MOA’s main galleries, inviting local art patrons to experience a close encounter with the artistic culture of a faith that dominates much of the world religious landscape, but has only a very minor presence in Utah Valley.

There’s actually a strong scholarly interest in Islam at BYU — MOA director Mark Magleby said that the university has an ongoing project to translate and interpret historic Islamic manuscripts — and that made Al Khemir feel welcomed as well. “Here is a religious community that is actually inviting and accepting a different way of seeing the world,” she said, “presenting the art of a different culture.

Bruce Guenther, a curator at the Portland Art Museum, where “Beauty and Belief” will eventually conclude its four-city U.S. tour in 2013, said that great Islamic art, like all great art, transcends its origins, whether religious or otherwise. An exhibit like “Beauty and Belief” can connect with even a “curious, questioning or obdurate viewer,” Guenther said. “There is a spark inside the work that speaks to human nature.”