Gold-leafed Korans, gems, carpets and calligraphy in historic Paris show

by Daniel Brown

Article published on the 2009-10-17 Latest update 2009-10-19 11:02 TU

16th century "magic bowl" in bronze, from India, with surats and 99 names for god
(Photo: Daniel Brown)

London-based businessman Nasser D Khalili began collecting works of art from the Islamic world in 1970. Since then, his Khalili Collections have amassed over 20,000 items, making it the biggest private collection in the world. For the first time in Europe, the Iranian-born scholar of Jewish descent is exhibiting 471 of his finest objects at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris.

Collection owner Nasser Khalili and exhibition curator Aurélie Clemente Ruiz
(Photo: Daniel Brown)

“It is one of our main exhibitions for this year,” explains Aurélie Clemente Ruiz, one of the two curators for Arts de l’Islam which opened at the IMA on 5 October.

The art historian began working on the five-month event two years ago.

“You could probably say it’s one of the biggest exhibitions in Paris for 2009, in fact. It is very rare to have such a broad palette of Islamic art together in one place.”

Nasser Khalili has been working with IMA for over 20 years. But never has he contributed so many masterpieces from the Islamic world.

On one floor, visitors can scrutinise 471 objects from the world’s biggest private collection: gold-leafed Korans, priceless gems, breathtaking paintings, rare carpets, delicate pottery … and calligraphy, calligraphy, more calligraphy.

Arabic writing is at the heart of Islamic art. From southern Spain to China, from Afghanistan to northern India, Khalili has discovered rare treasures embroidered around calligraphy.

“The exhibition is based on the book The Vision of Splendour," Khalili told RFI at the exhibition opening. “We don’t want to overwhelm the public, though. We must create a symphony here. Even if we have thousands of objects in stock, they picked themselves here.”

For Clemente Ruiz, it was important to avoid any polemics over the exhibition. She stresses the educational value of showing the breathtaking diversity of Islamic art.

“There are a lot of misunderstandings about this culture," she says. "The art is so amazing, at times I find myself breathless in front of some of the objects."

"Take this huge chess piece from India made out of porcelain,” she adds, pointing to a giant bishop with an oriental face. “It reflects the popularity of the game in the Islamic world.”

17th century Koran, probably from Isfahan, Iran
(Photo: Daniel Brown)

Khalili emphasises the way the exhibition defies clichés on Islam.

“Unlike Christian art, which is 90 per cent religious, Islamic art is 90 per cent secular.

“I was standing in front of one of the objects with the President of the IMA, Dominique Baudis, yesterday, and he exclaimed: ‘But this is like Picasso!’ Yes, only it was painted a thousand years before Picasso.”

Clemente Ruiz and fellow curator Eric Delpont were given a free hand in organising the objects.

“It was a real challenge,” admits Clemente Ruiz, “because there are not many paintings or sculptures in Islamic art. So we organised it around three themes: religion, secular art that was ordered by leaders and, to finish with, the very heart of the art - the figurative representation of human beings, naturalism and the remarkable calligraphy.”

Nasser Khalili’s collections of Islamic art have been exhibited in over 35 world class museums, including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, New York’s Metropolitan Museum and the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The 64-year-old continues to invest much of his time in expanding his collection.

His obsession is infectious. “It’s time for the world to wake up and acknowledge how much Islam has contributed to the cultures of the world. And how much the west owes to Islamic artists."

The exhibition, at the Institut du Monde Arabe, is set to run until March of 2010.