Art Review: Forms of Illumination in Texas Islamic Art Exhibition

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Lee Lawrence

'Bowl With Bird,' from ninth- to 10th-century Iraq. Brooklyn Museum

TEXAS---At the Dallas Museum of Art, a light-filled passageway curves gently toward a white wall where, hanging in the center, four small, circular objects radiate lines of indigo, russet, sky blue and gold. They are three 13th- and 14th-century ceramic bowls and the center of a 17th-century shield. From Persia, Spain and India, they introduce "Nur: Light in Art and Science From the Islamic World." In Arabic, nur denotes not just physical light but the light of knowledge and spiritual truths. The museum's adviser for Islamic art, Sabiha Al Khemir, adopted its multiple meanings as her guiding principle in selecting more than 150 works spanning the Islamic world, from Spain to India, from the ninth to the 20th centuries. [link]