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New Visions of Art and Islam — August 29, 2002

By Doris Bittar

There are many misconceptions about Islamic art as well as its relationship to Western contemporary issues.

The often quoted phrase that the use of "imagery and iconography is forbidden in Islam" is a prime example. In fact, that particular "rule" was discounted as unimportant a couple of centuries ago among clerics and philosophers. Yet, its importance persists in the West to this day. Not only are vegetal and animal forms present both overtly and covertly, but the human form itself is embedded in the very fiber of the Arabic language.

As Arabic calligraphy developed it gradually became based on human proportions, which in turn influenced the dimensional scale of architecture.

Another Western belief is that Islamic Art is merely ornamental and therefore stagnant or dead. Islamic Art for centuries dealt with issues that would be considered very modern and contemporary today. For example, theories of space, scale, and perspective as well as the debates between abstraction and realism. All of these touch upon the relationship of man to society as well as man to God or spirituality.

Understanding Islamic art may shed light on how we view Western art, society and spirituality as well. The foundation for these discussions will begin with Arabic calligraphy, its development, its connection to pictographs and iconography.

Biography of Doris Bittar

Doris Bittar was born in Baghdad, Iraq of Lebanese parentage and her early childhood was spent in the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon. Her memories of Lebanon are rich with pattern, from Oriental rugs to her mother's embroidery. Her experience of Lebanese culture itself is intertwined with European culture, particularly the French, because of the colonial relationship. Her family immigrated to New York where eventually she studied Fine Arts.

In the United States, Bittar's observations both coincided and clashed with the portrayal of the "exotic Orient" and the various images of Arabs, Jews and Europeans. The cross-pollination between these cultures has created a hybridized tangle of perception that is played out in her paintings.

Upon graduating with a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of California, San Diego in 1993, Bittar had a one-person exhibit at the Alternative Museum in New York. Since then she has had solo exhibitions in California at the David Zapf Gallery and at various colleges and universities. She has exhibited in group shows throughout the United States, in Europe and Mexico. In 1995-96 she was a fellow at the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Most recently Bittar was a recipient of the California Arts Council Fellowship.

Doris Bittar has been reviewed in a variety of publications including Art in America, Art and Antiques, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, and Al Hayat. Her work is discussed in a number of scholarly books and pamphlets including Images of Enchantment by Sherifa Zuhur. Several museums house her work in their collections.

She lectures at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University. As an art critic and journalist, she has contributed to Al Jadid and other magazines. Doris Bittar currently resides in California with her husband, James Rauch, and two sons, Joseph and Gabriel.

For more about Doris Bittar, visit her web site.