Modern Arab Art: Formation of Arab Aesthetics

“Groundbreaking. Shabout elucidates two critical issues that have thus far received inadequate scholarly attention—the distinction between Islamic Art and Arab Art and the relatedness of the political and artistic processes in the history of Arab modernity.”—Shiva Balaghi, coeditor of Picturing Iran: Art, Society and Revolution

"One of the first publications to consider the various cultural and social conditions that have helped shape Modern Arab Art as a recent phenomenon linked to the rise of Arab identity, the impact of western art training, and a search for a contemporary language which links with Islamic art but is discontinuous with it."--Fran Lloyd, Kingston University "Art is one way to visualize the interconnectedness of people and this book shows us how related in influence and aspirations we all are."--Linnea S. Hedrick, Miami University
Modern Arab Art provides a historical and theoretical overview of the subject from the 1940s through today. With particular emphasis on production, reception, and the intersection between art and politics in Iraq and Palestine, Nada Shabout reveals the fallacy in Western fascination with Arab art as a timeless and exotic “other.”