From Ernst Kuhnel The Arabesque; Meaning and Transformation of an Ornament, 1949. Translation by Richard Ettinghausen, 1977
“Although it was the Arabs who invented the motif and fixed its image, Muslim artists of all tongues, Iranians, Turks, Indians and Berbers used the arabesque and provided new variants. At times, Western draughtsmen were also unable to escape the charm of these strange patterns, which for a while even turned into a European fashion.”
“As in the case of other scrollwork, the arabesque, too, consists essentially of stem and leaf. However, while the botanical identity of the grapevine or acanthus is more or less reserved in whatever application it might be found, there is no such organic connection in the case of the unnatural, bifurcated form of the arabesque. It can present itself as being squat or stilted, compact or loosely composed, smooth or with a rough surface, ribbed, feathered, or pierced, painted, round or convoluted, simply outlined or with a spirited contour…serial arrangement with mirror images or upside-down repetitions, the creation of calyx or palmette forms by means of reciprocal duplication, the articulation through geometric strapwork or through cartouches and medallions.”
“One of the main applications of the arabesque was its combination with epigraphy. In the whole Islamic world, the preferred decoration of buildings and objects was the written, pious phrase and the surprising wealth of resulting calligraphic is well known…inscriptions were usually bedded on a ground of bifurcating scrolls…”
Last edited by revdocdrew; 01/07/08 10:02 AM.
