Middle East and North Africa

About

The region stretching from Morocco to Iran includes the cradles of writing, cities and monumental architecture, and later the heartlands of Islamic art. Early Islamic builders raised the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (691) with a gilded dome and mosaics, and over the following centuries calligraphy, geometric pattern, tilework and carpets spread from Andalusia to Central Asia. Each dynasty had its own accent, from Mamluk Cairo to Safavid Isfahan and Ottoman Istanbul.

In the 20th century, artists across the region built modern movements while debating heritage and the West. Many turned Arabic script into abstract form, a tendency known as Hurufiyya, and Iraqi, Moroccan, Lebanese and Iranian painters developed distinct national modernisms. Saloua Raouda Choucair, Dia Azzawi and Etel Adnan are among its major figures. In recent decades, Shirin Neshat's photography and video and the conceptual work of Hassan Sharif in the United Arab Emirates reached wide audiences.