ANN: FIRST IMPRESSIONS: PRINT MEDIA IN THE MODERN ISLAMIC WORLD (April 9)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: PRINT MEDIA IN THE MODERN ISLAMIC WORLD

Mira Xenia Schwerda, Harvard University
Hala Auji, American University of Beirut
Yasemin Gencer, Indiana University
Aditi Chandra, University of California-Merced
Elizabeth Rauh, American University in Cairo

Friday, April 9th, 12:00pm ET

[Webinar] Silsila Spring 2021 Lecture Series, Translations

The first examples of print in the Islamic world, in the form of block print amulets and scrolls, date to the tenth century. From those early productions until the present, various printing technologies and practices have played an important role in Islamic art and visual culture, particularly during the 19th-century when lithography and new engraving methods shaped the technologies of image making. Despite the central role printing plays in producing, circulating, and disseminating visual material and expressions in the Islamic world, studies of print culture rarely feature in textbooks or surveys on Islamic art. One reason is the medium’s resistance to traditional fine art categories: print is a mechanical technology as well as an art form. It also crosses media borders in other ways. As print operates in multiples, the old art historical model centered on the “original” artwork does not apply in studies of printed images and texts.

In Islamic art history, studies of printing and its spread largely focus on surviving medieval examples, cross-cultural encounters, and the introduction of the modern press, and less on the persistent evolution and generative power of this artistic technology. This panel proposes a reframing of how the field addresses the medium of printing by centering the art form as a driving force in image production and artistic developments in the modern Islamic world. The papers will discuss different examples of printing visual culture, from engraved portraits, to photographic postcards, lithographed illustrated periodicals, and examples of contemporary printmaking and popular devotional prints. Such printed images offer new insights into the visual materials and cultural practices of the modern Islamic world.

Full details of the event and a link to register as an attendee can be found at:

https://as.nyu.edu/silsila/events/2020-2021/-webinar--first-impressions--print-media-in-the-modern-islamic-w.html

Only registered attendees will be able to access this event.