New Publication - Gaston Wiet et les Arts de l'Islam (Gaston Wiet and Islamic Art)

The Louvre Museum and the Institut français d’Archéologie orientale are pleased to announce the publication of the book :

GASTON WIET ET LES ARTS DE L’ISLAM (GASTON WIET AND ISLAMIC ART)

edited by Carine Juvin - Louvre Museum

(IFAO/ Musée du Louvre, 2021, ISBN: 9782724708028, 1 vol. 248 p.)

Gaston Wiet (1887-1971), an outstanding historian of medieval Islam, was also a prominent figure of the French scientific presence in Egypt. A perfect Arabist, he was interested in many aspects of Egyptian history and culture. His work  at the head of the Arab Museum in Cairo (now the Museum of Islamic Art) between 1926 and 1951 was decisive for the enrichment, publication and outreach of its collections, and led him to become one of the best connoisseurs of Islamic art of the first half of the 20th century. Moreover, his membership of the Comité de conservation des monuments de l’art arabe further enhanced his interest in the architecture from the Islamic period. This book, copublished with the Louvre Museum, and the support of the Museum of Islamic Art (Cairo), focuses on Gaston Wiet's decisive contribution to the study of Islamic art by addressing, beyond his career and his personality, his work  at the Arab Museum and the Comité, as well as the wide extent of his research and curiosity, from Persian art and textiles to the productions of modern Egypt, while also underlining his particular passion for epigraphy. This volume brings together the contributions of French and Egyptian specialists and intends to recall, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his passing, the essential contribution of this eminent scholar and friend of Egypt.

Table of contents :

- Gaston Wiet (18 décembre 1887 – 20 avril 1971), d’Égypte et de France

Carine Juvin

-Le Musée arabe : un directeur, une collection

Mohamed Ahmed Abd el-Salam, Étienne Blondeau

 - L’engagement d’un savant dans la politique de « conservation des monuments de l’art arabe »

Dina Ishak Bakhoum

- Gaston Wiet et l’art du monde iranien

Judith Henon-Raynaud

- Les arts de l’Islam par l’épigraphie

Carine Juvin

- Des Fatimides à la dynastie khédiviale, une histoire de l’Égypte islamique incarnée par ses monuments, ses objets, ses images

Mercedes Volait