it. arabesco - Arabic) – 1) a type of complex ornament consisting of geometric shapes, interlacing lines, curls, stylized leaves, flowers and inscriptions; 2) a fancy ornament made only of plant forms, as opposed to seaweed.
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ARABESQUE
(French Arabesque - Arabic) - in fine art, the European name for linear ornament in the medieval art of Muslim countries. It was used in architecture, decorative painting, relief, applied art in the form of a bizarre combination of stylized motifs from flora(leaves, flowers, etc.), geometric patterns, fictional figures, weapons, and sometimes inscriptions in Arabic letters (they themselves look like ornaments). The emergence of this term is due to the widespread use of arabesques in the art of the Near and Middle East and the pronounced desire of Arab art for decorativeness. A feature of arabesques should be considered the complexity and fine development of details with a clear pattern in the construction of the ornamental composition as a whole. The arabesque usually constituted an “open” composition, creating the possibility of endless development, allowing the artist to cover a large surface of any shape with a continuous carpet of pattern. Repeated repetition and layering of homogeneous forms creates the impression of an intricate, whimsical pattern.
Ornamentation. Arabesque
In the art of Islam, which is least oriented towards the depiction of specific images, an important function belongs to ornaments and patterns, which concentrate in a unique form the enormous possibilities of expressing ideological values.
The most typical creation of Islam in this regard is the arabesque, which reflects geometric genius and nomadic mentality. Arabesque (it. arabesco, fr. arabesque- Arabic) is the European name for a complex oriental medieval ornament, consisting mainly of geometric, calligraphic and floral elements and created on the basis of precise mathematical calculations. An arabesque covers an architectural building or product with its ligature applied arts, pages handwritten books. The very idea of an arabesque is consonant with Muslim ideas about the “eternally continuing fabric of the Universe.”
The arabesque should be considered as an example of ornament in which the logic of constructing a geometric pattern enters into an alliance with the living continuity of rhythm. It is based on the repetition and multiplication of one or several fragments of an ornament. The endless movement of the pattern, flowing in a given rhythm, can be stopped or continued at any point without violating the integrity of the pattern. Such an ornament eliminates the background, since one pattern fits into another, covering the surface. Europeans called this “fear of space.” There are two main elements in an arabesque: interlacing and a floral leitmotif. The first, in essence, is the result of geometric speculation, which is reminiscent of a kind of geometrization of the doctrinal system of Buddhism (Chapter 2). While the second is a type of graphic rhythm, expressed in spiral patterns, which, according to experts, may have their origin not so much from plant forms, but from the symbolism of line. Thus, both themes in the arabesque have, as it were, a single source of inspiration ( rice. 37).
Rice. 37. Window grill. Sidi Sayyid Mosque.
In general, it is customary to talk about several types of ornament. A geometric pattern consists of dots, lines (straight, broken, zigzag, intersecting mesh) and figures (circles, rhombuses, polyhedra, stars, crosses, spirals, etc.). Floral ornament made up of stylized leaves, flowers, fruits, branches, etc. Zoomorphic ornament includes stylized images of real or fantastic animals. Sometimes such an ornament is called “animal style”. Anthropomorphic ornament uses male and female stylized figures or individual parts of the human body as motifs. The art of Islam knows many brilliant examples of the simultaneous use of all types of ornament. But it was in the arabesque that the art of ornament was brought to highest degree perfection.
Vahid Tabrizi, a Persian poet and theorist, likened such ornamentation to figures of poetic speech: the pictorial decoration of the plane is natural to the decoration of speech. Moreover, the unifying element here is undoubtedly rhythm. It is known that pre-Islamic poetry, which created outstanding examples and its own poetic meters, significantly influenced the entire culture and art of Islam. Moreover, this poetry has always been surrounded by special reverence among Muslims.
The geometric ornamentation of Islam included archaic motifs of ancient nomadic peoples; Thus, Islamic designs have very ancient roots. Of course, in the system of new ideological values, these motives, as well as all assimilated elements, underwent a significant transformation.
The ethical and aesthetic awareness of ornamental motifs in the culture of Islam was established almost together with the emergence of high art as such, that is, from the moment of the appearance of calligraphy, ornament and architecture in the context of a single statement of the culture of Islam. The Muslim arabesque, according to Sh. M. Shukurov, “is not just an ornament, but that level of abstraction, that stream of consciousness that requires certain preparation for its understanding. That is why both the Koranic discourse and poems of Persian poets, and the visual arts of Islam remain alien and incomprehensible to the European reader and viewer. All this requires commentary and interpretation" ( rice. 38).
Rice. 38. Panel with carved inscription
The decisive role in this process of understanding ornament as an ordered and ordering phenomenon was played by Arabic graphics and the graphic style of thinking in the culture of Islam. Graphics and ornament in the art of Islam interact exclusively productively with others artistic forms. (This is generally characteristic of all the art of the East, as we will see, in particular, in the examples of the art of China and Japan.) Evidence of this is the first monument of high art of Islam - the reliquary of Qubbat al-Sakhra (Dome of the Rock) in Jerusalem. In the reliquary, calligraphic inscriptions and ornamental decoration composed of plant motifs are found for the first time in an architectural context, determining the iconographic future of the entire program of Muslim art ( rice. 39).
Rice. 39. Qubbat al-Sakhra.
The entire course of the history of art and architecture of Islam shows the existence of a connection between architecture, calligraphy and ornament; the clearly expressed orientation of the Muslim temple consciousness is the most important point of reference here. It is in the temple and in the “field of vision” of the temple that the panorama of the vision of Being as a person unfolds. According to the French philosopher and Islamic scholar A. Corbin, “the temple is a place, a source of contemplation.”
Floral ornaments themselves are very interesting topic, forming an important part of the Muslim vision. The theme of plant motifs is found in the Quran; in the last verse In the Al-Fath suras, the faithful are likened to a strong shoot, a stem. This is an image masala. An interesting motif is the likening of the faithful to plants, demonstrating the unity of Being. It is characteristic that there are parallels to this image in the Christian and Judaic traditions. So, gospel motif the likening of the faithful to the “good seed” (Matthew 13:38) is rooted in Old Testament antiquity. The 1st Book of Kings states that all the walls of the Temple “within and without” should be covered with palm trees and budding flowers (6:18, 29, 32, 35). All this is especially significant in the context of Old Testament eschatology, according to which the Heavenly Temple will be established among the people of the new Israel, like a tree among vegetation. In this regard, it is worth recalling some correlations in the symbolism of the cross, in which man and plant correspond to the vertical, in contrast to the animal, which is connected to the horizontal.
In Islam and Islamic art, plant motifs have found their footing as metaphors for paradise, salvation and the ideal community of believers. The Koran says: “Have you not seen how God brings the likeness ( masala); a good word is like a good tree, its root is firm and its branches are in heaven?” (14:29). According to the Islamic concept, the key to the salvation of the Muslim community and each person is Good Word and the Good Tree, figurative image (masala) which naturally unfolds in the House of God ( Bayt Allah).
The arabesque is a metaphorical image, a figure in one or another context of a statement. It is believed that in an arabesque a Muslim foresees a well-known and extremely ethical image of his future, realizing the transcendental reality of this image - since, first of all, the Temple, the eternal tree of culture, the stem of which always remains the true believer, is real. Thus, the arabesque is one of the most important manifestations of the style of a culture oriented rather towards graphic ways of seeing and speaking.
The word as such cannot be fully pronounced; the arabesque-metaphor script must remain fundamentally unfinished. eternal life true believer.
Calligraphic, floral, and then geometric configurations create various combinations holistic spiritual geometry of the universe. "The Science of Decoration" ( ilm al-badi) poetic speech, formed in literature in the 9th century, and the “ornamentation” of an artistically crafted “thing” are phenomena of the same order. They are united by ligature and rhythm.
Ornaments with spiral patterns - heraldic animals and vines - are also found in the art of Asian nomads, a remarkable example of which is the art of the Scythians with its famous “animal style”. Elements of Islamic decorative arts extracted from the richest archaic heritage that was common to the peoples of the Middle East and Northern Europe. Some archaic elements included in Islamic art, such as the spiral, zigzag lines, circles, stylized animals, etc., connect the ornamentation of Islam with extreme antiquity ( rice. 40).
Rice. 40. Islamic ornaments.
This common heritage, as T. Burckhardt believes, resurfaced as soon as Hellenism with its essentially anthropomorphic art retreated. Christian medieval art also adopted it through the folklore of the Asian migrants and through the isolated art of both the Celts and the Saxons, which became one of the most amazing syntheses of prehistoric motifs. However, this heritage was soon obscured and emasculated in the Christian world under the influence of Greco-Roman models assimilated by Christianity.
According to scholars, the Islamic spirit has a much closer affinity with the vast stream of archaic forms, since they (these forms) are in complete correlation with the conscious appeal of Islam to the original order, to the “primordial religion” ( din al-fitra). He assimilates these archaic elements and reduces them to their most abstract and most general formulations, "geometricizing" them, endowing the ancient symbols with new intellectual clarity and spiritual grace.
It is no coincidence that Arabesque has peculiar analogies in Arabic rhetoric and poetry. The rhythmic flow of thought gains clarity thanks to strictly interconnected parallels, inversions, and contrasts. The Muslim arabesque is not just the possibility of art without the creation of images; it is a direct means of gradually disappearing, dissolving, images or that which corresponds to them on the mental plane, just as the rhythmic repetition of a certain Koranic formula dissolves the fixation of the mind on the object of desire. Moreover, the arabesque is an amazing means used by Islamic art, with the help of which the believer seems to be immersed in rhythmic waves, in a special, ecstatic state that brings him closer to the perception of God. In the arabesque every hint of individual uniform dissolves in the vastness of continuous weaving; the repetition of identical motifs, the “florid” movement of lines and the decorative transparency of forms protruding in relief and carved in the same way “back analogous” all contribute to this effect.
Thus, in the arabesque we see a synthesis of archaic symbolism with the mental sophistication and grace of Islamic art - in order to solve spiritual problems, and not for purely decorative purposes. The walls of some mosques are covered with glazed ceramic mosaics or weaving of graceful arabesques, which is beautiful illustration the content of the famous saying of the Prophet Muhammad, according to which God hides himself behind 70,000 covers of light and darkness; if they were all removed, everything that His Gaze reaches would be incinerated from His Face. Veils that are created from light veil the Divine Light.
This text is an introductory fragment.Arabesque is a complex oriental ornament consisting of floral, calligraphic and geometric elements. It became especially widespread in Muslim art for a number of specific reasons. According to the canons of Islam, the only creator of all living things can be Allah, to compete with whom is a great sin.
The Prophet Muhammad believed that worshiping images of people or animals could return believers to the pre-Islamic practice of serving various manifestations of the material world, alienating them from God. Anthropomorphic images were taboo here, but a new type of art appeared, completely based on mathematical forms and geometric figures.
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The popularity of geometry in Eastern countries is another reason for the emergence of the cult of ornament. Despite the fact that some art historians argue that the appearance of this style was accidental, historical notes claim the opposite. Thus, in a scroll recently found in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace, 114 geometric patterns for painting walls and vaults were discovered, developed by a Persian architect in the late 15th - early 16th centuries.
It is interesting that the arabesque is one of the few artistic manifestations that contribute not to concentrating attention on the image, but to dispersing it. Such abstraction causes a kind of self-hypnosis, designed so that a believer can free his thoughts from worldly affairs.
The arabesque is built on the articulation and multiplication of one or several fragments of a pattern, and the movement of the patterns can be stopped or continued at any point without violating its integrity.
Most often this is a mesh decorative motifs geometric and plant character.
Sometimes the ornament also includes inscriptions made in canonized fonts: “Kufic”, rectangular letters of the Arabic script and cursive handwriting – “naskh”. It is noteworthy that the recesses in the picture were usually painted blue or scarlet, and the more convex places were covered with gold, which added brightness and volume to the entire composition.
European art critics half-jokingly call the almost complete absence of a background with such dense filling of space with patterns “the fear of emptiness.” Eastern theologians call this “the everlasting fabric of the Universe.”
Arabesques can be found everywhere - from religious buildings to books and household utensils. Calligraphers themselves often call the ornament close in rhythm and imagery to oriental music and poetry.
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Arabesque is an ornament that appeared in the Middle Ages on the territory of the Islamic East. Sacredness, mathematics and art are harmoniously connected in the intricate interweaving of the pattern. The arabesque, the photo of which is presented below, decorated almost any surface. Such patterns were used to cover the walls and vaults of mosques, they were woven during the weaving of carpets, and placed on jewelry and ceramic dishes. Arabesque, having flourished in the East, conquered Europe. During the Renaissance, famous masters used it to create their masterpieces.
Features of Islamic art
In the East, special conditions developed for the development of ornament. The Koran prohibited the depiction of animals and people. The Prophet Muhammad tried to protect the people from the possibility of turning to pagan beliefs with such a law. This rule is observed especially strictly to this day when decorating religious objects and buildings.
The emergence and development of arabesque became a kind of response to such a ban. All the imagination, all the talent of the masters resulted in the creation of fancy patterns combining plant elements and calligraphy. The latter, by the way, became a kind of replacement for icon painting. Quotes from sacred texts, written in various calligraphic styles, decorated books and the walls of mosques. Often, in addition to them, arabesques were drawn, with their curves and curls similar to beautiful and intricately curved letters.
Eastern arabesque as geometric art
The ban on the depiction of living beings led to the fact that the masters of the Islamic East turned to geometry. Arabesque is an ornament consisting of repeating elements intertwined and diverging in different directions. It is characterized by a clear rhythm, verified with mathematical precision. The arabesque has become the embodiment of geometry in art.
A separate element was a whole and complete pattern. Each next one gracefully intertwined with the previous one, repeating it and at the same time creating something new. The ornament could end at any moment - its integrity did not suffer from this. This property contributed to the widespread use of arabesques. walls, ceilings and vaults, fabrics, carpets, metal and clay products.
Peculiarities
The Arabic arabesque, despite its geometric precision, was not boring. The mathematical approach did not deprive the ornament of artistic value. Arabesques contained both geometric and floral elements. Flowers, buds, stems and leaves intertwined, creating a continuous carpet or leaving room for a new pattern. Distinctive feature Islamic fine art - the so-called fear of emptiness. The ornament covered the surface, leaving no room for a background. This feature reflects the religious ideas of Muslims about the “fabric of the Universe,” which continues endlessly and has no end.
Arabesque as a meditative image
Arabesque is a rhythmic and fascinating ornament. When you look at the repeating elements, it's easy to get lost in this sea of intertwining patterns. And therefore the arabesque is an excellent tool for meditation. It diffuses attention in a special way, making you forget about the bustle outside world and immerse yourself in the inner world. Ornament was often part of interior decoration mosques. Here his meditative function helped him concentrate on prayer, forgetting about earthly affairs.
Arabesque in Europe
During the Renaissance, Europe's ties with Europe intensified significantly. Along with much other knowledge from Muslim countries, the artistic achievements East. Arabesque has become an element of European fine art. It was used in his creations by Leonardo da Vinci. The master devoted a fair amount of time to drawing intricate patterns.
Ornaments similar to arabesques are present in both Raphael. Many masters of the Renaissance and more later periods drew inspiration from the patterns that covered Muslim art objects.
An inexhaustible source of creativity
Arabesque (photos are given in the article) fascinates both contemporary artists and masters of the last century. Modernists also turned to it turn of the XIX century and XX centuries. Arabesques were inspired by Aubrey Beardsley, who lived and worked at the end of the century before last. Geometry in the form of elegant ornaments was also loved by the Danish graphic artist M. S. Escher.
Today, the arabesque is a pattern that is still popular. Nowadays, most often this name is used to designate the geometric pattern, which is called “moresque”. Ornaments reminiscent of medieval arabesques can be found on wallpaper and in the decoration of buildings, in the works of graphic artists and artisans. They inspire modern interior designers and fashion designers, jewelry makers and decorators.
Fashionable today in fine arts the zentangle and doodling trends are vaguely reminiscent of Arab mosques and carpets dotted with ornaments. Nowadays it is not difficult to find fabrics that captivate with their designs. Fancy weave plant patterns, subordinated to a single rhythm, is nothing more than the same arabesque, rooted in the distant Middle Ages. We can safely say that now this ornament has become an integral part of world art, while remaining at the same time a characteristic feature of the culture of Muslim peoples.
Arabesque ornaments in painting and plastic arts, a bizarre combination of shapes, colors, animals, monsters, attributes, architectural elements, vases and all kinds of objects and tools created more by the artist’s imagination than taken from real life. ARABESKI. Wilde Stämme of uncultured tribes. - (Römisch) Roman. - (Aegyptisch) Egyptian. - (Assyrisch) Assyrian. - (Pompejanisch) Pompeian. - (Griechisch) Greek. - (Byzantinisch) Byzantine. - (Persisch) Persian. - (Maurisch) Moorish. - (Arabisch) Arabic. - (Türkisch) Turkish. - (Romanisch) Romanesque. - (Japanesisch u. Chinesish) Japanese and Chinese. - (Gotisch) Gothic. - (Renaissance) Renaissance (Renaissance). - (Deutsche R.) German Renaissance. - (Italienische R.) Italian Renaissance. - (Barock) Baroque style. - (Roceco) Rococo style. Since Arab architecture is particularly rich in the decoration of walls and capitals, it is customary to call all sorts of fantastic and painted ornaments of different styles, even those whose appearance preceded the Arabic, as arabesques. The concept of A. covers only part of the field of ornaments. The colored pattern of wallpaper, carpet, embroidery, decoration of book binding, carvings, vignettes, decoration on utensils, furniture, vessels, if they are not strictly consistent in style, belong to the area arabesque, on the contrary, plastic decorations of friezes, capitals, candelabra, as well as colored and non-plastic decorations in a strictly consistent style are called ornaments. Most suitable for the concept of arabesques are the colored decorations of the Persians, Turks, Arabs, Japanese and Chinese, as well as partly Romanesque and Gothic frescoes (wall paintings) and strange, bizarre decorations from the Renaissance (grotesques) in cases where they fall into too fantastic a character .
encyclopedic Dictionary F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - St. Petersburg: Brockhaus-Efron. 1890-1907 .
Synonyms:See what “Arabesque” is in other dictionaries:
arabesques- arabesques pl. 1. A type of complex ornament consisting of geometric shapes and stylized leaves, flowers, etc., which has become widespread in European art Ch. arr. influenced by Arabic examples. SIS 1985. Painting consists of... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language
- (Italian arabesco Arabian). A pictorial or sculptural decoration consisting of a bizarre combination of leaves, flowers, animals, monsters, vases, various figures and all kinds of other objects. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
Arabesque, pattern, drawing, ornament, decoration Dictionary of Russian synonyms. arabesques see pattern Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011… Synonym dictionary
Arabesque Arabesque, Arabesque, Arabesque (French arabesque from Italian arabesco Arabic). Arabesque type of ornament. Arabesque is one of... Wikipedia
Arabesques, artistic decoration made from various broken and crooked patterned designs, as well as flowers, leaves, animals, etc. (in Arabic taste). Wed. For a whole hour I haven’t been able to get you to understand how you find this arabesque and asterisk...... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)
Mn. 1. Planar or thin stucco ornament with a complex, usually symmetrical pattern, stylizing plant shoots (sometimes in combination with geometric shapes, inscriptions, images of people and animals) Explanatory Dictionary by Efremova. T.F.... ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova
Ornaments in painting and plastic arts, a bizarre combination of shapes, colors, animals, monsters, attributes, architectural elements, vases and all kinds of objects and tools created more by the artist’s imagination than taken from real life... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
arabesques- incomprehensible (Sologub); variegated (Shapir); colored (Fofanov) Epithets of literary Russian speech. M: Supplier of His Majesty's court, the Quick Printing Association A. A. Levenson. A. L. Zelenetsky. 1913... Dictionary of epithets
arabesques- Arabe/ska, Arabe/ski pl. (French Spanish Arabic) 1. Folding and frilled ornamentation is important due to stylized floral and geometric motifs, which are delicately intertwined. Often there will be symmetrical representation of one or many axes, designated... ... Architecture and monumental art
A rich and complex ornament based on a whimsical interweaving of geometric and stylized plant motifs, sometimes including an inscription. It was developed in the plastic arts of Arab countries. In music, A. is called a piece with... Great Soviet Encyclopedia