Islamic Treasures at the Met

The Wall Street Journal reports on the reopening of on November 1st of the newly names Art of the Arab Lands. According to the article the 15 new galleries were 8 years in the making and will cover 13 centuries of Islamic influenced art.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the opening.

The eight-year project amounts to a sweeping overhaul: Around 19,000 square feet is being given over to 15 galleries that chronologically trace the cultural high points of dozens of Islam-influenced cultures stretching from the Moors in Spain to the Mughals in India. Altogether, the 1,200 works on view will span 13 centuries. It’s no wonder that the new name being given to the galleries—Art of the Arab lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia—is such a mouthful.

Gone is the circa-1975, cul-de-sac configuration that grouped objects by theme or material. The new layout is arranged like a snaking timeline, so it’s visually varied and easier to understand. It’s clear that the museum is also aiming for greater sensitivity: A blue-tiled prayer niche, or mihrab, from a 14th-century mosque has been reoriented so it faces roughly east, the direction of Mecca.

“So often the issues around Islam get polarized,” said director and chief executive Thomas Campbell, “but we’re hoping to tell a more complex story.”

During a recent visit, installation was in full swing as curators maneuvered around forklifts and workers used a vise to assemble a Mughal-era wooden colonnade. A ceiling from 16th-century Spain has been cleaned and lit with more spotlights to better show off its effusions of geometric patterns and gold-leaf tendrils.