Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to describe how visual art forms and styles carry different messages and contexts, and to know what signs, symbols and styles mean in works of art. The museum offers Islamic calligraphy: the names of its scripts and one study of inscriptions on the walls of Fatimid Cairo. Other symbols and traditions are for your class to bring. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- D2.3 demonstrate awareness of the meaning of signs, symbols, and styles in works of art […]
- D3.1 describe how visual art forms and styles represent various messages and contexts in the past and present […]
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
What do words say by their size and place?
The expectations ask about the messages art carries. When you see writing on a wall, ask: how much space does it take, where is it placed, and how does the shape of the letters change from one place to another?
Go deeper
Read the writing on the gates of Fatimid Cairo with Bernard O'Kane. On the gates of Badr al-Jamali, he notices that Badr's own titles take up much more space than the titles of the caliph al-Mustansir. He calls this "a nod to the real holder of power". At Bab al-Nasr he notices one thing more. The fourth line of writing is carved on the stones of the arch, and it is longer than the three lines above it. He takes this as a sign that it was added in a hurry 2.
Think about it
On these gates, one man's titles take up more room than the caliph's. If you had to carve three names on a gate, who would you give the most room, and why?
Into the museum
- Monumental calligraphy in Fatimid Egypt: the whole chapter, from the stucco of al-Azhar to the front of the Aqmar Mosque.
- Badr al-Jamali: the man whose works O'Kane follows through the gates of Cairo.
- Bab al-Nasr: one of the two northern gates of Fatimid Cairo.
Try this
Read about Islamic calligraphy and then about monumental calligraphy in Fatimid Egypt. Write one short sentence in two different scripts, and say what changed for the reader.
4 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Islamic calligraphy have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Scripts with names. Islamic calligraphy is the art of writing and shaping the Arabic letter beautifully. Its scripts include Kufic, Naskh, Thuluth and Diwani. If you saw two of these scripts side by side, what would you compare?
In your own words: what does Monumental Calligraphy in Fatimid Egypt (O'Kane) have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Letters on the walls of Cairo. Bernard O'Kane notes that on Badr al-Jamali's gates his titles take up much more space than those of the caliph al-Mustansir, "a nod to the real holder of power". At the Aqmar Mosque the foundation inscription in the names of the caliph and his vizier appears twice on the facade, the upper floriated and the lower plain against a foliate scroll. What do the size and place of words tell someone walking past?
I can now