Museum: New Islamic Art Galleries at Brooklyn Museum

Arts Museum Journal (Stan Parchin)

With photos.

The reinstallation of the Islamic art galleries at the Brooklyn Museum includes works from the 8th Century to modern times. Opened on June 5, 2009, the permanent display highlights 134 objects from some 1,700 in an American collection considered top-notch by art historians. Twenty works have never before or rarely been seen by the public.

Arts of the Islamic World Collection
Especially strong in later Iranian art, the Brooklyn Museum's Islamic holdings come from North Africa, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia. On view are illustrated and illuminated manuscripts, calligraphies, drawings, oil paintings, ceramics, glass, metal- and woodwork, carpets, costumes, textiles, jewelry and architectural elements. Originally part of the Department of Ethnology in 1903, the collection was administered by the Department of Asian Art from the 1980s until 2007.

The museum's reinstallation uses new signage, explanatory texts and maps to describe the thematically arranged works from Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and other countries.