The Comparative Study of "Spiral" Motif in Islamic and Environmental Art

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Ph.D. Student of Art Research, Faculty of Art, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

 
The spiral pattern has been used as a valuable and important decorative element in the ornamentation, referred to as "Arabesque". The spiral or arabesque movement was not just for decorating different types of building surfaces, but also had sacred signs. Next, we look at the symbolic meaning of this pattern in Islamic Art. In this paper, the author concludes that the manifestation of this pattern in Islamic art, which is also Arabesque, can also be a kind of environmental art because it is used in three dimensional environments and more importantly, Islamic artists inspired by nature have created this pattern. However, in the eyes of the Islamic artist, it was not objectively likeable and had a tendency for subjective truth, so, by stylizing the design, they came up with a pattern that lost any resemblance to nature. Also, the Islamic artist, like the environmental artist by choosing the environment as the context of the artistic work, has been a return to the original human way of creating human work and the long-standing relationship with nature, so these meanings have led to a commonality between environmental art and Islamic art. In this article, based on the works of contemporary ground artists and Islamic art and examining different examples, their common views on the use of spiral motif are studied and analyzed. "Spiral" is one of the forms in nature that has many mysteries within itself. There are lots of spirals in the nature such as plants, galaxy and atom that have spiral shapes. Human beings have always paid attention to this symbolic and mysterious element, and make a sacred meaning for this shape. Art, like life, approaches the spiral, and the artist, inspired by nature, uses this symbolic element to create his work. Art has always strived to base its truth on nature, which is why every artistic creation is a symbolic aspect of the truth of nature. Naturally, it manifests itself in artistic creations. As mentioned earlier, the origin of the spiral pattern goes back to nature. The artists of Islamic art were inspired by the curved lines in nature and created the Islamic design. Western artists' thinking about art and beauty is sensory-ideal imagery and blends nature with feeling and myth. Nature has always been a reference point for Western art, and especially in environmental art, the land, as the space and the place familiar with human is the bed of artistic work. While Eastern imagination is subjective-intuitive it conceives of beauty and truth in the abstract nature beyond the earth, and of the latent and subjective, and the extrasensory, which is naturally the origin of the art of the East. There is, of course, a common denominator that both of these arts have always linked earth proportions and celestial abstractions with curved lines, which is the spiral pattern. In this article, the semantic and formal connotation of the "Spiral" is expressed in a comparative way between Islamic art and environmental art, as well as the relationship between the beauty of the spiral and the common point established between the art in the East and the West and its symbolic meaning in these arts. By study on the works in environmental art, such as the Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty”, and in Islamic art, which is "Arabesque" as a kind of environmental art, it was concluded that "Spiral" is a common motif between Islamic art and environmental art, and it ultimately leads to unity in the meaning and form. The balance, tranquility, dynamism and harmony of this motif have made artists use it to achieve the concepts of holiness, unity and beauty in their work. The type of this research is qualitative and research method is descriptive-comparative. Also Theoretical framework of research is based on the views of traditional philosophers.
 

Keywords

References

منابع
اردلان، نادر و بختیار، لاله(1379). حس وحدت، ترجمه حمید شاهرخ، اصفهان: خاک.
استر، جرالد(1353). مارپیچ؛ از حلزون تا کهکشان، طبیعت به شکل مارپیچ رشد می­کند، پیام یونسکو، سال ششم، شماره 61، 12-16.
اسماگولا، هواردجی(1381). گرایش­های معاصر در هنرهای بصری، ترجمه فرهاد غبرایی، تهران: دفتر پژوهش­های فرهنگی.
الیاده، میرچا(1372). رساله در تاریخ ادیان، ترجمه جلال ستاری، تهران: سروش.
الیاده، میرچا(1384). اسطوره بازگشت جاودانه، ترجمه بهمن سرکارتی، تهران: طهوری.
بورکهارت، تیتوس(1369). هنر مقدس، ترجمه جلال ستاری، تهران: سروش.
پاکباز، رویین(1378). دایره­المعارف هنر، تهران: فرهنگ معاصر.
پورجعفر، محمدرضا و موسوی­لر، اشرف(1381). بررسی ویژگی­های حرکت دورانی مارپیچ؛ «اسلیمی» نماد تقدس، وحدت و زیبایی علوم انسانی دانشگاه الزهرا (س)، سال دوازدهم، شماره 43، 184- 207.
دریانیان، سولماز(1383). در جستجوی کهن­الگوها در آثار هنر زمینی، دانشگاه الزهرا (س).
فروغی، محمدعلی(1377). سیر حکمت در اروپا، تهران: البرز، چاپخانه سهند.
قره­باغی، علی­اصغر(1378). راهکارهای پست مدرنیسم: تبارشناسی پست مدرنیسم، گلستانه، شماره 11، 47-58.
قلعه، رضا(1388). هنرهای مرتبط با محیط؛ ابهام­زدایی و تحدید، تندیس، شماره 146، 26- 27.
گاردنر، هلن(1385). هنر در گذر زمان، ترجمه محمدتقی فرامرزی، تهران: آگاه.
گنون، رنه(1374). معانی رمز صلیب، تحقیقی در فن معارف تطبیقی، ترجمه بابک علیخانی، تهران: سروش.
گیریشمن، رمان(1350). هنر در ایران در دوران پارتی و ساسانی، تهران: بنگاه ترجمه و نشر کتاب.
لوسی اسمیت، ادوارد(1380). آخرین جنبش­های هنری قرن بیستم، ترجمه علیرضا سمیع آذر، تهران: نظر.
لوسی اسمیت، ادوارد(1387). جهانی شدن و هنر جدید، ترجمه علیرضا سمیع آذر، تهران: نظر.
لینتن، هربرت(1386). هنر مدرن، ترجمه علی رامین، چ. سوم، تهران: نی.
مراثی، محسن (1384). مارپیچ طلایی در طبیعت و هنرهای اسلامی، نگره، شماره 1، 35- 44.
میرزایی، داود(1390). بررسی نسبت میان انسان با طبیعت و تکنولوژی در هنر محیطی، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد تهران مرکز.
نادعلیان، احمد(1390). تجلی نقش‌مایه­های بدوی و کهن در هنر زمین، پژوهشنامه هنرهای دیداری، شماره 1، 57-66.
هال، جیمز(1380). فرهنگ نگاره­ای نمادها در هنر شرق و غرب، ترجمه رقیه بهزادی، تهران: فرهنگ معاصر.
هامبی، لوئی(1376). تاریخ هنر ایران (2) هنر مانوی و زردشتی، ترجمه یعقوب آژند، تهران: مولی.
همایون، غلامعلی(1355). کوروش کبیر در آثار هنری اروپاییان، تهران: دانشگاه ملی ایران.
هینلز، جان(1377). شناخت اساطیر ایران، ترجمه ژاله آموزگار و احمد تفضلی، تهران: چشمه.
یونگ، کارل­گوستاو(1386). انسان و سمبول­هایش، ترجمه محمود سلطانیه، تهران: جامی.
URLs
‌URL1. http:// www.mathcurve.com/
URL2. http://www.artsdumonde.canalblog.com/
URL3. http://www.becksealescott.wordpress.com/
URL4. http://www.beruf-berufung.ch/
URL5. http://www.danaestratou.com/
URL6. http://www.jamesbruntartist.co.uk/
URL7. http://www.picbon.com/
URL8. http://www.roundshapenellalandart.altervista.org/
URL9. http://www. toptourism.ir/
URL10.http://www.wikiart.org/
Refrences
Ardalan, N. & Bakhtiar, L. (2000). The Sense of Unity,Translated by Hamid Shahrokh, Isfahan: Khak (Text in Persian).
Burckhardt, T. (1990). ‎Principes et methodes de l'artscar'e, Translated by Jalal Sattari, Tehran: Sorush (Text in Persian).
Eliade, M. (1993). ‎Traite d'histoire des religions, Translated by Jalal Sattari, Tehran: Sorush (Text in Persian).
Eliade, M. (2005). The Myth of the Eternal Return, or, Cosmos and History, Translated by Bahman Sarkarti, Tehran: Tahuri (Text in Persian).
Foruqi, M. (1998). ‎ A History of Western Philosophy, Tehran: Alborz (Sahand) (Text in Persian).
Gardner, H. (2006). Art through the Ages, Translated by MohamadTaqi Faramarzi, Tehran: Agah (Text in Persian).
Guenon, R. (1995). Le symbolisme de la croix, Translated by Babak Alikhani, Tehran, Sorush (Text in Persian).
Girshman, R. (1971). Iran: Parthes et Sassanides, Tehran: Nashre Ketab(Text in Persian).
Hall, J. (2001), Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art, Translated by Roqaye Behzadi, Tehran: Farhange  Moaser (Text in Persian).
Hambis, L. (1997).Encyclopedia of World Art, Translated by Yaqub Azhand, Tehran: Mola (Text in Persian).
Hinnels, J. R. (1998). Persian Mythology, Translated by Zhale Amuzegar & Ahmad Tafazoli, Tehran:Cheshme (Text in Persian).
Homayun, Q. (1976), Iran -- History – Achaemenians, Translated by Yaqub Azhand, Tehran: Daneshqah Melli (Text in Persian).
Jung, C. G. (2007), Man and his Symbols, Translated by Mahmud Soltanieh, Tehran: Jami (Text in Persian).
Kastner, J. & Wallis, B. (1998), Land Art Environmental Art, Phaidon, New York.
Lucie - Smith, E. (2001). Movements in Art since 1945: Issues and Concepts, Translated by Alireza Sami Azar, Tehran: Nazar (Text in Persian).
Lynton, N. (2007). The story of Modern Art, Translated by Ali Ramin, (3rd ed.), Tehran: Nashre Ney (Text in Persian).
Lucie – Smith, E. (2008). Lives of the Great 20th -Century Artists, Translated by Alireza Sami Azar, Tehran: Nazar (Text in Persian).
Pakbaz, R. (1999). Encyclopedia of Art: Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Arts, Tehran: Farhange Moaser (Text in Persian).
Smagula, H. (2002). Currents: Contemporary Directions in the Visual Art, Translated by Farhad Ghabraei, Tehran: Office of Cultural Research (Text in Persian).
Vladimir, L. & Anatoli, I. (1998), Persian Art, The Lost Treasures, Parkstone Press International, New York, USA
Ester, G. (1974). From spiral to Galaxy, Nature Grows like a Spiral, UNESCO Message, 6(61), 12-16 (Text in Persian).
Pourjafar, M., Mousavilar A. (2002). Investigating the Properties of the Circular Motion of Spiral; “Arabesque”the  Symbol of Holiness, Unity and Beauty, Humanities of Alzahra University, 12(43), 184-207 (Text in Persian).
Darbanian, S. (2004). In Search of Archetypes in Worldly Artworks, Alzahra University (Text in Persian).
Gharebaqi, A. A. (1999). Solutions to Postmodernism: Postmodernism Genealogy, Golestaneh, 11, 47-58 (Text in Persian).
Ghaleh, R. (2009). Environmental arts; disambiguation and delimitation, Tandis, 146, 26-27 (Text in Persian).
Morasi, M. (2005). Golden Spiral in Islamic Nature and Arts, Negareh, 1, 35-44 (Text in Persian).
Mirzaei, D. (2011).  Investigating the Relationship between Human,  Nature and Technology in Environmental Art, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch (Text in Persian).
Nadalian, A. (2011). The Manifestation of Primitive and Ancient Patterns in Worldly Art, Journal of Visual Arts, 1, 57-66 (Text in Persian).
 
 
 
 
 
 

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics