September 1990, Page 42, 43

The Arab World Institute in Paris: An Artistic and Diplomatic Success

By David Ferris

With its north wing resembling the bow of a giant aluminum and glass ship filled with the treasures of a little-understood civilization, the Arab World Institute building provides visitors to Paris an exotic cultural experience.

Inaugurated in 1987, the Institut du Monde Arabe seeks to present virtually the entire range of Arab-Islamic culture, past and present. To the expected fine arts displays, the organizers have added an audio-visual room for music and films, and eventually television programs, from the Middle East.

With its striking new building and choice Left Bank location, IMA [ee-mah], as the Institute is known in Paris, is a joint project of the government of France and the member-states of the Arab League. Initially, neither Egypt nor Palestine was represented on the governing board-Egypt because it was expelled from the League after signing the Camp David peace accords, and Palestine because only states can be members of the board. As part of the process of reconciliation that saw Egypt accepted back into the Arab League, Egypt was voted onto the Arab World Institute's board in February 1989. Palestine, as represented by the PLO, was accepted onto the board in the spring of that year, and Yasser Arafat has made two visits to the Institute.

Politics aside, there is no doubt that IMA is an artistic success. Most of the permanent collection is presented in the north wing which, following the curve of the road (quai Saint Bernard) that borders the Seine, comes to an aluminum and glass point at its junction with the boulevard Saint Germain.

The slab-like south wing is also quite striking: on its facade, architect Jean Nouvel has created a high-tech invocation of a mashrabieh, or viewing screen, through which family members could look out onto the street below, while protecting their own privacy.

Introduced on the seventh floor by a sort of foyer that mixes Byzantine and Islamic artifacts, the permanent collection is arranged so that as visitors descend, they are going forward in time, eventually reaching the work of contemporary artists from the Middle East.

On the sixth floor, the first major display presents the mystical beauty of Arabic calligraphy. Much of what is considered beautiful in this art from is summed up in a single Koran from Egypt, set in a lone display case opposite the windows.

Especially during the 10th through 12th centuries, scholars and scientists from the Islamic world made significant contributions to medicine, optics, geography and mathematics. Some of these contributions are at least alluded to in the "science room" on the sixth floor, which includes a 12-century treatise on algebra by the Persian poet and mathematician, Omar Khayyam.

Arabesques (designs based on sinuous vines or geometric figures) are very much in evidence on the artifacts of everyday life that fill the fourth floor, where the weapons display serves as a reminder that Islam was not spread by religious fervor alone.

IMA presents an outstanding display of miniature paintings on the second floor, up near the bow of the ship. The "Portrait of the Emperor Aurangzeb," dated 1675, seems to exercise a particular fascination for anyone who comes near.

When IMA's collection is fully assembled, displays evoking the daily lives of merchants, farmers and nomads will form a buffer between the accumulated treasures of the Arab-Islamic tradition and the work of contemporary artists. At present, the transition is abrupt. What is so surprising for visitors to the Institute is the extent to which artists from the Middle East already have joined the mainstream of contemporary abstract art.

With the Arab World Institute now open in Paris, Westerners have an unprecedented opportunity to experience the richness of Arab-Islamic culture. Inspired by their religion, and operating within its confines, Muslim rulers became the patrons of a tradition that drew on Byzantine, Middle Eastern and Asian sources to create a unique, yet surprisingly accessible, artistic tradition.

For now, Arab-Islamic states have a showcase for their culture in one of Europe's major cities. In years to come, the commitment demonstrated to the success of this project by the French government should help strengthen that country's influence in the Middle East.

In the long run, however, the most significant impact of the Arab World Institute may be its effect on the schoolchildren who troop through its galleries. These children will have an opportunity to develop an understanding of the culture of the Arab-Islamic world that should benefit that world, their own country, and themselves.

David Ferris is a freelance writer who lives in San Francisco, CA and travels frequently to France.