Moorish Style

Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately unreadable
Review: So sad, a very nice looking book with an interesting approach -- looking at Islamic art and architecture as seen through Western eyes over the last few hundred years. The book showcases some excellent reproductions of fabulous old paintings, historic photographs, and contemporary photographs. Why sad? because the narrative text is printed in light gray in a very skinny sans serif type that swims before my eyes. I admit I don't have perfect vision, but I can read most books perfectly well. In Moorish Style I can read a paragraph or two under a strong light, but it is so agonizing (actually nauseating) I soon give up.

Curse the art director who came up with this great idea!! .... Books have to be more than just pretty.

If it weren't for this 'slight' problem, I would give it four, maybe five stars. For the excellent graphics, I give it three.

Rating:
Summary: reviem from amazon.co.uk
Review: Synopsis The architecture and decorative art of the Islamic world, particularly Moorish Spain, is illustrated in this book. It shows how it acted as an influence for designers and architects in the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and America. --This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title

Book Information In the 19th Century a European fascination with the exotic Orient generated what has come to be known as "Orientalism". The costumes, landscapes and townscapes of the Ottoman, Arab and Mogul worlds inspired painters ranging from Delacroix and Ingres to David Roberts and even Matisse. When expressed in architecture and design, buildings and gardens, this phenomenon became known as the Moorish Style.

This style has been used in a vast variety of ways throughout the western world, appearing in gentlemen's clubs and synagogues, cinemas (often called "The Alhambra") and Tuscan villas. In this magnificently illustrated survey, Miles Danby examines the roots of the style in art and architecture throughout the Islamic world. He discusses the factors of space and pattern and the structural and decorative elements that are commonly found in mosques and palaces, whether in Mogul India, Ottoman Turkey or Moorish Spain.

Of all the buildings key to the style, the Alhambra in Granada is perhaps the most important. Expertly recorded by the great 19th-century designer, Owen Jones, its features were to inspire both public and private building into the 20th Century, and make concrete the exotic dreams of a number of wealthy aesthetes. This book, the first to examine the style from its origins to its contemporary manifestation, will act as an inspiration for architects and designers, as well as being a source of visual pleasure and stimulation for all.