Throughout history, societal taboos or events have often placed restrictions on the public expression or professional activities of certain groups, requiring writers to use a name other than their own. However, for James Redpath and many others in the 19th century, the different identity was a necessity. This veil of secrecy had been a ploy to safeguard their lives or to establish credibility for themselves while affording them the opportunity to speak out during blacks' struggles for freedom and equal rights. This study examines the role of Redpath, who not only wrote as a white abolitionist, but also assumed the persona of a black male in order to address a black audience and offer a voice during the antislavery movement.
To Liberator and National Anti-Slavery Standard readers he would be John Ball Jr., a young, free-born black man from Iowa. To readers of the Boston Daily Traveller, the New York Tribune, and numerous other mainstream newspapers, he was “Jacobius,” “James Redpath,” or several other pen names.
Redpath established his goal as one to "aid the slaves," no matter what. He declared that if he found the slaves to be contented with their condition, he would spend his time in the South “disseminating discontentment.” But if the slaves were “ripe for a rebellion,” he resolved to prepare the way for it.
He would become one of the first journalists to practice the brand of participatory journalism so prevalent 100 years later. His plan: to make several forays into slaveholding states to talk to the slaves himself; and to provide an eyewitness perspective on their condition. However, the correspondence he would send to the abolitionist and mainstream newspapers would be representative of white, as well as black, perspectives.
When the Associated Press severed its telegraph lines to the South six days after the surrender of Fort Sumter, the newspapers of the Confederacy were left without any cooperative arrangement for news gathering and distribution. Southern editors immediately recognized that a new system had to be devised if journals were going to provide readers with timely news of the Civil War. After several failed attempts, editors established the Confederate Press Association in March 1863. The PA, as it often was known, was beset with problems, including an uncooperative Richmond press and the loss of key newspapers over the course of the war. Still, thanks to an aggressive superintendent and a core group of dedicated members, the Association managed to serve the basic needs of the South's readers for news of the Civil War.
The persistence of Southern editors in finding a mutual arrangement for sending and receiving telegraphic news from the war was a clear signal that the journalism practiced in the region was changing from the old partisan practices that had dominated newspapers for so long. News was beginning to replace opinion as the main emphasis of the South's newspapers, just as it had decades earlier in the North. Moreover, the organization and practices that guided the work of the Confederate Press Association for two years foretold the shape of cooperative news reporting after the Civil War.
In the post-Civil War South, freedmen who could read cringed when newspapers described them as inferior and editorialized about whites’ God-given duty to hold blacks down, even by the most violent means. Bitter whites commonly wrote about the need to kill blacks to keep them in their place. At the same time, the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups began functioning as military arms of the Democratic Party. This paper looks at the role Democratic editors played in inflaming this terrorism.
Racist whites feared “herrenvolk democracy” – black suffrage, equality, farm ownership, insolence, armed blacks, and mostly the perceived threat black men posed to white women. The Klan and their editor allies also attacked “scalawags” – white Southern Republicans – and “carpetbaggers” – white Northerners come south to befriend freedmen. Many supported Klan terrorism and even the murder of blacks. Assaults were commonplace. Newspaper-sanctioned riots in Memphis and New Orleans ended with scores of blacks murdered. Editorials also supported economic sanctions against voting blacks and their white allies. A few newspapers adopted new names, aligning themselves officially with the KKK, and some used their pages to issue violent threats.
Early historians supported the Klan, blaming Reconstruction violence on the Union Leagues, organizations seeking black suffrage. In the 1930s scholars began taking a more realistic look at violence.
Officially the war had ended, but in fact it continued. Newspaper responsibility for the crimes is clear. Had Democratic editors acted more responsibly, hundreds of lynchings might not have occurred, the South would not have remained an economic, political, and social backwater for another century, and black progress would have come much sooner. Rarely in American history has the power of the pen been greater; never did it have more tragic consequences.
This paper, about censorship in one city during the Civil War, is part of a larger study that asks how the First Amendment right of freedom of press and speech has been treated in relation to "hated" ideas at given times in history. What have journalists defined and sought as press and speech freedom rights? What limits have they said were appropriate? Have those changed over time? With special interest in what free expression principles might have been articulated, especially for "hated" ideas, in any such discussion among journalists surrounding the most suppressed newspapers during the Civil War, coverage in eleven newspapers of three censorship episodes in Baltimore, MD--September of 1861 and February and June-July of 1862--were examined as a case study. It was expected that, because Northern journalists would support the Union government and Southern journalists would support the Confederacy—as functionalist theory suggests--press rights of the opposition would likely be subordinated, ignored,or denied.
Findings show that, while a few journalists from both sections referred to a press freedom that seemed broad and robust, press freedom was hardly treated as universal or broadly applicable. The six Southern newspapers reflected the strongest disapproval of censorship—almost always about Northern suppression--and, while the Northern journalists gave less attention to censorship issues, journalists of both sections showed little tolerance for ideas they "hated."
This paper looks at press coverage in the U.S. and in England of the controversial trial and punishment of Florence Maybrick, with a view to discovering whether unease about the ongoing renegotiation of women's rights in marriage at the end of the nineteenth century hardened male attitudes against her.
The tremendous news value of the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the magical allure of the name Custer make the topic an excellent vehicle for studying the state of the American press in the mid-1870s. This paper attempts to add to the existing body of knowledge of this era by examining a source that has hardly been studied in depth in the voluminous scholarly and popular writing on Custer and the Little Bighorn: Kansas newspapers.
Previous research has suggested the American press was moving toward political independence during the 1870s. This study concluded Kansas newspapers split along party lines in their coverage of the battle. Most Kansas newspapers were Republican and tended to attribute Custer’s defeat to his own rashness. Democratic Kansas newspapers tended to blame the Grant administration for stationing troops on Reconstruction duty in the South instead of on the Frontier. The study also compared coverage in the Kansas press to that in the Texas press and found that Kansas newspapers, while partisan, were generally less vehement than their Texas colleagues in their written attacks on both their political opponents and Native Americans. A number of Kansas editorials expressed sympathy for the treatment of Native Americans at the hands of the government and argued that the battle could have been avoided if not for the greed of white miners.
As a portion of a larger study about media coverage of U.S. First Ladies, the purpose of this paper is to discuss how the amount of press coverage of First Ladies has changed across history. The focus of the research was to compare the 19th Century and 20th Century coverage amounts to locate any commonalties between and amongst these time periods. While the research indicated there was more newspaper coverage of each of the First Ladies in the 20th Century, a few in the 19th Century received substantial amounts for the times as well.
Counts were taken from the New York Times Index to obtain the coverage amounts each president‚s wife had received from 1853 (Jane Pierce) through 1997 (Hillary Rodham Clinton).
The primary research question posed for this study was: How much newspaper coverage did each president‚s wife receive? From there 19th-century coverage amounts were compared to those of the 20th Century to discern coverage amount norms for each of these time periods and identify which First Ladies deviated from these norms.
The main hypotheses investigated in this paper are -- a) The amount of coverage that First Ladies receive will increase across the history of the position. b) Of the coverage given a First Lady, most will occur during the years that she is in the White House functioning as the wife of the president while he is president. c) There is a correlation between the number of years that a woman holds the position of First Lady and the amount of press coverage she receives.
In general, the amount of coverage of First Ladies increased across history, and most of the women received the most coverage when they were in the White House. Most cases show a correlation between the number of years a woman held the position of First Lady and the amount of press coverage she received, but there were exceptions.
It is generally accepted that toward the end of the 19th century many newspapers became increasingly sensationalistic to attract readers in a fiercely competitive market. However, this is not the whole story. This study analyzes the attitudes and worldviews of 19th century newsmen toward death. It argues that early in the century some journalists interpreted fatal events in a theological and philosophical context that allowed them to make moral assessments about the deceased and their conduct and to draw from the events lessons about right and wrong. These newsmen did not shy away from gory detail; on the contrary, such details only strengthened the message. This tendency was still apparent in a few of the large independent dailies that arose in the middle of the century, but by 1900 many journalists had largely abandoned the theological framework of their predecessors. Without a context that provided meaning to death, the bloody red “particulars” turned yellow on the page.
When the Civil War began, South Carolinian William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870) lost access to his New York publisher. However, he revised two old manuscripts, placing them in 1863 in Richmond weeklies--the Southern Illustrated News and the Magnolia Weekly. Both were up-dated by allusion to military, historical or social events of 1863. Simms understood the effective use of serialization and was able to maintain his audience's loyalty by using allusions to war events and descriptions of the superior Southern culture.
Benedict Arnold is important for revisiting Simms's theories of dramatic license and the relationship between history and art. More interested in dramatic effect than in wrenching the history to the polemics of the day, still Simms pointed out that Southerners have lost "faith in Northern Historians. . . . their Arnolds, and their Putnams were traitors . . . . Their historians are of a piece with their generals."
Paddy McGann is significant for its social commentary on North and South and its well developed Southwestern humor format. Its theme of Southern Nationhood has three segments: man's inability to fathom God's will; comparison of North and South; and the assumptions of Southern home life. Paddy McGann "chronicles the disintegration of the idealized Southern social order," according to critic Dye.
Besides dashing his region's hope for independence, Simms's personal catastrophes during the war were so frequent and so grave that he believed that Fate was chastising him, but he held fast to his faith that God and endurance in public work would make him stronger. Simms's only new war-time publications were overlooked for more than a century--and one remains unpublished except for its ephemeral periodical appearance.
As South Carolina struggled to overcome the destruction caused during and after the Civil War and to regain law and order, Francis W. Dawson traded his Confederate sword for a pen at the News and Courier in Charleston, S.C., where he began a new battle against the state’s most debilitating sins: whiskey, gambling, dueling, lynching and hip-pocket justice. Dawson, who once wrote that he “could wait a century patiently to have one more blow at them (Yankees) before I die,” did not move seamlessly into his new role as the state’s champion of law and order. Described as a man who still “had the smell of battle about him,” Dawson served as a “best friend” for Henry Rivers Pollard, editor and publisher of The (Richmond, Va.) Examiner, in various duels and fistfights and had challenged others to duels before moving to Charleston, S.C., in 1866.
This paper is a study of the practice of dueling in South Carolina, particularly as it affected editors in the 19th Century, and Dawson’s anti-dueling editorial campaign which culminated with the passage by the General Assembly of a tough anti-dueling law in 1880. As a result, murder charges were brought against a duelist for only the second time in South Carolina’s history. Even though the duelist was found not guilty, Dawson’s efforts moved Pope Leo XIII to confer knighthood on the Charleston editor for his anti-dueling campaign. Dawson is believed to be the only newspaper editor ever so honored. The honor was ironic considering the tragic and bizarre circumstances in 1889 that led to the murder of the unarmed Dawson by a doctor, who was found not guilty by reason of self-defense. This is a discussion of the ultimate and ironic final effect of Dawson’s editorials when the mob who gathered to lynch his killer voluntarily disbanded after they were reminded of Dawson’s anti-lynching editorials.
This paper is a case study of the reporting of the 1831-32 cholera pandemic by four Virginia newspapers. The pandemic was a major event of these years in which this disease, almost unknown in Europe and the United States before that time, killed about 100,000 people in the two continents, at times killing 5 to 10 percent of the population of large cities in a few weeks. This study examines the breadth, quality, timeliness and sources of the cholera coverage, as an example of the communications network that informed people about the world outside their local communities. The case study details how these newspapers used the newspaper exchange, letters from correspondents, direct reports from health offices around the country, advise from physicians, and the editors’ own reporting to inform their readers of the approaching catastrophe, and to provide public services to help their communities and individuals prepare for the disease. These “modern” newspaper functions occurred after the expansion of the Post Office in carrying newspapers but before the communications revolutions of railroads and the telegraph. These newspapers were what I have termed the “pre-penny press,” i.e. relatively expensive, small, semi-weekly newspapers that had changed little in style and format since the early National period.
The four sample newspapers are the Richmond Enquirer, the Norfolk American Beacon (the Beacon), the Lynchburg Virginian and the Fredericksburg Virginia Herald (the Herald). The Enquirer and its editor, Thomas Ritchie, were well known nationally, and the paper was considered an example of the political party press (representing Jackson’s Democracy). The Beacon was a commercial paper in the only port of the state—Norfolk—and it explicitly eschewed partisan coverage. The Virginian was also a political paper (representing Whigs) whose editor, Richard Toler, was an important Whig booster and later politician, in the relatively new, small, and expanding town of Lynchburg. The Herald was the oldest paper of the group in a town that was long settled and losing population. These four towns represent a cross-section of the settled parts of mid-Atlantic states in terms of size, economy, political status, and growth, and their newspapers’ approach to covering the pandemic was similar to other newspapers outside the four major Eastern cities.
This research proposed that editors of the south prior to and during the Civil War were more than mere fire eaters, partisans and defenders of state’s rights. In researching a community of small papers in southern Virginia, this paper uncovered a side to southern editors mostly overlooked in traditional journalism history. Editors in Danville, Virginia were concerned about the relocation of Union prisoners to their town, the effect of prisons on their town and its citizens, and the fate of 6,000 Yankees who suffered through horrid conditions, hundreds of whom perished and were buried in what is now a national cemetery. Further, Danville editors were interested in public policy regarding the prisoners and encouraged negotiations between the governments for prisoner exchange.
The Civil War profoundly changed American newspapers. On the one hand, shortages of both supplies and workers, with the related increase in costs, forced many newspapers to shrink editions or close up entirely. On the other hand, the war created an unprecedented demand for news and those owners who found a way to continue publishing often realized great financial rewards. But which newspapers benefited the most and what was the key to their success? This paper looks particularly at New York City, the center of America's newspaper industry, and argues that the largest dailies, because of the financial structures they developed in the years leading up to the war, were able to dominate the industry like never before. Significantly, their access to capital during this key period helped make dailies, rather than weekly or monthly papers, the main source for news.
In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of historical fiction, The Killer Angels (1974), Michael Shaara provides a stirring blend of fact and fiction in which the events and key figures at the Battle of Gettysburg are stunningly brought to life. With the license of the novelist, Shaara the historian views the events through the eyes of the characters and allows the reader to see into the hearts and minds of these real human beings whose actions are recorded in history. I will include many passages from the work to illustrate the powerful portrayals of these characters. While I have attempted to edit and consolidate for brevity, admittedly many are rather lengthy based on my desire that you appreciate the literary skill inherent in these portrayals.
Wealthy South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chesnut provides an opportunity to examine from a practical standpoint theoretical assertions made by several historians recently regarding the reasons Southern women, particularly those of the planter class, turned to novels and other reading materials during the Civil War. In this case study, it appears that the model reader suggested by Cathy N. Davidson -- young, unmarried, middle or lower class, from New England -- does not fit Chesnut. However, models Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and Drew Gilpin Faust do accurately describe Mary Boykin Chesnut and her reading habits. Fox-Genovese and Faust suggest that women turned to novels to help them understand their societies, their places within their societies and to help them prepare to cope with coming challenges.
Shortly after the Civil War, journalists began revisiting sites of battle and reporting on conditions. These reports comprise a curious, hard-to-classify literary genre of war remembrance and reportage. This research compares three contemporary personal narratives about the Civil War: Emory Thomas, Travels to Hallowed Ground (1987) Jerry Ellis, Marching Through Georgia: My Walk with Sherman (1995) Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (1998)
Encountering history is a central objective in each work. The writers tell their stories within the narrative structure of journeys. Their journeys are undertaken quickly, leading to impressionistic drive-by history. Although each book is journalistic in nature, the writers bring different perspectives to their projects. Horwitz, a journalist, has won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Thomas is a distinguished historian, and Ellis is a travel writer and adventurer.
The books become journeys of self discovery as well as reports about the modern South. Wherever the Civil War has left “ghost marks on the landscape,” the war still has a significant impact on culture, ethnicity, politics, regionalism, education, and tourism. History, in these reports, is something more than a journalistic gloss on contemporary affairs; history matters. The writers struggle to explain the complex mythology of Southern identity. School of Journalism
Coverage of lynchings became a "staple of journalism" in the 1890s. Newspapers regularly
ran stories of mobs who executed those allegedly guilty crimes, mostly African American
men. Ida B. Wells of the Free Speech, a black newspaper in Memphis, investigated mainstream
newspaper coverage of lynchings. Through her inquiries, she found that newspaper accounts
often conveyed inaccurate or misleading information.
Following her investigation, she launched an anti-lynching campaign and determined to influence U.S. press coverage of lynching. According to Wells, the lack of debate and condemnation of lynching by white newspapers only supported and encouraged the practice of lynching. She intended to undermine society's justification of lynching by seeking to alter how the press covered lynching. Though Wells readily reached readers of black newspapers about the horrors of lynching, she initially was barred from conveying this message to the audience of mainstream newspapers. After accepting invitations to lecture in England, she ultimately sparked coverage in white newspapers in the United States of the debate about lynching. While much of that coverage of her antilynching efforts tended to be negative, nonetheless Wells managed to attain a forum in general circulation newspapers.
This study examined lynching articles in selected mainstream newspapers during the initial years of Ida B. Wells's anti-lynching campaign from March 1892 through 1894, after she had returned to the United States from her second lecture tour in England. Analysis of reported lynching incidents and antilynching efforts in the selected mainstream newspapers revealed a subtle shift in press coverage and public attitudes about mob violence. Coverage expanded beyond merely reporting lynching incidents to including articles that covered controversy fueled by Wells's antilynching efforts.
From the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 to the meeting of the Secession Convention in January 1861, Mississippians participated in a debate over the wisdom of secession. South Carolina left the Union on December 20, 1860, so the sense of urgency in Mississippi became even more strongly felt.
As the only mass medium of the day, newspapers carried the burden of arguing the merits
of secession for readers throughou
t the state. At least three of the thirty newspapers being published at the time took strong anti-secession positions. Their writings help historians understand the depth of anti-secession sentiments, whether they were strictly pro-Union or were advocates of delaying secession until all Southern states seceded en masse. The anti-secessionist newspaper writings also demonstrate a strong degree of courage since they were far outnumbered by pro-secession organs and were frequently attacked for their views.
Though the secessionists prevailed and Mississippi left the Union, the anti-secessionist newspapers proved to be prescient in their forecasts of doom. They had predicted civil war, and war came. They had predicted economic hardships for Mississippians, and the hardships came. They sensed that the secession decision was a defining moment for the state, and indeed it was.
The Rev. Dr. Charles M. Sheldon, a Congregationalist minister, wrote In His Steps, a best-selling novel in 1887, and gained international recognition. This novel depicted ordinary people who were inspired to change radically by asking themselves, "What would Jesus do." In the novel, a newspaper editor applied that question to his business and altered his advertising and editorial policies to conform to standards he believed Jesus would practice. In 1900 Sheldon was invited to become that fictional newspaper editor and edit a daily newspaper from March 13 to March 17, 1900. This research examines the way Sheldon's approach to journalism formed a web of meaning for his audience that reflected his worldview. For six issues, Sheldon spread his vision of good, evil, and the path to restore the world to a heaven on earth. His six signed editorials are used to explore Sheldon's vision of the world during a time in America when the social gospel was popularized in melodramatic novels such as In His Steps. While Sheldon's work is often seen as amateurish, his newspaper pioneered some conventions that are commonly used by the modern American press.


Picture books are a popular book format for youth. They generally combine visual and language elements. In some cases, they depend entirely on pictures to tell the story. Crossing genres, they may include prose or poetry.
Wartenberg (2013, 2) notes that "writers of great picture books are well attuned to the features of the world that baffle young children. Since many of these bewildering puzzles also befuddle philosophers, picture books frequently focus on philosophical issues... Many of the essential problems of philosophy are made tangible by picture books."
The Charlotte Zolotow Award recognizes the best picture book of the year. Past winners include:
- The Dark (2013) by Lemony Snicket
- Each Kindess (2012) by Jacqueline Woodson
- Me... Jane (2011) by Patrick McDonnell
- Big Red Lollipop (2010) by Rukhsana Khan
The image below right is from The Dark by Lemony Snicket. Click the image to read the page.
Go to the Picture Book Database.
Browse their collection.
Some of the earliest, illustrated books for children were alphabet books. In most cases, each page presents a letter along with a word and photo illustrating use of the letter. These books were designed to teach the letters of the alphabet. However, they’re actually not the best way to teach the alphabet.
Many alphabet books are simply used as a way to organize information about the world in a visual way. For instance, Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet (2006) (shown below) by David McLimans presents a different endangered animal for each letter of the alphabet. Alphabet City (1995) by Stephen Johnson created paintings that feature letters of the alphabet formed by objects in the urban areas.
When selecting an alphabet book, think about the intended audience and their vocabulary. For instance, Alphabet Rescue (2006) by Audrey Wood is useful to introducing lowercase letters of the alphabet. Farm Alphabet Book (1981) by Jane Miller uses the alphabet book format to introduce children to all aspects of farm life.
Keep in mind that not all alphabet books are warm and fuzzy. The Z Was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-Six Acts (1987) by Chris Van Allsburg shows letters of the alphabet caught in bad situations. For instance, the "B was badly bitten" and the "C was cut to ribbons". Older children enjoy guessing what heinous act will befall each letter. However the book may be disturbing to younger children. The book has even been challenged in some primary schools.
Sleeping Bear Press is known for their alphabet books on a range of topics including states, parks, landforms, animals, and other topics. Titles include A is for Arches, B is for Blue Crab, and C is for Cowboy. Jerry Pallotta is known for his alphabet books on a wide range of topics that appeal to youth including airplanes, boats, and deserts.
Some alphabet books focus on science topics such as the The Butterfly Alphabet (1996) by Kjell Sandved. The photographer spent several decades collecting the images of these magnificent creatures. The author’s website even contains an online set of images and descriptions called Nature’s Own Alphabet.
Not all alphabet books take a traditional letter with matching object approach. For instance, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989) by Bill Martin Jr. uses rhyme to introduce multiple letters at a time.
Z is for Moose (2012) by Kelly Bingham takes mixed up approach to an alphabet book that children will find hilarious.
Watch the trailer for Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham. Notice that this is not your usual alphabet book!
Many alphabet books are published as board books. Think about the users of the books and whether a board book will be appropriate. If the library has a large preschool following, a board book makes sense.
When reading alphabet books with children, talk about the format of the book in additional to the letters. Consider the following ideas:
- How is this book organized? Do you see a pattern?
- What’s the same and different on each page?
- What do you notice about the words? What do you notice about the illustrations?
- What pages do you like and dislike? Why?
Want to have some fun? Think about an alphabet book theme. Then, create your own alphabet book using the Alphabet Organizer.
Like alphabet books, counting books were some of the earliest books designed specifically for children. While some of these books simply provide the numeral along with the matching number of objects, others introduce basic additional and subtraction too. For instance, the tactile element of punched out eyes makes counting fun and easy with Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On by Lois Ehlert.
Tunnell (2012) notes that Anno’s Counting Book (1977) by Mitsumasa Anno is an outstanding example and one of the few that doesn’t ignore the number 0.
For very young children, the topic of shapes, colors, opposites, transportation, and animals are popular. As children grow older, their informational interests change. Concept books introduce children to a single idea such as weather or seasons. Rather than covering many topics, concept books take a focused approach.
Concept books are particularly popular with children, parents, and teachers. For some examples of seasonal books, go to Allen County Public Library’s Seasonal Books page.
Many authors specialize in writing concept books for children. For instance, Gail Gibbons is known for her short, easy-to-read concept books on topics such as ladybugs, apples, and emergency. Many of her books focus on cycles or processes such as From Seed to Plant (1993).
Informational Picture Books
Picture books are a wonderful way to introduce young people to a wide range of topics. Books about friendship, school, and social issues are common themes. However, these books are also a wonderful way to introduce science and history topics.
The Locomotive (2013) by Brian Floca explores the history of the train. Click the image below to read a page from this book.
Parrots Over Puerto Rico (2013) by Susan L. Roth focuses on endangered parrots in Puerto Rico. Click the image below to read a page from this book.
While concept books introduce topics to youth, informational picture books provide additional depth and detail. Although these two categories overlap, concept books are generally associated with younger readers and basic information. Some informational books picture book may be very detailed and focused toward older readers. For instance, How Much is a Million (1985) by David Schwartz helps children understand understand large numbers.
A popular category of informational picture books is biographies. Diane Stanley is known for her beautiful picture book biographies including Michelangelo (1997), Saladin: Noble Prince of Islam (2002), and Mozart: The Wonder Child (2009).
Read Lambert, Megan (July/August 2011). Dave the Potter and Stevie the Reader. Horn Book.
Many series such as The Magic School Bus books (1985+ series) by Joanna Cole fall into this category.
Authors like Seymour Simon, Nic Bishop, and Sy Mongomery are well-known for their informational books on science related topics.
Picture storybooks for children emerged in the 19th century with authors such as Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway. In the early 20th century, authors like Beatrix Potter extended the popularity of books designed specifically for c hildren with her books featuring Peter Rabbit and other animal characters. By the mid 20th century, authors like Dr. Seuss (The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, 1938) and Robert McCloskey (Blueberries for Sal, 1948), and later Maurice Sendak (The Nutshell Library, 1962) became well-respected for their work for children.
There are many ways to tell a story. While some stories are told as prose, others use elements of poetry.
Read Yolen, Jane (January/February 2014). Owl Moon Redux. HornBook, 46-50.
Angela M. Wiseman (2013, 11) notes that picture books can help youth deal with a wide range of experiences including death and grieving.
"Children’s picturebooks can provide a way to address and support children as they experience trauma and begin to understand the emotions surrounding their grief."
During the 1970s, Mercer Mayer became popular with this lovable monsters. These books dealt with the everyday problems that young children face including new siblings, friendship, and fear of the dark.
Back in the early 1990s, Broderbund's Living Books produced the first computer-based interactive, multimedia, animated books. One of my favorites was Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer. These books were distributed on CD-ROM. Students could read the story, listen to the story read aloud, or play with the story. Today, this doesn't seem like a big deal. However 20+ years ago this was a major jump in sophistication and marked a shift from text to graphical interfaces for children's computer-based materials.
Many of these original interactive books have now been converted to the app format.
Some of these books may seem like light bedtime reads, but others have much deeper meanings. The Lorax (1971) by Dr. Seuss is about preserving the environment and the cost of not taking a stand. In the Night Kitchen (1970) by Maurice Sendak may seem like a whimsical bakery dream, but on closer analysis readers can find elements of the Holocaust represented. Many of these books use imagery and metaphor to help young children deal with difficult subjects.
Read Connolly, Paula T. (2013). ‘‘Texts Like a Patchwork Quilt’’: Reading Picturebooks About Slavery. Children’s Literature in Education, 44, 29–43.
When parents first begin reading to their children at bedtime, picture storybooks are often their choice. Children enjoy the bonding that occurs when books are read aloud over and over again. These early literacy experiences are critical for developing a passion for reading. Kitten’s First Full Moon (2004) by Kevin Henkes is an example of a beautiful picture book focusing on two things young children find fascinating: kittens and the moon.
From humorous books to serious historical topics, picture storybooks cover a wide range of topics. Seek out books that will appeal to the interests of children. Jon Scieszka is known for his Trucktown picture books like Smash! Crash! (2008) that are geared to the interests of active children, particularly boys.
Look for humorous books that will attract reluctant readers such as the Super Fly Guy (2005+ series) by Tedd Arnold. Look for fun that connects with topics meaningful for youth. Shark vs Train (2010) by Chris Barton focuses on not one, but two favorite topics!
Seek out stories that children can connect to their own lives. Blackout (2011) by John Rocco tells the story of a family dealing with a summer blackout in their city.
Actively engaging children in individual book pages an effective way to help young children become accustomed to analyzing images and text.
Children love to play I Spy through Scholastic’s well-known series including I Spy Animals (2012) by Jean Marzollo and I Spy Colors in Art (2007) by Lucy Micklethwaite.
Tunnell (2012, 66) defines a participation book as those “designed to involve children in a physical activity that goes beyond the reading of the text, such as finding hidden objects in an illustration (Where’s Waldo The Great Picture Hunt by Martin Handford, 2006), manipulating the flaps and tabs of a pop-up book (The Wheels on the Bus by Paul Zelinsky, 1990), or chiming in with a refrain (“Hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats, Millions and billions and trillions of cats” from Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag, 1928).”
Graeme Base is well-known for adding participatory elements to his books. Many of his books such as Animalia and Waterhole are now available as apps. Click on the image below right. Can you find all the P words?
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed… can you finish this rhyme? If not, it’s time to do some predictable reading and before long you won’t be able to get it out of your head.
Predictable books are loved by young readers. Their repetitive nature makes them easy to read and encourages young readers. They often contain repeated story elements, language patterns, and narrative sequences. The Napping House (1996) by Audrey and Don Wood includes repetitive passages and rhyming language. Young children enjoy the cadence of language as each creature is added to napping grandmother.
Effective predictable books draw children into the story. Youth naturally repeat the refrains. Tunnell (2012) notes that these are sometimes called pattern books and can serve as a bridge to independent reading.
Cumulative repetition, repeated patterns, and circular plotlines are popular in many predictable books. Cumulative stories repeat the story numerous times adding new elements with each retelling. Examples include A Fly Went By (page below left) (1958) by Mike McClintock and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (page below right) (1997) by Simms Taback. Click the images below to read a page from these books.
The best predictable books stick in your head. I remember reading A Fly Went By (1958) by Mike McClintock as a child. To this day, I can hear the cadence in my head. As a teacher librarian, I enjoyed reading predictable books to children because they so easily engaged a young audience. Even the squirmiest child could sit still long enough to help recite the repetitive story. These stories also work well for storytelling activities because they are easy to remember. I had a "librarian apron" with many pockets where I could store lots of props for invented stories. I would show and hide the props over and over as the story progressed.
Bill Martin Jr.’s book use a repeated pattern that children easily recognize. The visuals lend support and encourage children to chime in even if they don’t know how to read.
Laura Numeroff’s books like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985) are examples of predictable books that apply a circular plotline. One event causes the next event. The story ultimately ends where it begins. Click the images below to view three pages from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
Books without words are an engaging category of picture book for all ages. Young children learn to “read” by telling stories they see on the pages. Older children invent stories or use their experiences to retell stories they know using the images provided. The Snowman (1978) by Raymond Briggs is a classic example.
While many wordless books like The Lion & the Mouse (2009) (shown above) by Jerry Pinkney are intended to tell a visual story, others focus on teaching concepts using only visuals.
Tana Hoban is known for her simple concept books that teach about colors, shapes, and opposites through the use of pictures rather than words.
Many parents, teachers, and librarians use wordless books as part of activities that include writing and discussion activities. Wordless books provide many opportunities to teach children visual literacy including reading the faces of characters, interpreting the action through still images, describing the setting, and predicting the plot based on visual elements.
For instance, ask youth to read the visual story of Journey (2013) by Aaron Becker.
David Wiesner has won numerous awards for his wordless books like Flotsam (2006). The visuals make the story so clear that some people forget they're actually wordless. Click the images below for a couple sample pages.
Read the short essay David Wiesner and Flotsam by Dinah Stevenson. Think about how editing process for wordless books might be the same and different from other picture books.
Keep in mind that not all wordless books are designed for young children. The Arrival (2006) by Shaun Tan is a wordless graphic novel that explores an immigrant's life in an imaginary world. Using photographs from places like Ellis Island as inspiration, Tan is able to tell the universal story of arriving in a new world. Click the images below for a larger view.
From board books for infants to pop-up books for older children, novelty children’s books have been popular for over two centuries. Often called engineered books because of their physical structure, these book involve unusual elements such as flaps, folds, and objects that readers manipulate. These elements reveal story elements, help explain concepts, and engage readers in the experience.
Some books contain just basic elements. For instance, Dinosaurology: The Search for a Lost World (2013) by Jack Fawcett contains hidden windows and tabs. However, others have very intricate elements. Cinderella: A 3-Dimensional Fairy Tale Theater (2012) by Jane Ray contains three-layer images to provide the feeling of a stage production.
David Carter is known for his pop-up books for very young children such as Bed Bugs (1998). Jan Pienkowski is best-known for his pop-up book Haunted House (1979).
Read Boyce, Lisa Boggiss (2011). Pop Into My Place: An Exploration of the Narrative and Physical Space in Jan Pienkowski’s Haunted House. Children’s Literature in Education, 42, 243–255.
Some novelty books rely on manipulating paper, such as flaps, shapes, and folds. For instance, die-cut books can be created in various shapes such as animal figures, geometric shapes, and transportation.
Others novelty books involve tactile elements. For instance, Sandra Boynton’s books contain pieces of fabric and other materials that children can touch. Everyone wants to pet Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt.
Many pop-up books have been adapted from other popular books such as The Wheels on the Bus (1990) by Paul O. Zelinsky.
Pop-up books related to movie tie-ins such as Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe (2013) by Matthew Reinhart and Emiliano Santalucia have become popular. Other titles relate to movies like Star Wars.
Science topics are popular for popup books such as Bugs (2013) by George McGavin and Jim Kay. This book includes a wide range of approaches including slide-out panels, tabs, foldouts, mini-books, and pop-ups (shown on the right).
In some cases, youth can remove and manipulate elements of the books. How Cars Work: The Interactive Guide to Mechanisms that Make a Car Move (2013) by Nick Arnold and Allan Sanders provides "build-you-own" cardboard elements for creating hands-on projects.
Electronic elements are also being embedded into books. From simple sound effects buttons to books that read-aloud each page, there are many options available.
Eric Carle has incorporated simple elements into his books. In The Very Lonely Firefly (1995), a small battery-powered light is used to represent the firefly’s light and in The Very Clumsy Click Beetle (1999), a sound chip is used to make a click sound.
Watch a video trailer for The Little Mermaid (2013) by Robert Sabuda. Think about the pros and cons of pop-up books in the library.
Evaluating Picture Books
1. Read the book straight through.
2. Read only the text, ignoring illustrations.
3. Read only the illustrations, ignoring the text.
4. Read aloud listening to the sound of the text.
5. Read to notice where the text breaks.
6. Read to notice the illustrator’s choices.
7. Read the colors.
8. Read for the page layout.
While some people think of picture books as only for young children, many of these works are enjoyed by people of all ages. Many middle school teachers enjoy sharing the works of Jon Scieszka with both elementary and middle school youth. Book like The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (1989), The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992), and Squids with be Squids (1998) contain satirical elements that are great for jumpstarting creative writing activities and group discussions at all ages.
Watch a few of the video interviews with Jon Scieszka from Reading Rockets.
Visit the Picture Book Month website for lots of ideas for using picturebooks with children.
Irwin, Marilyn (2013). Materials for Youth. Lecture notes.
Lamb, Annette (2013). Book History. Unusual Book Forms. Available: http://eduscapes.com/bookhistory/artifact/5.htm
Tunnell, Michael O., Jacobs, James S., Young, Terrell A., & Bryan, Gregory (2012). Children’s Literature, Briefly. Fifth Edition. Pearson.
Wartenberg, Thomas (2013). Sneetch is a Sneetch and Other Philosophical Discoveries: Finding Wisdom in Children's Literature. Wiley-Blackwell. Available as an e-Book through IUPUI.
Wiseman, Angela M. (2013). Summer’s End and Sad Goodbyes: Children’s Picturebooks About Death and Dying. Children’s Literature in Education, 44, 1–14.


Islamic art encompasses the arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people (not necessarily Muslim) who lived within the territory that was inhabited by culturally Islamic populations. It includes fields as varied as Architecture, Calligraphy, painting, and ceramics, among others.
Typically, though not entirely, Islamic art has focused on the depiction of patterns and Arabic calligraphy, rather than on figures, because it is feared by many Muslims that the depiction of the human form is idolatry and thereby a sin against Allah, forbidden in the Qur'an.
fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdhdh;asssriope Islamic art is not, speaking, an art pertaining to religion only. The term "Islamic" refers not only to the religion, but to the rich and varied Islamic culture as well. Islamic art frequently adopts secular elements and elements that are frowned upon, if not forbidden, by some Islamic theologians.
According to the Encarta "Islamic art is developed from many sources: Roman, Early Christian, and Byzantine styles were taken over in early Islamic architecture; the influence of Sassanian art—the architecture and decorative art of pre-Islamic Persia was of paramount significance; Central Asian styles were brought in with various nomadic incursions; and Chinese influences had an important effect on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles."
There are repeating elements in Islamic art, such as the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as the Arabesque. The arabesque in Islamic art is often used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible and infinite nature of Allah.
Most Sunni and Shia Muslims believe that visual depictions of any living beings generally should be prohibited. Nonetheless, human portrayals can be found in all eras of Islamic art. Human representation for the purpose of worship is considered idolatry and is duly forbidden in Islamic law, known as Sharia law. There are also many Depictions of Muhammad, Islam's chief prophet, in historical Islamic art.
Perhaps the most important expression of Islamic art is architecture, particularly that of the mosque (four-iwan and hypostyle). Through the edifices, the effect of varying cultures within Islamic civilization can be illustrated. The North African and Spanish Islamic architecture, for example, has Roman-Byzantine elements, as seen in the Alhambra palace at Granada, or in the Great Mosque of Cordoba.
The role of domes in Islamic architecture has been considerable. Domes have been used in Islamic architecture for centuries. The earliest surviving dome is part of the Dome of the Rock mosque, built in 691 CE. Another prominent dome was added to the Taj Mahal, constructed in the 17th century with the Taj Mahal. And as late as the 19th century, Islamic domes were incorporated into Western architecture.
Calligraphic design is omnipresent in Islamic art, and is usually expressed in a mix of Qur'anic verses and historical proclamations. Two of the main scripts involved are the symbolic kufic and naskh scripts, which can be found adorning and enhancing the visual appeal of the walls and domes of buildings, the sides of minbars, and so on. All Arabian fantasy tales were often called "Arabian Nights" when translated into English, regardless of whether they appeared in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, in any version, and a number of tales are known in Europe as "Arabian Nights" despite existing in no Arabic manuscript. Many imitations were written, especially in France.
Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran, is a mythical and heroic retelling of Persian history. Amir Arsalan was also a popular mythical Persian story, which has influenced some modern works of fantasy fiction, such as The Heroic Legend of Arslan.
A famous example of Arabic poetry and Persian poetry on romance (love) is Layla and Majnun, dating back to the Umayyad era in the 7th century. It is a tragic story of undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet, which was itself said to have been inspired by a Latin version of Layli and Majnun to an extent.
Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) and Ibn al-Nafis were pioneers of the philosophical novel. Ibn Tufail wrote the first fictional Arabic novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus) as a response to Al-Ghazali's The Incoherence of the Philosophers, and then Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a fictional novel Theologus Autodidactus as a response to Ibn Tufail's Philosophus Autodidactus. Both of these narratives had protagonists (Hayy in Philosophus Autodidactus and Kamil in Theologus Autodidactus) who were autodidactic feral children living in seclusion on a Desert island, both being the earliest examples of a desert island story. However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on the desert island for the rest of the story in Philosophus Autodidactus, the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in Theologus Autodidactus, developing into the earliest known Coming of age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel.
A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail's work, Philosophus Autodidactus, first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. These translations later inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, regarded as the first novel in English. Philosophus Autodidactus also inspired Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist. The story also anticipated Rousseau's Emile: or, On Education in some ways, and is also similar to Mowgli's story in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book as well as Tarzan's story, in that a baby is abandoned but taken care of and fed by a mother wolf.
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, considered the greatest epic of Italian literature, derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter directly or indirectly from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology: the Hadith and the Kitab al-Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before as Liber Scale Machometi, "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder") concerning Muhammad's ascension to Heaven, and the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi. The Moors also had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Moorish characters, such as Peele's The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus, and Othello, which featured a Moorish Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish Delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England at the beginning of the 17th century.
No Islamic artistic concept has become better known outside its original home than the pile carpet, more commonly referred to as the Oriental carpet (oriental rug). Their versatility is utilized in everyday Islamic and Muslim life, from floor coverings to architectural enrichment, from cushions to bolsters to bags and sacks of all shapes and sizes, and to religious objects (such as a prayer rug, which would provide a clean place to pray). Carpet weaving is a rich and deeply embedded tradition in Islamic societies, and the practice is seen in cities as well as in rural communities and nomadic encampments. In older times, special establishments and workshops were in existence that functioned directly under court patronage in Islamic lands.
From the eighth to eighteenth centuries, the use of ceramics was prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate pottery. Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another significant contribution was the development of stonepaste ceramics, originating from 9th century Iraq. The first industrial complex for glass and pottery production was built in Ar-Raqqah, Syria, in the 8th century. Other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Islamic world included Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550).
Lustreware was invented in Iraq by the persian chemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) in the 8th century during the Abbasid Caliphate. Another innovation was the Albarello, a type of maiolica earthenware jar originally designed to hold apothecaries' ointments and dry drugs. The development of this type of pharmacy jar had its roots in the Islamic Middle East. Brought to Italy by Hispano-Moresque traders, the earliest Italian examples were produced in Florence in the 15th century.
The Hispano-Moresque style emerged in Andalusia in the 8th century, under the Fatimids. This was a style of Islamic pottery created in Islamic Spain, after the Moors had introduced two ceramics techniques to Europe: ceramics with an opaque white tin-glaze, and painting in metallic lusters. Hispano-Moresque ware was distinguished from the pottery of Christendom by the Islamic character of it decoration.
In the performing arts, the most popular forms of theater in the medieval Islamic world were puppet theatre (which included hand puppets, shadow plays and marionette productions) and live passion plays known as ta'ziya, where actors re-enact episodes from Muslim history. In particular, Shia Islamic plays revolved around the shaheed (martyrdom) of Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali. Live secular plays were known as akhraja, recorded in medieval Adab (behavior) literature, though they were less common than puppetry and ta'zieh theater.
Karagoz, the Turkish Shadow Theatre has influenced puppetry widely in the region. It is thought to have passed from Chinese by way of India. Later it was taken by the Mongols from the Chinese and transmitted to the Turkish peoples of Central Asia. Thus the art of Shadow Theater was brought to Anatolia by the Turkish people emigrating from Central Asia. Other scholars claim that shadow theater came to Anatolia in the 16th century from Egypt. The advocates of this view claim that when Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, he saw shadow theatre performed during a party put on in his honour. Yavuz Sultan Selim was so impressed with it that he took the puppeteer back to his palace in Istanbul. There his 21 year old son, later Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, developed an interest in the plays and watched them a great deal. Thus shadow theatre found its way into the Ottoman palaces.
In other areas the style of shadow puppetry known as khayal al-zill – an intentionally metaphorical term whose meaning is best translated as ‘shadows of the imagination’ or ‘shadow of fancy' survives. This is a shadow play with live music ..”the accompaniment of drums, tambourines and flutes...also...“special effects” – smoke, fire, thunder, rattles, squeaks, thumps, and whatever else might elicit a laugh or a shudder from his audience”
In Iran puppets are known to have existed much earlier than 1000 CE, but initially only glove and string puppets were popular in Iran. Other genres of puppetry emerged during the Qajar era (18th-19th century BCE) as influences from Turkey spead to the region. Kheimeh Shab-Bazi is a Persian traditional puppet show which is performed in a small chamber by a musical performer and a storyteller called a morshed or naghal. These shows often take place alongside storytelling in traditional tea and coffee-houses (Ghahve-Khave). The dialogue takes place between the morshed and the puppets. Puppetry remains very popular in Iran, the touring opera Rostam and Sohrab puppet opera being a recent example.
From the eighth to the eighteenth centuries, the use of ceramics was prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of pottery. Although the art of sculpture was hardly practiced at all, work in metal and ivory was often developed to a high degree of technical accomplishment. It is also necessary to mention the importance of painting, and particularly of the illumination of both sacred and secular texts.
History of Islamic art Edit
The Beginnings of Islamic art Edit
Before the Dynasties Edit
The period of rapid expansion of the Islamic era forms a reasonably accurate beginning for the label of Islamic art. Early geographical boundaries of the Islamic culture were in present-day Syria. It is quite difficult to distinguish the earliest Islamic objects from their predecessors in Persian or Sassanid art and Byzantine. There was, notably, a significant production of unglazed ceramics, witnessed by a famous small bowl preserved in the Louvre, whose inscription assures its attribution to the Islamic period. Vegetal motifs were the most important these early productions.
Influences from the Sassanian artistic tradition include the image of the king as a warrior and the lion as a symbol of nobility and virility. The Bedouin tribal tradition represented the geographically "native" artistic hegemony.
Byzantine influence from the Christian west was not received without reluctance. Coinage and metalwork were imported and used for trade with the Byzantines.
Umayyad Art Edit
Religious and civic architecture were developed under the Umayyads, when new concepts and new plans were put into practice. Thus, the “Arab plan,” with court and hypostyle prayer hall, truly became a functional type with the construction of the Umayyad Mosque, or the Great Mosque of Damascus (completed in 715 by caliph Al-Walid I) on top of the ancient temple of Jupiter and in place of the basilica of St. John the Baptist, the most sacred site in the city. This building served as a point of reference for builders (and for art historians) for the birth of the Arab plan, as Byzantine Christian.
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one of the most important buildings in all of Islamic architecture, marked by a strong Byzantine influence (mosaic against a gold background, and a central plan that recalls that of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), but already bearing purely Islamic elements, such as the great epigraphic frieze. The desert palaces in Jordan and Syria (for example, Mshatta, Qasr Amra, and Khirbat al-Mafjar) served the caliphs as living quarters, reception halls, and baths, and were decorated to promote an image of royal luxury.
Work in ceramic was still somewhat primitive (unglazed) during this period. Some metal objects have survived from this time, but it remains rather difficult to distinguish these objects from those of the pre-Islamic period.
'Abd al-Malik introduced standard coinage that featured Arabic inscriptions. The quick development of a localized coinage around the time of the Dome of the Rock's construction demonstrates the reorientation of Umayyad acculturation. This period saw the genesis of a particularly Islamic art.
In this period, Umayyad artists and artisans did not invent a new vocabulary, but began to prefer those received from Mediterranean and Iranian late antiquity, which they adapted to their own artistic conceptions. For example, the mosaics in the Great Mosque of Damascus are based on Byzantine models, but replace the figurative elements with images of trees and cities. The desert palaces also bear witness to these influences. By combining the various traditions that they had inherited, and by readapting motifs and architectural elements, artists created little by little a typically Muslim art, particularly discernible in the aesthetic of the Arabesque, which appears both on monuments and in illuminated Qur'ān.
Abbasid art Edit
The Abbasid (750 A.D.- 1258) witnessed the movement of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, and then from Baghdad to Samarra. The shift to Baghdad influenced politics, culture, and art. Art historian Robert Hillenbrand (1999) likens the movement to the foundation of an "Islamic Rome", because the meeting of Eastern influences from Iranian, Eurasian steppe, Chinese, and Indian sources created a new paradigm for Islamic art. Classical forms inherited from Byzantine Europe and Greco-Roman sources were discarded in favor of those drawn from the new Islamic hub. Even the design of the city of Baghdad placed it in the "navel of the world," as 9th-century historian al-Ya'qubi wrote.
The ancient city of Baghdad cannot be excavated, as it lies beneath the modern city. However, Samarra has been well studied, and is known for its extensive cultivation of the art of stucco. Motifs known from the stucco at Samarra permit the dating of structures built elsewhere, and are furthermore found on portable objects, particular in wood, from Egypt through to Iran.
Abbasid architecture in Iraq as exemplified in the palace of Ukhaidir (c.775-6) demonstrated the "despotic and the pleasure-loving character of the dynasty" in its grand size but cramped living quarters.
Samarra witnessed the "coming of age" of Islamic art. Polychrome painted stucco allowed for experimentation in new styles of moulding and carving. The Great Mosque of Samarra, once the largest in the world, was built for the new capital.
The Abbasid period also coincided with two major innovations in the ceramic arts: the invention of faience, and of metallic lusterware. Hadithic prohibition of the use of golden or silver pottery led to the development of metallic lusterware, which was made by mixing sulphur and metallic oxides to ochre and vinegar, painted onto an already glazed vessel and then fired a second time. It was expensive, and difficult to manage the second round through the kiln, but the need to replace fine Chinese pottery led to the development of this technique..
Though the common perception of Abbasid artistic production focuses largely on pottery, the greatest development of the Abbasid period was in textiles. Government-run workshops known as tiraz produced silks bearing the name of the monarch, allowing for aristocrats to demonstrate their loyalty to the ruler. Other silks were pictorial. The utility of silk-ware in wall decor, entrance adornment, and room separation were not as important as their cash value along the "silk route."
Calligraphy began to be used in surface decoration on pottery during this period. Illuminated Qur'ans gained attention, letter-forms now more complex and stylized to the point of slowing down the recognition of the words themselves.
The medieval period (9th-15th centuries) Edit
Beginning in the 9th century, Abbasid sovereignty was contested in the provinces furthest removed from the Iraqi center. The creation of a Shi'a dynasty, that of the north African Fatimids, followed by the Umayyads in Spain, gave force to this opposition, as well as small dynasties and autonomous governors in Iran.
Spain and the Maghreb Edit
The first Islamic dynasty to establish itself in Spain (or Islamic Spain) was that of the Spanish Umayyads. As their name indicates, they were descended from the great Umayyads of Syria. After their fall, the Spanish Umayyads were replaced by various autonomous kingdoms, the taifas (1031-91), but the artistic production from this period does not differ significantly from that of the Umayyads. At the end of the 11th centuy, two Berber tribes, the Almoravids and the Almohads, captured the head of the Maghreb and Spain, successively, bringing Magrhebi influences into art. A series of military victories by Christian monarchs had reduced Islamic Spain by the end of the 14th century to the city of Granada, ruled by the Nasirid dynasty, who managed to maintain their hold until 1492.
al-Andalus was a great cultural center of the Middle Ages. Besides the great universities, which taught philosophies and sciences yet unknown in Christendom (such as those of Averroes), the territory was an equally vital center for art. One thinks immediately, in architecture, of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, but other, smaller, monuments should not be forgotten, such as the Bab Mardum in Toledo, or the caliphal city of Medina Azahara. In the later period one finds notably the palace of the Alhambra, in Granada.
Many techniques were employed in the manufacture of objects. Ivory was used extensively for the manufacture of boxes and caskets. The pyxis of al-Mughira is a masterwork of the genre. In metalwork, large sculptures in the round, normally rather scarce in the Islamic world, served as elaborate receptacles for water or as fountain spouts. A great number of textiles, most notably silks, were exported: many are found in the church treasuries of Christendom, where they served as covering for saints’ ossuaries. From the periods of Maghrebi rule one may also note a taste for painted and sculpted woodwork.
The art of north Africa is not as well studied. The Almoravid and Almohad dynasties are characterized by a tendency toward austerity, for example in mosques with bare walls. Nevertheless, luxury arts continued to be produced in great quantity. The Marinid and Hafsid dynasties developed an important, but poorly understood, architecture, and a significant amount of painted and sculpted woodwork.
Egypt and Syria Edit
The Fatimid dynasty, which reigned in Egypt between 909 and 1171, was
At the same time in Syria, the Atabegs (Arab governors of Seljuq princes) assumed power. Quite independent, they capitalized on conflicts between the Turkish princes, and in large part supported the installation of the Frankish crusaders. In 1171, Saladin seized Fatimid Egypt, and installed the transitory Ayyubid dynasty on the throne. This period is not terribly notable for architecture, but the production of luxury objects continued apace. Ceramics and metalwork of a high quality were produced without interruption, and enameled glass became another important craft.
In 1250 the Mamluks seized control of Egypt from the Ayyubids, and by 1261 had managed to assert themselves in Syria as well. The Mamluks were not, strictly speaking, a dynasty, as they did not maintain a patrilineal mode of succession; in fact, Mamluks were freed Turkish slaves, who (in theory) passed the power to others of like station. This mode of government persevered for three centuries, until 1517, and gave rise to abundant architectural projects (many thousands of buildings were constructed during this period), while patronage of luxury arts favored primarily enameled glass and metalwork. The Baptistery of Saint Louis, one of the most famous Islamic objects, dates to this period.
Iran and Central Asia Edit
In Iran and the north of India, the Tahirids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, and Ghurids struggled for power in the 10th century, and art was a vital element of this competition. Great cities were built, such as Nishapur and Ghazni, and the construction of the Great Mosque of Isfahan (which would continue, in fits and starts, over several centuries) was initiated. Funerary architecture was also cultivated, while potters developed quite individual styles: kaleidoscopic ornament on a yellow ground; or marbled decorations created by allowing colored glazes to run; or painting with multiple layers of slip under the glaze.
The Seljuqs, nomads of Turkic origin from present-day Mongolia, appeared on the stage of Islamic history toward the end of the 10th century. They seized Baghdad in 1048, before dying out in 1194 in Iran, although the production of “Seljuq” works continued through the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th century under the auspices of smaller, independent sovereigns and patrons. During their time, the center of culture, politics and art production shifted from Damascus and Baghdad to Merv, Nishapur, Rayy, and Isfahan, all in Iran .
Popular patronage expanded because of a growing economy and new urban wealth. Inscriptions in architecture tended to focus more on the patrons of the piece. For example, sultans, viziers or lower ranking officials would receive often mention in inscriptions on mosques. Meanwhile, growth in mass market production and sale of art made it more commonplace and accessible to merchants and professionals . Because of increased production, many relics have survived from the Seljuk era and can be easily dated. In contrast, the dating of earlier works is more ambiguous. It is, therefore, easy to mistake Seljuk art as new developments rather than inheritance from classical Iranian and Turkic sources.
Under the Seljuqs the “Iranian plan” of mosque construction appears for the first time. Lodging places called khans, or Caravanserai, for travellers and their animals, or caravansarais, generally displayed utilitarian rather than ornamental architecture, with rubble masonry, strong fortifications, and minimal comfort . Another important architectural trend to arise in the Seljuk era is the development of mausolea including the tomb tower such as the Gunbad-i-qabus (circa 1006-7) (showcasing a Zoroastrian motif) and the domed square, an example of which is the tomb of the Samanids in the city of Bukhara (circa 943) .
Innovations in the ceramic arts that date to this period include the production of minai ware and the manufacture of vessels, not out of clay, but out of a silicon paste (“frit-ware”), while metalworkers began to encrust bronze with precious metals. Across the Seljuk era, from Iran to Iraq, a unification of book painting can be seen. These paintings have animalistic figures that convey strong symbolic meaning of fidelity, treachery, and courage .
In the 13th century the Mongols, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, swept through the Islamic world. Upon the death of Genghis Khan, his empire was divided among his sons and many dynasties were thus formed: the Yuan in China, the Ilkhanids in Iran, and the Golden Horde in northern Iran and southern Russia.
The Ilkhanids Edit
A rich civilization developed under these “little khans,” who were originally subservient to the Yuan emperor, but rapidly became independent. Architectural activity intensified as the Mongols became sedentary, and retained traces of their nomadic origins, such as the north-south orientation of the buildings. At the same time a process of “iranisation” took place, and construction according to previously established types, such as the “Iranian plan” mosques, was resumed. The tomb of Öljeitü in Soltaniyeh is one of the greatest and most impressive monuments in Iran, despite many later depredations. The art of the Persian book was also born under this dynasty, and was encouraged by aristocratic patronage of large manuscripts such as the Jami al-tawarikh by Rashid al-Din. New techniques in ceramics appeared, such as the lajvardina (a variation on luster-ware), and Chinese influence is perceptible in all arts.
The Golden Horde and the Timurids Edit
The early arts of the nomads of the Golden Horde are poorly understood. Research is only beginning, and evidence for town planning and architecture has been discovered. There was also a significant production of works in gold, which often show a strong Chinese influence. Much of this work is preserved today in the Hermitage.
The beginning of the third great period of medieval Iranian art, that of the Timurids , was marked by the invasion of a third group of nomads, under the direction of Timur. During the 15th century this dynasty gave rise to a golden age in Persian manuscript painting, including renowned painters such as Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād, but also a multitude of workshops and patrons. Iranian architecture and city planning also reached an apogee, in particular with the monuments of Samarkand, and are marked by extensive use of exterior ceramic tiles and muqarnas vaulting within.
Syria, Iraq, and Anatolia Edit
The Seljuq Turks pushed beyond Iran into Anatolia, winning a victory over the Byzantine in the Battle of Manzikert (1071), and setting up a sultanate independent of the Iranian branch of the dynasty. Their power seems largely to have waned following the Mongol invasions in 1243, but coins were struck under their name until 1304. Architecture and objects synthesized various styles, both Iranian and Syrian, sometimes rendering precise attributions difficult. The art of woodworking was cultivated, and at least one illustrated manuscript dates to this period.
Caravanserais dotted the major trade routes across the region, placed at intervals of a day's travel. The construction of these caravanserai inns improved in scale, fortification, and replicability. Also, they began to contain central mosques.
The Turkmen, nomads who settled in the area of Lake Van, were responsible for a number of mosques, such as the Blue Mosque in Tabriz, and they had a decisive influence after the fall of the Anatolian Seljuqs. Starting in the 13th century, Anatolia was dominated by small Turkmen dynasties, which progressively chipped away at Byzantine territory. Little by little a major dynasty emerged, that of the Ottomans, who, after 1450, are referred to as the “first Ottomans.” Patronage was exercised primarilyso be seen as the forerunners of Ottoman art, in particular the “Milet” ceramics and the first blue-and-white Anatolian works.
Islamic book painting witnessed its first golden age in the thirteenth century, mostly from Syria and Iraq. Influence from Byzantine visual vocabulary (blue and gold coloring, angelic and victorious motifs, symbology of drapery) combined with Mongoloid facial types in 12th-century book frontispieces.
Earlier coinage necessarily featured Arabic epigraphs, but as Ayyubid society became more cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, coinage began to feature astrological, figural (featuring a variety of Greek, Seleucid, Byzantine, Sasanian, and comtemporary Turkish rulers' busts), and animal images.
Hillenbrand suggests that the medieval Islamic texts called Maqamat, copied and illustrated by Yahya b. Mahmud al-Wasiti were some of the earliest "Coffee table books." They were among the first texts to hold up a mirror to daily life in Islamic art, portraying humorous stories and showing little to no inheritance of pictorial tradition.
India, conquered by the Ghaznavids and Ghurids in the 9th century, did not become autonomous until 1206, when the Muizzi, or slave-kings, seized power, marking the birth of the Delhi Sultanate. Later other competing sultanates were founded in Bengal, Kashmir, Gujarat, Jaunpur, Malwa, and in the north Deccan (the Bahmanids). They separated themselves little by little from Persian traditions, giving birth to an original approach to architecture and urbanism, marked in particular by interaction with Hindu art. Study of the production of objects has hardly begun, but a lively art of manuscript illumination is known. The period of the sultanates ended with the arrival of the Mughals, who progressively seized their territories. The Taj Mahal was ordered to be built by Shah Jahan, a Muslim king.
The Three Empires Edit
The Ottoman Empire, whose origins lie in the 14th century, continued in existence until shortly after World War I. This impressive longevity, combined with an immense territory (stretching from Anatolia to Tunisia), led naturally to a vital and distinctive art, including plentiful architecture, mass production of ceramics (most notably Iznik ware), an important jeweler’s art, Turkish paper marbling Ebru, Turkish carpets as well as tapestries and an exceptional art of manuscript illumination, with multiple influences
The standard plan of Ottoman architecture was inspired in part by the example of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople/Istanbul, Ilkhanid works like Oljeitu Tomb and earlier Seljuks of Rum and Anatolian Beylik monumental buildings and their own original innovations. The most famous of Ottoman architects was (and remains) Sinan, who lived for approximately one hundred years and designed several hundreds of buildings, of which two of the more important are Süleymaniye Camii in Istanbul and Selimiye Camii in Edirne. Apprentaces of Sinan later built the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul and the Taj Mahal in India.
Masterpieces of Ottoman manuscript illumination include the two “books of festivals,” one dating from the end of the 16th century, and the other from the era of Sultan Murad III. These books contain numerous illustrations and exhibit a strong Safavid influence; thus they may have been inspired by books captured in the course of the Ottoman-Safavid wars of the 16th century.
The Ottomans are also known for their development of a bright red pigment, “Iznik red,” in ceramics.
The Mughal reign in India lasted from 1526 until 1828, when the English seized the country and created their protectorate. Architecture was accorded a place of honor within Mughal art, with the development of a distinctive plan and the creation of the Taj Mahal. The arts of jewelry and the carving of hard stones, such as jade, were also cultivated; the series of hard stone daggers in the form of horses’ heads is particularly impressive.
The Mughals also gave rise to a magnificent art of manuscript illumination, in which a strong European influence may be perceived, both through the utilization of perspective and the use of European engravings as models. Nevertheless a strong Persian influence remains, as Persian painters founded the Mughal art of the book under the reign of Humayun. This latter had taken refuge among the Safavids after being temporarily dethroned, and upon his return brought with him certain Persian painters. The influence of Hindu art may also be perceived, particularly in provincial production (the so-called “sub-imperial” paintings).
Also of note is the invention of “bidri,” a technique of metalwork in which silver motifs are set against a black background.
Safavids and Qajars Edit
The Iranian Safavids, a dynasty stretching from 1501 to 1786, is distinguished from the Mughal and Ottoman Empires in part through the Shi'a faith of its shahs. Ceramic arts are marked by the strong influence of Chinese porcelain, executed in blue and white. Architecture flourished, attaining a high point with the building program of Shah Abbas in Isfahan, which included numerous gardens, palaces (such as Ali), an immense bazaar, and a large imperial mosque.
The art of manuscript illumination also achieved new heights, in particular in the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh, an immense copy of Ferdowsi’s poem containing more than 250 paintings. In the 17th century a new type of painting develops, based around the album (muhaqqa). The albums were the creations of conoisseurs who bound together single sheets containing paintings, drawings, or calligraphy by various artists, sometimes excised from earlier books, and other times created as independent works. The paintings of Reza Abbasi figure largely in this new art of the book.
After the fall of the Safavids, the Qajars, a Turkmen tribe established from centuries on the banks of the Caspian Sea, assumed power. Qajar art displays an increasing European influence, as in the large oil paintings portraying the Qajar shahs. Steelwork also assumed a new importance. Like the Ottomans, the Qajar dynasty survived until the First World War.
Books and journals
- Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Art and Architecture, Thames & Hudson World of Art series; 1999, London. ISBN 978050020305.
See also Edit
- Christian art
- Islamic pottery
- Iranian art
- Festival of Muslim Cultures
- Visual Dhikr
- Museum With No Frontiers: extensive site on Islamic art
- ArchNet: extensive site on Islamic architecture
- Muslim Heritage
- CalligraphyIslamic: Extensive site on Islamic Visual Art
- Art of Islamic: Examples of Great Islamic Artwork Throughout History
- BBC Four documentary on art in Islamic Spain
- Palace and Mosque: Islamic Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum at the National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Artistic Exchange: Europe and the Islamic World Selections from the Permanent Collection at the National Gallery of Art
- Islamic Art Network - Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation
- Islamic Art Review
- What is Islamic Art? an article by Lucien de Guise
- Art and architecture module at NITLE
- Islamic Art in India