Jordanian art has a very ancient history. Some of the earliest figurines, found at Aïn Ghazal, near Amman, have been dated to the Neolithic period. A distinct Jordanian aesthetic in art and architecture emerged as part of a broader Islamic art tradition which flourished from the 7th century. Traditional art and craft is vested in material culture including mosaics, ceramics, weaving, silver work, music, glass-blowing and calligraphy. The rise of colonialism in North Africa and the Middle East, led to a dilution of traditional aesthetics. In the early 20th-century, following the creation of the independent nation of Jordan, a contemporary Jordanian art movement emerged and began to search for a distinctly Jordanian art aesthetic that combined both tradition and contemporary art forms.
Traditional art The first step Trans-Jordan took on the way of becoming an independent nation was in 1924. Prior to that, the area that is now Jordan had been subject to a number of different rules. It was part of the Nabatean Kingdom, under Hellenistic rule following Alexander the Great's conquest of the area; under Roman rule in the 1st century BCE,Bienkowski, P., The Art of Jordan, Stroud, Allan Sutton, 1991, pp. 16-17 and was once part of various caliphates starting in the 7th century, fell in part to the Crusaders in the 12th, then the Ayyubids and Mamluks ruled it, until it fell to the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century until the end of World War I,Bloom, J.M. and Blair, S. S., The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, pp 362-363; Taylor, J. Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, I.B. Tauris, 2001, p. 11 and p. 47 when it became a British protectorate until the time of independence.Zuhur, S. (ed.), Colors of Enchantment: Theater, Dance, Music, and the Visual Arts of the Middle East, American University in Cairo Press, 2001, p. 369 Its art is part a broader Islamic artistic tradition, with evidence of classical influences.Mideast File, Vol. 4, Learned Information, 1985, p. 265
Traditional art was often based on material culture including hand-crafts such as rug-making, basket weaving, silver smithing, mosaics, ceramics, and glass-blowing. The Bedouins were largely self-sufficient in the production of goods, and made their own rugs, wove baskets and prepared ceramics. Such works exhibited wide variation in styles, as tribes often used their own tribal motifs.Bienkowski, P. and van der Steen, E., "Tribes, Trade, and Towns: A New Framework for the Late Iron Age in Southern Jordan and the Negev," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 323 (Aug., 2001), pp. 21-47
The Jordanian art historian, Wijdan Ali has argued that the traditional Islamic aesthetic evident in craft-based work was displaced by the arrival of colonialism in North Africa and the Middle East.Ali, W., Contemporary Art from the Islamic World, London, Scorpion Publishing, 1989 However, in the decolonised period of the 20th century, a contemporary art form combining tradition and modern influences can be observed.Flood, F.B. and Necipoglu, G. (eds) A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, Wiley, 2017, p. 1294; Lindgren, A. and Ross, S., The Modernist World, Routledge, 2015, p. 495; Mavrakis, N., "The Hurufiyah Art Movement in Middle Eastern Art," McGill Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Blog, Online: https://mjmes.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/article-5/; Tuohy, A. and Masters, C., A-Z Great Modern Artists, Hachette UK, 2015, p. 56; Ramadan, K.D., Peripheral Insider: Perspectives on Contemporary Internationalism in Visual Culture, Museum Tusculanum Press, 2007, p. 49; Asfour. M., "A Window on Contemporary Arab Art," NABAD Art Gallery, Online: http://www.nabadartgallery.com/
Pre-Islamic art
As early as the Neolithic period in Jordan, figurines and sculptures were being made. In some of the earliest examples, human skulls were built up with plaster, and inlays were used for the eye sockets.Adams, L.S., The Methodologies of Art: An Introduction, Routledge, 2018, [E-book edition], n.p. Two caches of figurines discovered at Aïn Ghazal, near Amman, include animal models and some three dozen monumental figurines (pictured below), which scholars believe were important to the ritual and social structure of the peoples living there,Mithen, S., After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000 - 5000 BC, UK, Hachette UK, 2011, [E-book edition], n.p. and may have formed part of a burial ritual.Kleiner, F.S., Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Concise Western History, Cengage Learning, 2016, p. 21 The 'Ain Ghazal statues are very large, with some around three feet in height. Aïn Ghazal was occupied between 7,000 BCE and 5,000 BCE and the statues have been dated to around 6,500 BCE.Kleiner, F.S., Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Concise Western History, Cengage Learning, 2016, pp. 20-21 Showing extensive use of plaster,Bourke, S., The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization Revealed, Thames & Hudson, 2008, p. 43 the Aïn Ghazal statues represent a clear departure from the tiny, faceless figures of the Paleolithic period and mark the dawn of a distinct Neolithic art.Kleiner, F.S., Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Concise Western History, Cengage Learning, 2016, pp. 20-21
The Nabateans incorporated numerous sculpted panels, figurines and decorative friezes into their buildings at Petra and made pottery. Examples include the architectural detail used on the temple of Qsr al-Bint at PetraBasile, J.J., "Recently Discovered Relief Sculptures from the Great Temple at Amman," Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, vol. 46, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Amman, 2002 and the prevalent stele representing the gods, as carved reliefs and either cut directly into the rock-face or carved as stand-alone units and placed inside carved niches.Patrich, J., The Formation of Nabataean Art: Prohibition of a Graven Image Among the Nabateans, Brill Archive, 1990, pp. 59-76
The Romans conquered Palestine and Syria in 64-63 BCE, and annexed Nabatea in 106 CE by which time the whole of Jordan fell under Roman rule. The Roman occupation corresponded with a flowering of the visual arts - painting, architecture. By the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (527-565), churches dotted Jordan's landscape and these featured intricate mosaic floors, frescoes and porticos."The Art of Ancient Jordan," in Minerva, Aurora Publications, 1991, pp. 20-24
Islamic art
The Umayyad period marks the starting point of Islamic art and architecture.Genequand, D., "Umayyad Castles: The Shift From Late Antique Military Architecture to Early Islamic Palatial Building," in: Kennedy, H (ed.), Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria: from the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman Period, [History of Warfare Series], vol. 35, no. 2, Boston Brill, Leiden, 2006, pp. 3-25; Yalman, S., "The Art of the Umayyad Period (661–750)," The Met Museum, Online: The wealth and patronage of the Umayyad period stimulated the construction of religious, administrative and royal residences as well as prompting a distinctive style of bayt (domestic home). Jordan has some of the finest examples of early Islamic architecture including: caravanserais, desert castles (in Arabic known as qusayr), bath-houses, hunting lodges and palaces located in the fringe of the eastern desert.Genequand, D., "Umayyad Castles; The Shift From Late Antique Military Architecture to Early Islamic Palatial Building," in: Kennedy, H (ed.), Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria: from the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman Period, [History of Warfare Series], vol. 35, no. 2, Boston Brill, Leiden, 2006, pp. 3-25
Examples of great mosques constructed during the rule of the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I (705-714) include: the Great Mosque of Damascus (706 CE), the Al-Aqsa Mosque of Jerusalem (715 CE), and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina (709-715). Since the mid-19th century, a number of the Umayyad sites have been excavated, revealing stunning frescoes, wall and ceiling paintings and statuary.Fowden, G., Qusayr 'Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria, University of California Press, 2004, p. 49 One of these paintings, the Painting of the Six Kings has been the subject of considerable scholarship with respect to its interpretation.Grabar, O., "The Painting of the Six Kings at Quṣayr 'Amrah," Ars Orientalis, Vol. 1, 1954, pp. 185-187
Notable frescoes and relief carvings can be found the desert castles of Quasyr Al Hallabat; Quasyr al-Kharanah, Quasyr el-Azraq, Qasr Mshatta and the Quasyr 'Amra which features frescoes of hunting scenes, musicians, acrobats, entertainers, nude women, wrestlers and scenes of the Royal court.Fowden, G., Qusayr 'Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria, University of California Press, 2004, especially see pp 55-68 for descriptions of the frescoes at Qusayr 'Amra Lesser desert castles include Quasyr al-Tuba; Quasyr al-Hayr al-Gharbi; Quasyr Burqu', Qasr el `Uweinid and Qasr el Feifeh.Kennedy, D. and Riley, D., Rome's Desert Frontiers, Routledge, 2012, pp. 8-9
Poetry and calligraphy were elevated to high art. Under the Umayyad, writing assumed a special place, often based on scripture and the life of the prophet, Mahommed, but often seen as the carrier of independent meaning and a subject worthy of ornamentation.Ettinghausen, R., Grabar, O. and Jenkins, K. (eds.), Islamic Art and Architecture, 650-1250 Yale University Press, 2001, p. 79 Master calligraphers were venerated. The art of calligraphy was passed from master to student in a formal, rigorous system of training that took place over many years, required for students to learn the strict rules and protocols that governed the art form. Both religious and secular writing flourished under the Umayyad dynasty.
Poets, (known as sha'ir meaning wizard) were thought to be inspired by a spirit (jinn), and were expected to defend the honour of their tribe, and to perpetuate its deeds and accomplishments.Islamic Art, Literature, and Culture, Britannica Educational Publishing, 2009, pp. 58-60 The Mu'allaqat, a collection of seven poems by different poets, although pre-Islamic in origin, is thought to be the precursor to Arabic poetry.
Early modern art The origins of modern art in Jordan have their roots in the 1920s and 1930s when a small number of artists settled in Amman. Omar Onsi (1901-1969) was a Lebanese artist who settled in Amman in around 1922,Bloom, J.M. and Blair, S. S., The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, pp. 362-363; Zuhur, S. (ed.), Colors of Enchantment: Theater, Dance, Music, and the Visual Arts of the Middle East,American University in Cairo Press, 2001, p. 375 and gave painting lessons to the children of Abdullah I. In 1930, the Turkish artist, Ziauddin Suleiman (1880-1945) also settled in Amman and held the first solo exhibition at the Philadelphia Hotel.Bloom, J.M. and Blair, S. S., The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, pp. 362-363 In 1948, George Aleef arrived in Jordan with a group of Palestinian refugees and set up an art studio where he taught local students.Zuhur, S., Colors of Enchantment: Theater, Dance, Music, and the Visual Arts of the Middle East, American University in Cairo Press, 2001, p. 375 These three artists introduced local students to easel painting and contributed to a broader appreciation of art.Bloom, J.M. and Blair, S. S., The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, p. 362