“islamic art,” much like “islamic world,” is a western construct. in fact, the lumping together of immense diversity under the label “islamic” is as confusing as another such label, namely “western.” in a wonderful essay called “heirs apparent” daniel brook uses the lens of architecture to deconstruct this stereotype:
Though Westernness feels like an immutable inheritance, whether a people sees itself as heir is actually a conscious decision that only later becomes an unconscious patrimony. Many of the Egyptians and Syrians of today are the descendants of Roman citizens, and yet they see themselves as non-Western. Many even consider themselves to be in a struggle against the West. Meanwhile the Germans, descended from the barbarians who sacked Rome, consider themselves heirs to Western civilization. A city such as Berlin, with its neoclassical museum buildings, is no different than St. Petersburg in its ex post facto writing of its people into the Western tradition. Berlin feels less Disneyfied than St. Petersburg only because the ruse has worked. While just 12 percent of Russians tell pollsters that they always “feel European,” no pollster would even think to ask the Germans whether they felt that way. It’s just accepted that Germans are Europeans.
more here.