IEA

Fellowship from January to June 2011

Research project:

"Comprehensive Account of the Arabic Text on the Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo"

This project is a research, analysis and compilation of all Arabic text found on the Muqarnas ceiling and two aisles of the 12th century Cappella Palatina in Palermo. The work is an in depth analysis to the findings of my Fulbright intensive research on the ceilings in 2007 while the chapel was under restoration. Building upon previous studies and observations by different scholars along with my own analytical examination, supported by detailed digital records, this research provides a thorough account of all Arabic texts, its styles, colors, meaning, and possible symbolic interpretation.

There are four main Kufic-variant styles: 1: Traditional (Andalusian) fills the borders of the twenty stars on the nave ceiling; 2: Angular simple Kufic found primarily on the suspended (Muqarnas) bordering each star and cupola; 3: Braided intertwined (Muta`aniq, Madhfour) Kufic used exclusively on the twenty four niches (Taqah) on the four walls; 4: Stylized foliated floral Kufic (Muwarrad, Muzahhar, Muwarraq) between/over the twenty four niches.

Beside the Kufic text there is the modified Naskh inscription that is found in two locations. The first is on the north side of the ceiling/wall underneath the haloed figure with crosses in hand, and the second is a "concealed" text on two panels on the south aisle that has not been studied or interpreted yet. Other Arabic text is the cursive free style writing of three enigmatic words scattered among the figural representations, and the pseudo Kufic found in many locations especially on the armband of the seated figures on the two aisles. Beside this account the research will produce directories of figurative and non-figurative depictions, geometric and floral designs and other visual vocabularies on the ceilings. The project will also produce appendices on other cultural issues related to Arab-Islamic art in Sicily.

Biographical elements:

Hashim Al-Tawil is currently Professor and chair of Art History program at Henry Ford Community College, Michigan (USA). After completed his education in Iraq and in the USA (Ph.D. in Art history, University of Iowa; MA in Art Education, Hartford University, CT; and BFA from the College of Fine Arts, University of Baghdad, Iraq), he was back in Iraq in the late seventies to mid eighties where he served on the faculty of the college of Fine arts, University of Baghdad, and chaired the Graphic Design Department. He was also active in the Iraqi visual art and cultural scene. His research interests are directed towards history, art, and visual culture of the Arab world and Islam as well as the Arab American art. As a visual artist, much of his work is derived from the subject of his research with multiple iconographical sources from medieval, pre-Islamic, early Christian, and early Arab art and cultures. His recent focus is on the hybridity of the Mediterranean culture in Medieval time.
Hashim Al-Tawil is Associate Director of "The Pluralism Project" and director of Education, University of Michigan-Dearborn, an affiliate of the parent project at Harvard University since 1999. The project researches the religious landscape of new immigrants. He is also the coordinator of the Arts and Heritage Committee of the American Iraqi Academics Project and is Member of the Board of Directors of Asian and Islamic Art Forum at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, since 2006. He received a Fulbright senior research grant for 2007 in Italy.