Wonders of Creation Exhibit at The San Diego Museum of Art
Ladan Akbarnia, Ph.D., Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art
After five years of preparation, Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation opens on September 7, 2024, at The San Diego Museum of Art. This show explores intersections of art and science in Islamic intellectual and visual culture from the eighth century to the present day, using the lens of “wonder” as defined by a celebrated thirteenth-century cosmography describing the universe. Written in Arabic and Persian by the scholar Zakariyya ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini (d. 1283), The Wonders of Creation and Rarities of Existence catalogs the marvels of the cosmos in a single, richly-illustrated book. The text contains anecdotes about the wondrous qualities of the natural world and its inhabitants as testament to divine creation. Beginning with the stars and heavens, it then travels across the earth to conclude with humanity and its crafts and traditions.
Pouran Jinchi, Untitled 13 (Rubaiyat series), 1996. Ink and acrylic on canvas. The San Diego Museum of Art, Museum purchase with funds provided by Sarah E. Aghassi, Nasrin Owsia & Behrooz Akbarnia, Gita Khadiri & Fred Khoroushi, Farnaz & Kourosh Mehrayin, Eugene “Mitch” Mitchell, and Mahsa Vahidi & Arman Paymai in honor of Ms. Shahri Estakhry, 2022.31.
Over 200 works—including illustrated manuscripts and paintings, maps, scientific instruments, magic bowls, luster dishes, architectural elements, and contemporary art—will evoke sentiments of wonder through a visual journey inspired by Qazwini’s text. The exhibition begins with an introduction to the original text and its impact. Three major sections on the celestial and terrestrial spheres and humankind examine topics such as astronomy, astrology, natural history, mineralogy, alchemy, medicine, geometry, and architecture through objects from Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East to Central, South, and Southeast Asia and the modern diaspora.
The month of August 2024 was devoted to installing this major exhibition, which includes works from 33 lenders, including over 60 objects from The al-Sabah Collection, Dar Al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait; over 30 treasures from the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM); and loans from The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; The British Museum, London; the libraries at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, and St. Andrews in the UK; the Staatlicher Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, Dresden; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, and Hispanic Society of America, New York; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and several other public and private collections.
Visitors will see contemporary works by California-based artists Ala Ebtekar and Hayv Kahraman commissioned specifically for this exhibition. In addition to Ebtekar, the show features many other prominent Iranian artists, such as Kourosh Beigpour, Monir Farmanfarmaian, Pouran Jinchi, Pantea Karimi, Timo Nasseri, and Parviz Tanavoli. The Museum has also commissioned Mamluk joinery samples made by master craftsman Hassan Abou Zeid of the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation to provide a hands-on opportunity for guests, and two contemporary replicas of a 17th-century Persian astrolabe by Dr. Taha Yasin Arslan to further evoke a sense of awe throughout the exhibition.
Wonders of Creation will be on view through January 5, 2025.
Armlet. Iran, 11th century. Gold. Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, 2022.8.6
Astrolabe. Iraq, Baghdad, 315 ah (927–28). Brass; cast and engraved. The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait, LNS 36 M.
Ala Ebtekar, Zenith II (moonlight), 2024. Acrylic over charcoal underdrawing on cyanotype exposed by moonlight on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and The Third Line.
