Author Description

Turkish Traditional Art Today presents the living arts and artists of Turkey. It is simultaneously an ethnographic inquiry into the nature of art, an introduction to modern Turkey, and a model study of folk art, combining the theories of folklore, anthropology, cultural geography, and art history. Describing his research in the cities, towns, and mountain villages, Glassie ranges widely across media. He tells of architecture, calligraphy, woodworking, and earthenware, but lays particular emphasis on the brilliant, underglaze-painted ceramics of Kutahya and the rich, piled carpets for which Turkey has been famed for centuries. While searching for the traits that define art and the stylistic complexities that characterize Turkish creativity, Glassie focuses on the artists and their theories and practices as well as the works they produce. The result is an account of the current state of Islamic art and a comprehensive analysis of a deep and lively artistic tradition.