Oleg Grabar ist tot

Prof. Dr. Oleg Grabar ist im Alter von 81 am 8. Januar 2011 in in seinem Haus in Princeton, New Jersey, an einem Herzversagen verstorben.
Jedem, der sich mit islamischer Kunst beschäftigt ist sein Name geläufig. Er war als Historiker und Archäologe spezialisiert auf die islamische Kunst und Architektur und leitete zahlreiche Ausgrabungen in Afrika, dem Nahen und Mittleren Osten und im muslimischen Asien. Seine Wirkung auf diesen speziellen Forschungszweig war enorm, da Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts dieses Fach nur von wenigen so ernsthaft und intensiv betrieben wurde, wie von ihm. Sein Wirken war äußerst interdisziplinär, also breitgefächert, sein Wissen profund, sowie seine Tätigkeit vom großen publizistischem Fleiß bis ins hohe Alter geprägt. So beeinflusste er maßgeblich eine ganze Generation zukünftiger Wissenschaftler der Fachrichtung Islamische Kunst, die heute noch als Kuratoren in Museen der ganzen Welt oder als Kunstexperten bei den großen Auktionshäusern beschäftigt sind.

Die New York Times schreibt (ein Ausschnitt):

Oleg Grabar, a historian of Islamic art and architecture whose imposingly broad range and analytical subtlety helped transform the Western study of Islamic culture, died Saturday at his home in Princeton, N.J. He was 81. (...)

Professor Grabar, the son of the eminent Byzantinist Andre Grabar, specialized in the architecture of the seventh- and eighth-century Umayyad dynasty early in his career. In the 1960s he led the excavations at Qasr al-Hayr East in Syria, the site of an early Islamic palace in an area long thought to be a historical blank.

His interests broadened to embrace the Islamic world beyond the Middle East and a wide variety of subjects, including the architecture of Jerusalem under Islamic rule, Arabic and Persian illustrated manuscripts, Islamic ornament and contemporary Islamic architecture.

Many of his books are regarded as classics, notably “The Formation of Islamic Art” (1973) and “Islamic Art and Architecture, 650 to 1250” (1987), written with Richard Ettinghausen for the Pelican History of Art.

Seinen Werdegang kann man auf seiner Institutsseite nachlesen.

Mir ist er besonders in Erinnerung, da ich öfters über die islamische Architektur auf archnet.org nachgelesen habe, wenn mir die Reiseführer-Informationen zu spärlich waren, um zu ergründen, warum ein Bauwerk kunsthistorisch bedeutender als ein anderes sein soll.

Hier eine Auflistung seiner dort verzeichneten frei zugänglichen Werke - eine wahre Fundgrube an seriösen Informationen:

Grabar, Oleg	About an Arabic Dioskorides Manuscript	2006
Grabar, Oleg	About Two Mughal Miniatures	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Aesthetics of Islamic Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Al-Haram al-Sharif	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Al-Kuds, Monuments	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Al-Masjid al-Aqsa	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Architecture as Art	1986
Grabar, Oleg	Architecture as Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Architecture of the Middle Eastern City: The Case of the Mosque	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Art and Architecture	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Art and Architecture and the Qur'an	2005
Grabar, Oleg	An Art of the Object	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Between Connoisseurship and Technology: A Review	1988
Grabar, Oleg	Between Connoisseurship and Technology: A Review	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Cities and Citizens: The Growth and Culture of Urban Islam	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Classical Forms in Islamic Art and Some Implications	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume I (complete publication)	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume I: Index	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume I: Table of Contents and Preface	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume II (complete publication)	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume II: Index	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume II: Table of Contents and Preface	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume III (complete publication)	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume III: Index	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume III: Table of Contents and Preface	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume IV (complete publication)	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume IV: Bibliography	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume IV: Chapter 2	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume IV: Index	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Constructing the Study of Islamic Art, Volume IV: Table of Contents and Preface	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Crusades and the Development of Islamic Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Date and Meaning of Mshatta	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Die Ethische Dimension des Ornaments	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Different but Compatible Ends	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Earliest Islamic Commemorative Structures, Notes and Documents	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Epigrafika Vostoka, A Critical Review	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Europe and the Orient: An Ideologically Charged Exhibition	2006
Grabar, Oleg	An Exhibition of High Ottoman Art	1989
Grabar, Oleg	An Exhibition of High Ottoman Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Fatimid Art, Precursor or Culmination	2005
Grabar, Oleg	From Dome of Heaven to Pleasure Dome	2006
Grabar, Oleg	From Utopia to Paradigms	1985
Grabar, Oleg	From Utopia to Paradigms	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Geometry and Ideology: The Festival of Islam and the Study of Islamic Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Graffiti or Proclamations: Why Write on Buildings?	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Haram al-Sharif: An Essay in Interpretation	2005
Grabar, Oleg	History of Art and History of Literature: Some Random Thoughts	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Iconography of Islamic Architecture	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Illustrated Maqamat of the Thirteenth Century: the Bourgeoisie and the Arts	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Imperial and Urban Art in Islam: The Subject-Matter of Fatimid Art	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Inscriptions of the Madrasa-Mausoleum of Qaytbay	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Isfahan as a Mirror of Persian Architecture	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Islam and Iconoclasm	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Islamic Architecture and the West: Influences and Parallels	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Islamic Art and Archaeology	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Islamic Art and Architecture and the Antique	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Islamic Art and Byzantium	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Islamic Dome, Some Considerations	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Islamic Ornament and Western Abstraction	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Issues Raised, Issues Omitted	1980
Grabar, Oleg	Jerusalem Elsewhere	2005
Grabar, Oleg	L'Art Omeyyade en Syrie, Source de l'Art Islamique	2005
Grabar, Oleg	La Place de Qusayr 'Amrah dans l'art profane du Haut Moyen Age	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Le Temple, Lieu de Conflit: Le Monde de l'Islam	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Les arts mineurs de l'Orient musulman � partir du milieu du XIIe si�cle	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Making of the Haram al-Sharif: The First Steps	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Many Gates of Ottoman Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Meaning of History in Cairo	1985
Grabar, Oleg	The Meaning of History in Cairo	1989
Grabar, Oleg	The Meaning of History in Cairo	2006
Grabar, Oleg	The Meaning of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Meanings of Sinan's Architecture	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Michael Meinecke and His Last Book	1996
Grabar, Oleg	The Mission and its People	1994
Grabar, Oleg	A Newly Discovered Illustrated Manuscript of the Maqamat of Hariri	2006
Grabar, Oleg	A Note on the Chludoff Psalter	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Notes on the Decorative Composition of a Bowl from Northeastern Iran	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Notes on the Dome of the Rock	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Notes on the Iconography of the 'Demotte' Shahname	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Notes sur le Mihrab de la Grande Mosqu�e de Cordoue	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Notes sur les C�r�monies Umayyades	2005
Grabar, Oleg	On Catalogs, Exhibitions and Complete Works	2006
Grabar, Oleg	On Catalogues, Exhibitions, and Complete Works	1987
Grabar, Oleg	On Knowledge and Education	2010
Grabar, Oleg	On the Universality of the History of Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Patterns and Ways of Cultural Exchange	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Pictures or Commentaries: The Illustrations of the Maqamat of al-Hariri	2006
Grabar, Oleg	A Preliminary Note on Two Eighteenth Century Representations of Mecca and Medina	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Qu'est-ce que l'Art Fatimide?	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Qubbat al-Sakhrah	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Reflections on Mamluk Art	1984
Grabar, Oleg	Reflections on Mamluk Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Reflections on the Study of Islamic Art	1983
Grabar, Oleg	Reflections on the Study of Islamic Art	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Report on Soviet Central Asia	1989
Grabar, Oleg	Sarvistan: a Note on Sasanian Palaces	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Shared Culture of Objects	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Space and Holiness in Medieval Jerusalem	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Symbols and Signs in Islamic Architecture	1980
Grabar, Oleg	Symbols and Signs in Islamic Architecture	1983
Grabar, Oleg	Symbols and Signs of Islamic Architecture	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Toward an Aesthetic of Persian Painting	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Trade with the East and the Influence on the 'Luxury Arts' in the West	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Two Paradoxes in the Islamic Art of the Spanish Peninsula	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Two Pieces of Metalwork at the University of Michigan	2006
Grabar, Oleg	Umayyad 'Palace' and the 'Abbasid 'Revolution'	2005
Grabar, Oleg	The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Umayyad Palaces Reconsidered	1993
Grabar, Oleg	Umayyad Palaces Reconsidered	2005
Grabar, Oleg	Upon Reading al-Azraqi	1985
Grabar, Oleg	Upon Reading al-Azraqi	2005
Grabar, Oleg	What Makes Islamic Art Islamic?	2006
Grabar, Oleg and Holod, Renata	A Tenth-Century Source for Architecture	2005
Grabar, Oleg, and Natif, Mika	Two Safavid Paintings: An Essay in Interpretation	2001
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume I: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1983
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume II: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1984
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume III: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1985
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume IV: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1987
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume IX: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1992
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume V: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1988
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume VI: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1989
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume VII: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1990
Grabar, Oleg, ed	Muqarnas Volume VIII: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture	1991
Grabar, Oleg, Perrot, J., Ravani, B., and Rosen, Myriam	Sondages � Khirbet el-Minyeh	2005

Seine letzte Rede kann man hier nachlesen. Er möge in Frieden ruhen.