How long does it take to read The Mediation of Ornament?
the A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1989
Oleg Grabar
The Mediation of Ornament by Oleg Grabar takes about 5 hours 12 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 12 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1992. 284 pages, about 78,100 words.
11 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 8 hours 41 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 12 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 15 minutes |
The page count is the median across 3 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
"In this richly illustratcd book Oleg Grabar not only shares a veteran art historian's love for the sheer sensuality of Islamic ornamentation, but also uses this art to show how ornament in general enables a direct, immediate encounter between viewers and art objects from any culture and time period. Based on universal motifs, ornamentation occurs in many artistic traditions, although it seems to reach its most expressive, tangible, and unique form in the art of the Islamic world. Grabar analyzes early and medieval Islamic objects, ranging from recently discovered frontispieces in Yemen to tilework in the Alhambra, and compares them to Western examples, treating all pieces as testimony of the work, life, thought, and emotion experienced in one society. From this discussion ornament emerges as a consistent intermediary between viewers and artistic works throughout time." "Grabar defines ornaments as agents that are not logically necessary to the perception of a visual message but without which the process of understanding would be more difficult - they in fact often draw us into a work by strengthening the pleasure derived from looking at it. A major portion of this book explores four particularly influential forces on the development of ornament: writing (calligraphy), geometry, architecture, and nature. Throughout Grabar seeks to serve admirers of Islamic art as well as readers interested in the ways of perceiving and understanding the arts in general."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: Borders, Ornamental (Decorative arts), Art, Psychology, Communication in art, Themes, motives, Islamic Art
