Moorish Style (paperback)

The architecture and decorative art of the Islamic world, particularly Moorish Spain, is illustrated in this book. It shows how it acted as an influence for designers and architects in the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and America. The 19th century search for styles of architecture and design often involved the exotic. There were strong links to the Orientalist ideas of artist and writers, and these found their way through the work of architects and designers into interiors and facades for many types of building from synagogues to villas, as the Moorish style. Examples are to be found throughout the world, particularly in Europe and the Americas. The style is rooted in conventions of Islamic art as seen in decorative art and in mosques and palaces from Cordoba to Delhi. 19th century Europe became interested in this style through the rediscovery of Moorish Spain and through developing contacts with Ottoman Turkey and British India. The book explains the development and characteristic elements of Islamic art and architecture through the building of mosques, the medium of calligraphy and pattern and through the handling of materials as diverse as ceramic, wood and stone. In the 20th century, the style has continued to be used, not only in numerous cinemas, many of which have also taken their name from the Alhambra, but also in domestic buildings in the American South-West and Florida, and a country club in Kansas City.