Art in Light of Traditionalism and Modernism

Abstract

Art is the creative act of being throughout the long centuries of history. One of the major foci of Islamic civilization has been traditional art. To understand the nature of traditional art we must understand the meaning of art in its independent form, which today has been divorced from human life. It is therefore mandatory to comprehend the traditional view of reality within its many confines that has continued to live on through generations. In contrast, modernity is a subject of many different aspects, which is often just upon through superficial means. In this paper, I delve into a deep investigation to uncover what modernity is and to what extent it differs from traditional art. In this era where human knowledge is shouldered by science, technology, progress, and industrialization, there comes a path where it converges with religion and art which unfortunately the human race has failed to identify. As a result, our imperial sense that drives primordial thought has shifted its scale to view society in light of technological developments only and not its linkage with the cosmos. This knowledge included many dimensions of the reality of material objects left out of the world-view of both tradition and modernity, despite being based upon empiricism. ‘Traditionalism’ and ‘Modernism’ are living realities that are interwoven into the tapestry of today’s age; but are both intended to be viewed from independent lenses. This is why the human mind comprehends them differently. We are in dire need of awareness of this reality even if its metaphysical and cosmological is beyond the ken of the ‘ordinary believer’ and reserved for the intellectual elite.