"Doris Duke's Shangri-La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art" Exhibition
Museum of Arts & Design
This event has ended.
"Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art" showcaes a selection of objects of Islamic art from the spectacular Honolulu home of philanthropist and art collector Doris Duke (1912-1993) and new works by six contemporary artists of Islamic background who were recently in residence there. The works from Duke’s personal collection are being shown outside of Shangri La for the first time in this exhibition, which is being organized on the centenary of her birth and which will travel after it premieres at MAD. Large-scale, newly commissioned photographs by Tim Street-Porter will establish the context of this legendary five-acre property, and a wealth of archival materials will reveal what guest curators Donald Albrecht and Tom Mellins call the “inventive synthesis” of architecture, landscape, and Islamic art that Duke achieved at Shangri La.
Now open to the public under the auspices of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Shangri La today maintains a collection of some 3,500 objects and is also the site of scholar-in-residence and artist-in-residence programs. Situated among five acres of interlocking, terraced gardens and pools overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Honolulu’s Diamond Head, Shangri La powerfully reflects Duke’s aesthetic passions. Seamlessly integrating modern architecture, tropical landscape, and art from places throughout the Islamic world, the home incorporates unique architectural features such as carved marble doorways, decorated screens known as jali, gilt and coffered ceilings and floral ceramic tiles. The interiors weave together artifacts such as silk textiles, jewel-toned chandeliers, and rare ceramics, many collected during her extensive international travels during her 1935 honeymoon around the world. Duke continued for the rest of her life to commission and acquire new pieces from Muslim regions specifically for Shangri La. The installation will reveal the travel and research that led to the creation of Shangri La; the process of its design; the atmosphere of life on the property during the nearly 60 years in which Doris Duke collected, commissioned and lived amid the art; and the ways in which its beauty and fusion of cultures continue to inspire artists today.
Media
Schedule
from September 07, 2012 to January 06, 2013
Artist(s)
Tim Street-Porter, Zakariya Amataya, Afruz Amighi, Walid Raad, Shahzia Sikander, Mohamed Zakariya et al.