海角大神

For centuries, the past glories of Afghanistan鈥檚 Islamic art 鈥� delicate works meticulously painted in bold hues on small manuscript pages 鈥� had been scattered. Sliced from their bindings and sold, they landed in collections around the world.

Amid the nation鈥檚 gruesome modern history of war, the meaning and significance of the art 鈥撀燾reated for royalty in medieval Afghan palaces as reflections of mystic poetry and meditations on love, power, and the divine 鈥� were lost and largely forgotten.

But today that art is finding new illumination, reminding Afghans of a more distinguished past as they view high-quality, large reproductions of the originals on display in Kabul and Herat, in their day both centers of Islamic artistry.

鈥淚t is no exaggeration to say that in Herat people have literally wept at recovering this glory, this jolt of dignity recovered, this notion that, 鈥榃e, too, have given to the world,鈥欌�� says Michael Barry, a historian of the Islamic world at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF).

鈥淭he effort has been to restore the fundamental dignity, the cultural dignity of the Afghan people, by making available to them for the first time, in practically half a thousand years, the works of art created by their ancestors,鈥� says Dr. Barry, who taught for years at Princeton and has been instrumental in locating more than 1,000 artworks and interpreting them anew.

鈥淭he challenge is to pierce this pall of miserable-ism. ... Everything in Afghanistan is associated with war, crime, corruption, violations of human rights, poverty, what have you,鈥� he says. 鈥淭o bring to light the petals of the rose, and not just the thorns, is part of a balanced appreciation for a human community.鈥�

The public reaction has been powerful, says Omar Sharifi, a social anthropologist and country director of Boston University鈥檚 American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS). The visitor鈥檚 book at the permanent exhibit in Herat Citadel, where many of the paintings were first created in northwest Afghanistan, exudes surprise and fascination, he says.

鈥淥h, we do exist鈥�

鈥淎 lot of [Afghans] put it in the context of post-2001, [as] a process of rebirth, after years of war and a lot of things lost,鈥� says Dr. Sharifi, who is also a Kabul-trained physician. 鈥淔or a lot of them, it is a sense of return to normalcy, despite the war, something that is bringing a level of peace that is very elusive in this country.鈥�

For many it was also an affirmation, says Dr. Sharifi, quoting one visitor鈥檚 book entry:聽鈥淥h, we do exist, we鈥檙e not just always a blank space in the life of the region, in the cultural history of the region.鈥�

Dr. Barry spent years locating the dispersed pages of the ancient manuscripts, recovering them from nearly 30 collections and institutions from Los Angeles to Kuwait City to Bombay.

Working closely with the AIAS, which secured funding from the U.S. and French Embassies in Kabul, Dr. Barry was able to have the intricate paintings 鈥� each one just 6 by 8 inches in size 鈥撀爀xpertly photographed and reproduced with no loss of resolution into images 4 feet tall.

More than 100 of the paintings are today on permanent display in Herat, and another set lines the halls of the AUAF campus in Kabul. Yet another may soon be shown in the recently renovated Darulaman Palace in Kabul.

鈥淚t is completely forgotten today that the Kingdom of Herat in the 15th century was the most important center of Islamic art, literature, and science in the entire Islamic community,鈥� says Dr. Barry.

Islamic sultanates from Spain to Turkey, Egypt, and India all looked toward the art of Herat 鈥渁s their fountainhead and as their Florence. ... It was the school, that鈥檚 where the masters came from,鈥� he says.

For Afghans, a revelation

The result has been a revelation that has captivated ordinary Afghans.

鈥淚 was surprised when I received an e-mail saying we have lectures on Islamic art, and I said, 鈥業s there any Islamic art that exists on this earth? Is that possible?鈥欌�� recalls Shafiqa Khpalwak, a fourth-year political science student at AUAF.

鈥淚 never had any idea of that,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e live in an Islamic country. ... We have been taught Islamic knowledge since grade one, but they never talked to us about these things.鈥�

Dr. Sharifi, the anthropologist who is currently teaching at AUAF, recalls how emotions welled up during one tour he gave of the art on campus to a member of President Ashraf Ghani鈥檚 office.

鈥淲hy? Because the way the message of the painting was deeply woven, both in an Islamic way [that] life is seen, and the larger context of what love and faith mean,鈥� recalls Dr. Sharifi.聽鈥淪o when I explained that, I saw the tears coming to this man, and he said: 鈥業 feel like I am awakened after a long sleep.鈥欌��

Dr. Barry鈥檚 love of Afghanistan dates back to his first childhood visits in the early 1960s. After the Soviet invasion of the country in 1979, he helped bring medicine to mujahideen fighters by pack train, dodging helicopter attacks and living perilously with Afghans of all backgrounds.

His scholarship has been key to interpreting the art he has gathered back together on Afghan soil for the first time since it disappeared from here in the 16th century.

鈥淭hese books were cut to pieces; the paintings were extracted from them. Their connection to any body of literature [was] practically abolished,鈥� says Dr. Barry. 鈥淭he curators of this art ... purposely ignored the literary context that these paintings are actually meditations upon.

鈥淭his language had become as mute as Egyptian hieroglyphs at the beginning of the 19th century,鈥� he says. His work has aimed to recover that symbolic language, in which 鈥渆very human gesture ... every horse, every fox, every bird, corresponds to a specific allegory鈥� in Islamic mysticism.

Afghanistan鈥檚 gifts

As he walks among the images at AUAF, Dr. Barry describes them with enthusiasm, connecting dots between the words of poetry 鈥� rendered in exquisite calligraphy, and read with theatrical gravitas 鈥� and the symbolism that played with time-honored narratives that celebrate love, the power of the 鈥渦nseen world,鈥� and gardens of Paradise.

One measure of the Kingdom of Herat鈥檚 wealth was a description by the first Portuguese agent to reach Hormuz, on the Persian Gulf, who in 1504 said that 鈥渆very day鈥� 4,000 camels arrived from Herat, laden with silk.

Centuries later, the French painter Henri Matisse was heavily influenced by exhibitions he saw of the Afghan art, and their use of rich pigments, displayed with other Islamic arts in Paris in 1903, and Munich in 1910.

With the regathering of that artwork now in Afghanistan itself, for the first time, it is the turn of the Afghans to be impressed with their own legacy, beyond their current headlines about war.

鈥淭o recognize the high civilization of the people you help is to tell people: 鈥楻ight now you are going through hard times. ... But to recognize what you have created, the beautiful things you have contributed to the civilization of all humanity, is to appreciate your gifts to us, and not just our gifts to you,鈥欌�� says Dr. Barry.