Oleg Grabar: the scholarly legacy

Abstract

After surveying the various necrologies and events celebrating the life and achievements of Oleg Grabar, the article reflects in a general sense on why his death has unleashed such a flood of memories, using Grabar’s own assessment of his work as a tool. The paper then underlines his extraordinary range and attempts to identify his special skills: his intellectual curiosity that drove him to pose questions rather than dictate answers; his openness to new theoretical and technological ideas and techniques; and his habit of thinking outside the box, a skill he made very much his own and that he did not learn from his teachers. His lack of professional jealousy and of the deformities that attend over-specialization were alike noteworthy. The paper then discusses his books in detail, especially The Formation of Islamic Art and The Mediation of Ornament, his acknowledged masterpieces which had wide circulation within the field and outside it. Finally, the paper anthologizes the comments of his students and colleagues on this remarkable and lovable man.

Keywords

• Oleg Grabar
• Formation
• Ornament
• teaching
• student
• language
• Islamic art