The Architecture of Ottoman Istanbul

Richard Yeomans

£50.00

The Architecture of Ottoman Istanbul allows the reader to appreciate the complexities and subtleties of Ottoman art and architecture as a whole, while simultaneously learning more about the history of one of the world’s most magnificent cities – Istanbul. Bridging the gap between the specialist scholar and the educated general reader, the history of the city is discussed, from the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 up to the beginning of the twentieth century when the Ottoman Empire was finally dismantled following the First World War. This historical background appears alongside descriptions and illustrations of Ottoman architecture, regalia, textiles, books, ceramics, calligraphy and painting. Throughout, Yeomans presents the exhilarating alternative of Ottoman art, with its meaning expressed through non-figurative form rather than through the symbol systems and narrative of Western art.

Richard Yeomans is an independent scholar who was formerly a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Education, University of Warwick, where he was the Co-ordinator for Art and Design. The author of The Story of Islamic Architecture, he is also a painter who has regularly exhibited his work in solo and mixed exhibitions in London, the Midlands and abroad. The Islamic architecture of Egypt has been the subject of his painting for over twenty years and this book springs from that intimate visual knowledge and experience.