Theme of the edition

EBRU

Ebru represents most specific form of the Islamic decorative art. Ebru is called „painting on water“ what makes this art special in history of painting.

Usually, we paint or draw on „hard“ materials: wall, wood, ceramic, canvas, etc. However, ebru fully rejects this approach. Following one of stories, Ebru appeared when artists attempted to paint clouds on water.

This dreamy approach, so characteristic for Turkish and Iranian people, got its ingenious technical performance, thus ebru, in general, is most sensible expression of decorative art of Islam.

Simply, on the surface of water (mixture of water and certain compounds), put in a bowl, an artist, with the technique of spraying and moisting, puts the colour of mineral origin and with certain number of intervention, on the surface of water copies the already shaped picture on paper. In this way „the magic“ of ebru appears, and this way of painting can’t leave anyone indifferent. Thus, being present in creating of ebru is one of most fascinating sights of the painting’s presentation.

Today, we can’t tell where ebru exactly came to life, but its origin is related for the regions populated with Turkish and Iranian nations. This kind of art appeared in the 11th century, most probably in the Middle Asia.

At first, it began to spread in the region of Turkmenistan and then Iran where it was called ebru (cloud) or abru (the face of water). In the Ottoman’s art it appeared in the 16th century. From then, this way of decorative art becomes permanently present when books and lehvas, would be decorated and it became the trade mark of the Ottoman’s art.

Within the Islamic art we can talk about certain style characteristics developed, depending on the area in which they appeared, so it seems that ebru is filled with the sensibility of Turkish and Iranian nations.

The rest of the article you can read in the magazine.