"Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam" Opens May 2010 in Houston

Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam, opening Sunday, May 16, 2010, is the first exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to be devoted to Sufism, a historic branch of Islam whose followers seek mystical union with God. Light of the Sufis travels to Houston from the Brooklyn Museum, where it was organized by the Hagop Kevorkian Curator of Islamic Art, Ladan Akbarnia and originally exhibited in the summer of 2009. The expanded Houston presentation, coordinated by Francesca Leoni, MFAH assistant curator of the Arts of the Islamic World, will include some fifty works of art which are drawn from public and private collections, and will incorporate additional contemporary pieces.

"The MFAH launched the Arts of the Islamic World initiative in 2007 and has since given significant attention to this area, from exhibitions and collection-building to public programming," said Dr. Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director. "We are pleased to further the museum´s efforts to explore and interpret art created in the Islamic world, and Light of the Sufis will introduce the general public to Sufism and to the beautiful works of art inspired by its ideas."

"Although Sufism reached its peak in the medieval and early modern period, it is still practiced today," commented Francesca Leoni. "Light of the Sufis explores some of its facets and driving principles through the lenses of artistic inspiration and production."..