Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom met more than 30 years ago while writing their dissertations. Since then, the wife-and-husband team has taught and lectured widely in the U.S. and abroad, traveled extensively through the Middle East, North Africa and Central and South Asia, authored or edited hundreds of scholarly articles and more than a dozen books—including seven jointly—and accumulated a large collection of photographs of Islamic art and architecture. They currently share the Norma Jean Calderwood University Professorship of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College and the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair of Islamic Art at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Professors Blair and Bloom study all aspects of Islamic art from the seventh century to modern times. Blair’s primary interests are the arts of Iran and Central Asia, the Mongols, and the history of the Islamic book. Her latest book, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh University Press, 2006), has garnered several international awards. Bloom concentrates more on the arts of the medieval Mediterranean region as well as the history of paper. His most recent book, Arts of the City Victorious (Yale University Press, 2007), is a study of the art and architecture of the Fatimid period in North Africa and Egypt. Their latest book is Rivers of Paradise: Water in Islamic Art and Culture (Yale University Press, 2009), the proceedings of a conference they convened in Doha, Qatar.

Courses taught at Boston College

Below is a list of some of the courses Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom teach or have taught at Boston College.

Masterpieces of Islamic Art (FA280)

Cairo: City of 1001 Nights (FA412/HS609)

Islamic Art and Civilization (FA174)

Great Cities of the Islamic Lands (FA203)

The Art of the Silk Road (FA214)

The Art of the Object/Islamic Art (FA350)

The Art of the Islamic Book (FA 409)

Orientalism  (FA410)

Related Links

Read more about Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom and view their online catalogues of photographs.

Sheila Blair’s curriculum vitae

Jonathan Bloom’s curriculum vitae

Islamic art and architecture photo collection on ArtStor

Islamic art and architecture photo collection on ArchNet

The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture

Through Islamic eyes: Five manifestations of the Muslim vision (Boston College Magazine)

Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen