Author
Lee Lawrence
Based in Brooklyn, NY, Lee Lawrence writes frequently on Islamic and Asian art for the Wall Street Journal and cultural affairs for The Christian Science Monitor.
Articles by this author
A Researcher Chisels New Perspectives on Ancient Art
History
Arts & Culture
Zainab Bahrani of Columbia University photographs ancient statues and reliefs carved into the rocks of remote Iraq to create a database for conservators and scholars. The effort is “decentering Europe from histories of art and histories of archaeology.”
When Metalsmiths Found Their Groove
Arts & Culture
History
Opulent pieces found from some 700 years ago are now understood to be made of a common metal alloy that, in the 12th century CE, metalsmiths in the Turkic Seljuk dynasty transformed into luxury ware. Today, such pieces are as iconic of Islamic art as lavishly illustrated manuscripts or tilework tessellated with arabesques and geometry.
Pistachios' History of Graft
Food
Science & Nature
Stimulated most recently by nutrition studies and marketing, pistachios are more available worldwide than ever. But today’s efforts are possible only thanks to patient bioengineering some 3,000 years ago.
Bridging Lyres and Lutes
Arts & Culture
History
For more than 4,000 years. people have adopted, adapted and adjusted the lute, resulting in its countless variations. Along the way. some innovations have proved both consequential and simple.
Ingenuity And Innovations 1 - Kohl Eyeliner: More Than Meets the Eye
History
Arts & Culture
Science & Nature
The black eyeliner known widely today as kohl was used much by both men and women in Egypt from around 2000 BCE—and not just for beauty or to invoke the the god Horus. It turns out kohl was also good for the health of the eyes, and the cosmetic’s manufacture relied on the world’s first known example of “wet chemistry”—the use of water to induce chemical reactions.
Why Collectors Matter: A Conversation with Arts of South Asia’s Coeditors
Arts & Culture
In Arts of South Asia: Cultures of Collecting, coeditors Allysa B. Peyton and Katherine Ann Paul draw us into the personal, institutional and political dynamics surrounding objects that have journeyed from South Asia India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan to museums abroad and, in one case, undergone repatriation.
Was Enheduanna the World’s First Author?
History
Four thousand years ago she was a princess and high priestess in the Sumerian city of Ur in modern-day Iraq. She was also a poet whose verses scribes wrote down in cuneiform on clay tablets and then did something new: They attributed the work to her by name—and now Enheduanna is more famous than ever.
Mesopotamia’s Art of the Seal
Arts & Culture
History
Compact in size yet complex in the scenes they depict, stone cylinders—many no larger than your thumb—were a popular medium for Mesopotamian artisans talented enough to reverse-carve semiprecious stones and produce unique, often mythological tableaux in astonishingly sensitive, naturalistic detail. Their craft gave each seal’s owner a personalized graphic signature for use with the most popular media channel of the third millennium BCE: damp clay. Seal impressions certified ownership, validated origins, attested to debts, secured against theft and more. Many seal cylinders were drilled so they could be strung and carried as amulets and status symbols—uses that may find echoes among today’s compact, personalized communication devices.
Astrolabe Tech Made ... Not So Easy
History
Science & Nature
About the size of a tablet computer, astrolabes were tools of astronomers, surveyors and navigators, to name a few. But using them took a lot more than typing, tapping and swiping.
The Art Bridge
Arts & Culture
How does art influence our attitudes toward the cultures artists come from and express? To find out, we looked at a children’s museum, a public mural, an online comedy and a touring hip-hop quartet.