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On -Islamic Geometric Patterns by Jay Bonner

Article · April 2018

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On - Islamic Geometric Patterns by Jay Bonner –

By Jean Constant for the AMS/MathematicalReviews, 04/2018

Introduction

Springer recently published an extensive volume by Jay Bonner on Islamic Geometric

patterns that stand probably as one of most comprehensive work on tessellation
printed in recent years

The book, introduced by famed mathematician Roger Penrose who investigated

non-periodic tiling in the 1970s, is the culmination of Bonner's professional activities in
this field as a designer, a researcher, and a scholar.
This richly illustrated book, 105 photographs, and over 540 illustrations, reviews
the principles and techniques associated with this art form in the Islamic world from a
historical and technical perspective and ends as an open challenge to its future
relevance judiciously incorporating a chapter contributed by Canadian computer
scientist Craig S. Kaplan, and expanding the notion of tessellation into today's virtual
environment.

More than a technical review on a complex and elaborate art form, this book has
the unexpected but dynamic quality of a knowledge-based forum where a well-
informed scholar defends a particular thesis on the medium. In the opening pages, Mr.
Bonner informs us that he will use a geometer, polygon-based approach to analyze
and explain the tiling process. According to this perspective, he builds a convincing
case reviewing not just the mechanics of the art form but puts it in the historical
context in which many artworks were created. This leads him to ultimately propose a
comprehensive classification of the many aspects of the tiling process and detail it in a
larger knowledge-based organization system, something that surprisingly has not yet
been fully developed but could become a meaningful gateway to the subsequent
iteration of this design in today’s computer-based environment. To further demonstrate
the implication and beneficial aspect of his choice, he generously yields the closing
argument of his presentation to computer scientist Dr. C. Kaplan, who developed a few
years ago a JavaScript to implement an Islamic tiling technique.

Mr. Bonner’s enthusiasm at defending his thesis has the merit to recast what
would be an otherwise austere and technical, 600-page review of an archaic process
into a lively and engaging conversation for all interested in art, history, geometry, and
even further, computer-based database management and digital visualization.

History

In its opening chapter, Mr. Bonner guides us through the historical development of this
exceptional art form in the Islamic world. He reviews the origin and evolution of the
traditional tiling method, explaining how it adjusted and survived through so many
diverse cultures from the Taj Mahal to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea while still
retaining a unique signature, both with regard to form and meaning.

While today most of us examine tessellation as a technique, it is truly fascinating

to witness through well-documented examples how artists handled the challenge of
carrying this art form's distinct identity in media so diverse as clay, wood, marble,
metal, as well as on calligraphy, books, and textile, depending on the resources of the
individual local cultures. As Bonner wrote "It may seem remarkable that such an
apparently limited palette of geometric designs has provided the basis for such rich
artistic and varied artistic tradition [1].

Tessellation didn't originate in the Islamic culture. Examples of it were found in

the Sumerian civilization some 6,000 years ago, and as Kepler famously noted in the
early 1600s [2, 3], it can even be found in Nature, in the hexagonal structure of
honeycombs and snowflakes. However, Mr. Bonner' choice of focusing on Islamic
pattern, probably the most singular and distinctive expression of this art form, allows
the reader to grasp the significance of the medium within one culture, and his unique
perspective as a geometer colors the tumultuous historical context in which it took
place of an unexpected lively touch a reader would not expect from a more traditional
history book.

It also provides an elegant transition to the main stage of his argumentation; a

technical review of the most significant examples of the art form.

Geometry

Here again, compared to a stern, dispassionate manual on Euclidian and non-Euclidian

geometry, Bonner's spirited advocacy creates an engaging reading that invites us not
to just assess in intellectual terms the validity of his argument but encourages the
reader to evaluate, analyze, and comprehend more effectively complex mathematical
patterns through the prism of this specific method.

The polygonal technique that Bonner endorses, was first identified by English
bacteriologist E. Hanbury Hankin in the early 1900s [4]. This method is anchored on a
central generative tessellation from which lines can be drawn and expanded to infinite
numbers of variation, whereas the alternate method to compose or analyze tile design,
called the compass method, is a technique using a grid and a compass to lay out
curvilinear design elements.
Undeniably, and in practical terms, a polygon-based approach to the
understanding of the tiling technique allows for an in-depth comprehension of the
structure no compass or point-based argumentation could ever reach. Furthermore,
appraising patterns as classes of periodic and non-periodic tiles brings this medium
back to mathematics reasoning which was at the origin of the art form and actualizes it
for the world of generalization in a higher dimension. A characteristic of this form all the
more remarkable for having been developed so long ago and that ensures its relevance
in our present and future environment.
Further, regardless of the merit of the compass method, copying without truly
understanding the dynamics of the concept certainly contributed to the decay and
slow disaffection for this art form over the last two centuries. Instead, Bonner’s thesis
based on geometry propels the medium in today's environment at the confines of
mathematics and applied science as searchers expand their investigation of Euclidian
and non-Euclidian space, as well as in graph and probability theories [5].
Additionally, applying a geometer's rational to the issue serves the author well
as an engaging way to introduce his following proposition having to do with a
comprehensive inventory of this technique multiple aspects.

Classification

Apparently, if the structure of a tessellation is well defined in mathematics and physics,

no comprehensive classification of the medium has yet been made that meet across
the board the requirements of scientific, technical or artistic disciplines.

Following on the footsteps of mathematicians and crystallographers Fedorov [6]

and Polya [7] on symmetry and wallpaper groups, and reminding us of the
mathematical rigor of a Schläfli and Coxeter notation method to map Euclidian and
hyperbolic space [8], Bonner builds a compelling case for a classification system that
owes much to the rationale used in crystallography in building categories around
systems defined by their point groups.
Repeat, rotate, translate, reflect, glide, self-similarity radial symmetry, quasi-
symmetry is a vocabulary one would expect to find in geophysical sciences, yet does
fit quite appropriately to the tiling process. It helps the comprehending of its dynamics
and opens it to further investigation in three and four-dimensional space, yet operates
conclusively on examples of the past.
One may wonder if artists working thousands of years ago had the intuition of
the deep significance of that distinct geometric form. However, Bonner's proposition is
both a tribute to the timeless universality of mathematics and may partly explain the
stunning resilience of this geometry through such extended time and so many various
cultures. Focusing on a classification system based on the description of the elements
that constitute a geometric unit also ensures that this art form will still be relevant today
and tomorrow in the world of science and art.
Digital tessellation

Bonner's ‘Islamic geometric patterns’ ends appropriately with a chapter by computer

scientist Craig Kaplan and dedicated to a review of the art form in the digital
environment.
Kaplan’s background and professional training in the field of computer science
and programming directed him to investigate tessellation for his doctoral thesis. Based
on the work of E. Hankin, he wrote a script called “Taprats” [9] to implement an Islamic
tiling technique. The Hankin method consists of creating new networks based on a
series of polygons in contact [10]. The script is still operational at this time and is
supported by various audiences in art and education. Had not Bonner been a proponent
of a polygon-based approach to tessellating, it is doubtful the two could have conducted
such fruitful collaboration over the years and share their common perspective with the
readers.
Although scientists today, specifically in medical, biomedical, and geophysics
sciences, have access to much more advanced and sophisticated programs to
investigate tiling geometry in three and fourth dimension, the work Kaplan initiated in
2000 had the merit to both lift the medium to another level of exploration and validates
Bonner's approach to the identification of this ancient tradition. As Kaplan himself said
"The era of great bejeweled palaces may be behind us. Thus, we have to re-engineer
the original design techniques and invent systems to create designs similar to their and
revel in their exploration."

Conclusion

Bonner’s perceptive comprehension of the medium, dedication to its preservation and

convincing, well-documented plaidoyer for a mathematical approach to the tessellation
making process, produces an exceptional reading for scientists, humanists, and artists.
However, if I had to formulate a minor criticism, no fault of the author, I would
direct it to the book layout and the slightly annoying back and forth between the pages
where the author describes a particular model and the illustration itself. In older times,
when publishers were more considerate of the author's material and the reader
comfort, they used a little device called "planche" and printed the illustrations
separately from the text. It increased both the worth of the volume and eased its
reading as a visual reference could be brought adjacent to the content reviewing it. It is
to hope that for the electronic version of this book, Springer considers implementing a
similar stratagem and gather the illustrations in a separate document that readers can
float alongside the page they're reading. It will enhance the distinction of the
documentation, make for superior reading, and be of great service to all.
As Bonner stated at the end of his introduction “The world needs more beauty
and I hope this book will help to inform and inspire those with a sincere desire to
embark upon such explorations”.

References
 1 J. Bonner , Islamic Geometric Patterns, Springer-Verlag New York, 2017.

2 J. Kepler, The Six-Cornered Snowflake, Paul Dry Books, 2010.

3 J. Kepler, Harmonies Of The World, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,

2014.

4 E. Hankin, On Some Discoveries of the Methods of Design Employed in the

Mohammedan Art, Journal of the Society of Arts, 53, 461-477. 1905.

5 Kai Matzutt, Random Cluster tessellation, Bielefeld University, 2007.

6 E.S. Fedorov. Symmetry of Crystals. American Crystallographic Association,

Monograph No. 7, David and Katherine Harker (transl.), 1971.

7 E. Weisstein, Wallpaper Groups, MathWorld, A Wolfram Web Resource.

8 H. Coxeter,, Regular Polytopes (Third ed.). Dover Publications, 1973.

9 G. Kaplan, Taprats, 2002. Available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/taprats/

10 E. H. Hankin, The Drawing of Geometric Patterns in Saracenic Art. Memoirs of the

Archaeological Survey of India, Government of India, Central Publications Branch, p4.
1925.

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