Shangri La : architecture as collection

Abstract

As a young heiress of the Duke fortunes, Doris Duke's interest and investment in art was not highly unusual given her social background. However, her method of acquiring these objects was more unconventional than other collectors of her time. When the term "Islamic" is tacked onto these art objects it further complicates her collection, with issues of matronage and Orientalism at the forefront. Prominent American collectors, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner, exhibited an interest in Eastern art long before Doris Duke planned her honeymoon trip to the Muslim world in 1935. Still, there is very little hard evidence of the Duke's interacting with such people during Doris' childhood. This begs the question, how did Doris Duke develop an interest in Islamic art and culture? Since she was a very private person and collector, it is hard to speculate what inspired her curiosity for Islamic art. What might be a more informative and interesting avenue to follow is the impressive network of connections that allowed her the means to acquire such a substantial collection. Her self-created residence in Hawai'i, Shangri La, is now a visible culmination of the relationships she forged in her fascination with Islamic art and architecture, which she continually developed from its inception in 1937 until her death in 1993.

(cont.) Although Duke was highly dependent upon her advisors during the construction of Shangri La, she was purposeful in the procurement and placement of the objects she commissioned, which showed an independent will that varied from other wealthy American patrons of Eastern art at this time. An examination of these art-oriented relationships will help to trace the refinement of Duke's palette for Islamic art, whose chief architectural accomplishment was one that she truly thought of as Islamic and uniquely her own.