Christiane Gruber is an art historian specializing in Islamic visual culture, with particular expertise in manuscript painting, iconography, and the contemporary afterlives of Islamic art. Her scholarship spans a wide range of topics, from depictions of the Prophet Muhammad in Persian and Turkish illustrated texts to the visual strategies of protest and political expression in the modern Middle East. Gruber’s work explores how images function within religious, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts, often challenging Western assumptions about Islamic aniconism. 

Gruber is professor of Islamic art and former chair of the History of Art Department at the University of Michigan. She is the author of several books, including The Praiseworthy One: The Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Texts and Images and The Ilkhanid Book of Ascension, and editor of volumes on visual culture and political dissent. A widely published and publicly engaged scholar, she contributes essays to both academic and general audiences, examining how Islamic art continues to shape global visual discourse.