Modernist Arab art on display

Описание: (5 Nov 2021) LEAD IN :
A new art exhibition in Dubai is celebrating art works that have never been seen before by the public.
Some of the artworks are from the private collections, including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai.

STORY-LINE:
A new Exhibition, 'When Images Speak: Highlights from the Dubai Collection', showcases modern and contemporary artworks from the region and highlights some of the most important Arab artists.
Arab art has been overlooked by the art world says Nada Shabout the curator of the exhibition.
"One of the issues of art history is that it is very Euro-centric; you pick up a book of art history you know more about the impressionists and Gaugin for example and Van Gogh than you will know about Arab artists."
"And one of the reasons for that, aside from of course we can talk about the bias of the art history camp itself, is the fact that there was no access to some of these works or their history or their context, so it is really important to have this collection to be able to access Aarab modernism so we can actually complete the story of modern art,"  she adds.
The initiative, dubbed 'the Dubai Collection', borrowed artworks from 10 patrons in Dubai .
Pieces on display come from the private collection of Sheikh Mohammed and some of the best known collectors in the Dubai art scene.
The idea of the initiative was started in collaboration with Sheikh Mohammed, making his private collection the foundation of the exhibition.
"We bring together private collections that have been offered to the initiative on a loan basis and then we create a platform to share them with the public, either through a digital archive or through a temporary exhibitions like the one you are seeing today. So the core idea of the Dubai Collection is really to give access to artworks which in many times have never been seen before because they have been in private collections for a long time or because they have been bought on a secondary market and sort of ended up in storage rooms, so access is really at the core of the initiative," says Carlo Rizzo, Special advisor to the Dubai Collection
Pieces by artists including Dia al-Azzawi, Marwan Kassab-Bachi, Kamal Boullata, Saadi al-Kaabi and Baya Mahieddine are on display at the exhibition.
These artists played an important role in shaping the Arab art scene and modernist movement
Dia al-Azzawi is an Iraqi painter and sculptor and one of the pioneers of modern Arab art.
Layla Al-Attar was another important figure in the Modernism art scene. She became the director of the Iraqi National Art Museum and through her art she attempted to recognize the importance of women in all aspects of society.
Al Attar was killed in a U.S. missile attack in 1993.
Another artist whose work is exhibited is Baya Mahieddine, one of Algeria's most celebrated artists.
Known for her surrealist, naïve, colorful paintings, Mahieddine consistency painted women in colorful dresses surrounded by flowers. Mahieddine found great success in France as well as Algeria
The Dubai Collection gives people an opportunity to see some of these artists' rare works and encourages people to acquire art or loan from their own collection.  
The exhibition focuses on the history of Arab modernism and is split up in three main themes: Abstract Variations, Societies in Transition, and Evoking the Environment.

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