Nada M. Shabout

Anneka Lenssen

Sarah A. Rogers

Modern Art in the Arab World is a compendium of critical art writings by twentieth-century Arab intellectuals and artists that explore the formation of a global modernism through debates on originality, public space, spiritualism and art, postcolonial exhibition politics, and Arab nationalism, among many other topics.

Primary Documents

Modern Art in the Arab World

Zainab Bahrani

In the mid twentieth century, artists in the newly independent nation of Iraq experimented with a form of Modernism that they saw as a new and revolutionary artistic idiom for a secular national state. Combining ancient and Islamic forms and genres of art and with Western Modernist influences, these artists set out to create an art for the people. At the same time, they participated in what they saw of Western Modernism by bringing to it older forms of Islamic abstraction. In this way, they challenged both traditional indigenous forms and what they learned from modern art in Europe. Today these works continue to challenge the pervasive image of Iraq as a country with no modern artistic past. As the exhibition curators and authors of the catalogue, Zainab Bahrani, the Edith Porada Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, and Nada Shabout, an associate professor of art history at the University of North Texas, make clear, there are several reasons Iraq's modern tradition remains little known abroad. Access to the artworks themselves is one problem: The Iraqi Museum of Modern Art was looted after the fall of Baghdad, and most modern and contemporary works are now in private collections. The catalogue offers an unprecedented overview of the work of several generations of Iraqi artists, from the mid-twentieth century to the present, including paintings, sculpture, book arts, and videos by forty-five artists, among them Jawad Salim, Dia Azzawi, Hana Malallah, Nazar Yahya, Kareem Risan, Ghassan Gha'eb, Rafa al Nasiri, and Mohammed al Shammarey.

Modernism and Iraq

Hossein Amirsadeghi

Salwa Mikdadi

"With over 500 stunning colour illustrations New Vision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century offers the most comprehensive, scholarly and in-depth survey yet of what is happening at the cutting-edge of art in the Arab world." "In the perpetual quest for the new, the exciting and the innovative, the attention of the global art community has in recent years been more and more focused on the Middle East. Exhibitions and articles have highlighted a remarkable burst of creativity in the region, as Arab countries from Syria to Algeria, Egypt to Lebanon and Palestine to Saudi Arabia have launched some of the most fascinating artists in recent years." "The conceptual playfulness of Hassan Khan, the charged paintings of Jeffar Khaldi, the organic sculptures of Diana Al-Hadid, and the moving photography of Yto Barrada have dazzled audiences with their variety, innovation and thoughtfulness. Until now, however, nobody has captured the vitality of the region s art in a single book." "Five groundbreaking essays offer the best context to date for contemporary Arab art. These are followed by some 90 superbly illustrated profiles of key artists, organizations and galleries. Mixing the well known (such as Mona Hatoum or Susan Hefuna) with the up and coming (for example, Steve Sabella or Mireille Astore). Exclusive interviews with artists and key curators give an unrivalled insight into the aims, ideas and inspirations of this new generation." "Perfect for all scholars, students and lovers of art, as well as all those interested in the broader Arab cultures, this book is set to become the touchstone publication on this increasingly important and exciting subject." --Book Jacket.

Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century

New Vision

"Groundbreaking. Shabout elucidates two critical issues that have thus far received inadequate scholarly attention--the distinction between Islamic Art and Arab Art and the relatedness of the political and artistic processes in the history of Arab modernity."--Shiva Balaghi, coeditor of Picturing Iran: Art, Society and Revolution "One of the first publications to consider the various cultural and social conditions that have helped shape Modern Arab Art as a recent phenomenon linked to the rise of Arab identity, the impact of western art training, and a search for a contemporary language which links with Islamic art but is discontinuous with it."--Fran Lloyd, Kingston University "Art is one way to visualize the interconnectedness of people and this book shows us how related in influence and aspirations we all are."--Linnea S. Hedrick, Miami University Modern Arab Art provides a historical and theoretical overview of the subject from the 1940s through today. With particular emphasis on production, reception, and the intersection between art and politics in Iraq and Palestine, Nada Shabout reveals the fallacy in Western fascination with Arab art as a timeless and exotic "other."

Nada M. Shabout

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