01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Ghasem Hajizadeh's Yesterday-Today, with Footnotes, #45

Ghasem Hajizadeh (Iranian, b. 1947)

Yesterday-Today, c. 1975

Oil in canvas

53 1/8 X 78 3/8in. (135 x 199cm.)

Private collection

Yesterday-Today is an enigmatic work that is representative of the artist's signature style. One of the most sought after artists within Tehran's high society since the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hajizadeh is known for his compositions that bring together his memories of the past with his inspirations from the contemporary popular culture.

Throughout his career, Hajizadeh portrayed a great number of famous and popular characters - from Qajar princesses to Princess Stéphanie de Monaco, from Mossadegh to the Iranian beloved female poet Forough Farrokhzad or the popular singer and performer Mahvash. In the present work, the figures are not recognisable icons, but they are metaphors for the man-female relationships throughout history. Inspired by Pop CD covers, kitsch advertisements and urban illustrations, Hajizadeh's works unveil his playfulness and sense of irony while they reveal his nostalgic remembrance of the past. More on this painting

Ghasem Hajizadeh (orn April 1, 1947; Lahijan, Iran) is an Iranian–French painter and a pioneering Pop art figure in contemporary Iranian art.

Hajizadeh was born in 1947 in Lahijan, north of Iran. He received his diploma in arts from Tehran High School of Fine Arts in 1967 and soon after started his art career. During his early years, Hajizadeh's works were mostly abstract. However, he changed his style and concentrated on figurative art. During the 1960s and early 1970s, he was encouraged him to pursue pop art movement, which was thriving in the United States. In 1972, Hajizadeh participated in the first art exhibition, held by Iran–America Society.

While he held several solo and group exhibitions inside and outside post-revolution Iran, after establishment of the Islamic Republic, he could no longer run any public exhibitions for his work. In 1986, he fled to France, living and working in Paris. During his career in arts, his works have been shown in galleries and museum around the world. More on Ghasem Hajizadeh

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Ghazi Saudi, with Footnotes, #44

Ghazi Saudi (Iraq)

Untitled, c. 1960

Oil on canvas, framed

77 x 60cm (30 5/16 x 23 5/8in).

Private collection

"The city of Ghazi al Saudi , today's Baghdad, is the actual place implanted in a time that goes back some eight hundred years. Al Wasiti's illustrations of Maqamat al Hariri have been a constant inspiration for him, not only in his smaller canvases and ceramics, but also in his large frescoes, where he employs the old Arab gold, blue and red with black outlines in the representation of cit-scapes translated into a modern idiom" More on The city of Ghazi al Saudi

Born in Baghdad in 1935, Al-Saudi studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1953. Later, he trained in Rome specialising in murals and frescoes and returned to Baghdad in the early-mid 1960s where he joined the faculty at the same Institute. In 1965, he held his first solo exhibition after returning from Italy. The exhibition was at Al-Wasiti Gallery in Baghdad; a private gallery space founded by pioneer Iraqi architects Mohamed Makiya and Saeed Ali Mathloum.

He is best known for several remarkable murals in Baghdad, such as the notable entrance of Az-Zawraa’ Park and the Baghdadi Museum. Al-Saudi murals have a distinctive style informed by the Iraqi modern art movement of the 1950s yet stand out stylistically and technically as unique examples of public art. More on Ghazi Saudi

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Boutros al-Maari's Antar and Abla, with Footnotes, #59

Boutros al-Maari, (SYRIA, BORN 1968)

Antar and Abla, c. 2019

Acrylic on canvas

130 x 100cm (51 3/16 x 39 3/8in).

Private collection

Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi (525–608), also known as Antar, was a pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life.  Stories of his heroic exploits have been circulating for centuries and were eventually written down in the eighth century. Set in pagan Arabia known as the jahiliya, "before the time of the prophet", the events in the stories have their roots in the history of the Arabs.

The slave-son of an Arab prince, Antar fell in love with his high-born cousin Abla. He was born into tribe of Abs, one of the many tribes roaming the Arabian desert. His mother was an Ethiopian slave and his father was a prince of the tribe. He grew outside the accepted circle of the society and Antar spent his childhood pasturing the tribe's flock of sheep and goats. On the desert plains he learned to ride skillfully, and practiced throwing his spear until he was better accomplished, stronger and more feared than any other slave. His father also did not recognize him as a son but he excelled and distinguished himself in battle. Antar became his tribe's hero and poet.

The stories recount his heroic struggles to raise himself above the circumstances of his birth to gain his rightful position within his tribe and to become worthy of his beautiful cousin Abla. His poems to her are highly admired and widely quoted in the Arab world. More on Antar and Abla

Born in 1978 in Damascus, Syria, Boutros al-Maari obtained a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris in 2006, and a degree in Printmaking from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University, in 1991, where he is currently Professor of Fine Arts. Al-Maari has held several solo exhibitions in Paris and Damascus, and has participated in a large number of group exhibitions in Damascus, Beirut, Alexandria, Hanover and Paris. 

In his paintings, Boutros al-Maari reflects the relationship between time and place, inspired by memories of lived experiences. Utilizing simple, yet strongly expressive characters, he projects his artistic vision by connecting figures from his life in Damascus and Paris. He lives and works in Damascus. More on Boutros al-Maari

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01 Photograph, Middle East Artists, Tarek Al-Ghoussein's Al-Wihdat Refugee Camp, with Footnotes, #35

Tarek Al-Ghoussein (Palestinian, b. 1962)

Al-Wihdat Refugee Camp #3, c. 1993

Gelatin silver

8-3/8 x 12-1/2 inches (21.3 x 31.8 cm)

Private collection

Tarek Al-Ghoussein was born in Kuwait, his grandparents were Palestinian exiles who were unable to visit their native home. His father, Talat Al-Ghoussein, was a journalist, editor and a diplomat who served as the Kuwait ambassador to the United States in the 1960s. His family moved a lot during his childhood between Kuwait, United States, Morocco and Japan. He received his bachelor's degree in photography from New York University and completed his master's degree in Fine Arts from University of New Mexico. He held several positions during his career, worked as a photojournalist, taught photography at the American University of Sharjah and is currently a professor at New York University branch in Abu Dhabi. More on Tarek al Ghoussain

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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