01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Shakir Hassan Al-Said's Untitled (Town), with Footnotes, #55

 Shakir Hassan Al-Said, 1925-2004, IRAQI

Untitled (Town), c. 1951

Watercolour and pencil on paper

24 by 20cm.; 9 1/2 by 7 7/8 in.

Private collection

Shakir Hassan Al Said (1925–2004), an Iraqi painter, sculptor and writer, is considered one of Iraq's most innovative and influential artists.

Born in Samawa, Al Said lived, worked and died in Bagdad. In 1948 he received a degree in social science from the Higher Institute of Teachers in Baghdad and in 1954 a diploma in painting from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He continued his studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris until 1959. During his stay in Paris, he discovered Western modern art in galleries and Sumerian art at the Louvre. He returned to Baghdad in 1959.

He co-founded in 1951 with Jawad Saleem Jama'et Baghdad lil Fann al-Hadith (Baghdad Modern Art Group), one of the most unusual arts movements in the Middle East in the post–World War II, itwas called Istilham al-turath (Seeking inspiration from tradition), considered as "the basic point of departure, to achieve through modern styles, a cultural vision". He headed the group after the death of Saleem in 1961.

In 1971, he founded Al Bu'd al Wahad (the One-dimension Group)", which promoted the modern calligraphic school in Arab art.

His work is collected by major museums, such as Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, the Guggenheim in New York, and Sharjah Art Museum. More on Shakir Hassan Al Said

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, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Abdelaziz Gorgi's CHKOBA PLAYERS; EVE OF RAMADAN, with Footnotes, #52

Abdelaziz Gorgi, 1928-2008

JOUEURS DE CHKOBA; VEILLÉE DU RAMADAN (CHKOBA PLAYERS; EVE OF RAMADAN), circa 1960-1969

Acrylic, gold leaf, ink and pen on paper

76 by 55cm.; 29 7/8 by 21 3/4 in.

Private collection

The chkobba is a card game drawn from the scopa and brought to Tunisia by Italian migrants.

It is played with traditional cards . The game is between two players or two teams of two players most often but it is possible, although infrequent, to play three or four independent players. 

Depending on the regions, provinces and even villages, the rules of the game and the counting of points vary. More on The chkobba

Abdelaziz Gorgi's oeuvre is a testament to a strong attachment to Tunisia, both in its form and practice.  As one of the founders and last president of the Ecole de Tunis, of whom he remained an active practicing artist alongside Jallal Ben Abdallah and Hedi Turki, Gorgi's paintings and tapestries are colourful, repeatedly featuring tokens such as 'chechias', the traditional Tunisian headgear or Chkoba, the traditional Tunisian card game, which both act to symbolize his personal background. Gorgi was also very active in encouraging the arts within his community, designing the first Tunisian postage stamp in 1956 and establishing the Tunis School of painting which he presided over until 1983. In 2000 his efforts were repaid when the Tunisian ministry of Culture announced that the country to be celebrating a ‘Gorgi Year’ of culture. More on Abdelaziz Gorgi

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, 365 Saints and 365 Days, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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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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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Adham Wanly's Le monastère copte, désert de Mariut/ The Coptic Monastery, Mariut Desert, with Footnotes, #56

Adham Wanly, 1908-1959, EGYPTIAN

Le monastère copte, désert de Mariut/ The Coptic Monastery, Mariut Desert, c. 1953

Oil on paper

28,5 x 33,5 cm

Private collection

The late Pope Kyrillos VI established this Coptic Orthodox monastery in 1959 in commemoration of Saint Mina (Menas), his patron saint, in an isolated desert area very close to the archaeological site and historical city of Abu Mena in Mariut, near Alexandria, Egypt.

Abu Mena is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and was once an important Christian pilgrimage site during the 4th to 7th cent. A.D. Numerous little clay bottles (ampullae), on which Saint Mina's name and picture are engraved, were discovered by archeologists in diverse countries around the world, such as Heidelberg, Germany; Milan, Italy; Dalmatia, Croatia; Marseille, France; Dengla, Sudan; and Jerusalem. These pottery ampullae (small holy water and oil flasks brought from pilgrimage places as a souvenir, and mass-produced in Early Byzantine times) come from Abu Mena, near Alexandria in Egypt.

Countless miracles have happened and continue to happen until this day there through the intercessions of Saint Mina the Martyr, Pope Kyrillos VI and the late Abba Mina Ava-Mina (late abbot of the new monastery), whose relics (all three) are preserved in the monastery. More on the Coptic Monastery, Mariut Desert

Adham Wanly (1908 in Alexandria, Egypt – 1959) was a painter who learnt in the atelier of the Italian Otorino Becchi 1932, then set up his own atelier with his brother Seif Wanly (above), and participated in many local and international exhibition specially Venice, São Paulo (Brasil), Alexandria Biennale.

The Museum of Modern Art in Alexandria displays many of his paintings. The artist is mostly famous for recording the life of the theater and circus. He specialized in the ballet and opera that is featured in the Cairo Opera House and the Theatre Mohamed Ali in Alexandria. The paintings render the stage lights and movements of the people involved and he is able to express the light and agility in various ways. He had a talent in caricature in which he used in mockery of himself and the people of his time. There is now a museum in his memory. More on Adham Wanly

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, 365 Saints and 365 Days, 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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