01 Painting, Middle East Artists, The Art of War, Ismail Shammout's Guardian of the fire, with Footnotes #76

Ismail Shammout

Guardian of the fire, c. 1988

Women giving refuge and protection to the children of Intifada

Oil on canvas

120 x 90

Private collection

The first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) began in December 1987, and continued unabated until the peace talks in Madrid in 1992. 

The historical and ideological underpinnings of the sufferings endured by the Palestinian people as a whole- including the occupation of land, military violence, continued oppression, and structural discrimination- prevent many from acknowledging or examining Israel's specific violence against Palestinian women. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

"We came and turned the native Arabs into tragic refugees.  And still we dare to slander and malign them, to besmirch their name.  Instead of being deeply ashamed of what we did and trying to undo some of the evil we committed . . . we justify our terrible acts and even attempt to glorify them".  Nathan Chofshi

Ismail Shammout (1930 – 2006) was a Palestinian artist and art historian.

Shammout was born in 1930 in Lydda. On July 12, 1948, he and his family were amongst 25,000 residents of Lydda expelled from their homes by Israeli occupation. The Shammout family moved to the Gaza refugee camp of Khan-Younes. In 1950 Shammout went to Cairo and enrolled in the College of Fine Arts. After returning to Gaza in 1953, he held his first exhibition, which was a success.

Shammout and Palestinian artist Tamam al Akhal participated in the Palestine Exhibition of 1954 in Cairo. The exhibition was inaugurated by then Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser. Later in 1954, he moved to Italy and enrolled at the Academia De Belle Arti in Rome. He married al Akhal in 1959. Their work has been exhibited in several countries.

Shammout became a part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the Director of Arts and National Culture in 1965. He also held the position of Secretary General of the Union of Palestinian Artists. He became Secretary General of the Union of Arab artists in 1969. In 1992 he and his wife, al Akhal, moved to Germany due to the Gulf War. After Germany, they settled in Jordan.

He and Al Akhal, returned to Lydda in 1997.

He died on July 1, 2006, at the age of seventy-six. More on Ismail Shammout

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, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, Suleiman Mansour's Motherhood, with Footnotes #69

Suleiman Mansour (b. 1947)

Motherhood, c. 1986

Oil on canvas

108 by 69 cm. 42½by 27 in.

Private collection

Sold for 63,500 GBP in Oct 2023

An impassioned and tender depiction of the relationship between mother and child, Motherhood represents Mansour’s natural tendency towards familiar subjects, here both familial and national. With sincerity, the artist has rendered the ubiquitous narrative of motherhood with a localised style and custom; dressed in traditional robe, the woman holds her child overhead towards the sky, as he grasps for the beaming sun in a ritualistic gesture. More on this painting

Born in a little village near Ramallah in 1947, Suleiman Mansour maintained a great attachment to his native rural hometown and its customs, painting portraits of his relatives since his youngest age. In the 1970s, he took part in a thorough research project on the folkloric heritage of Palestinian culture, an initiative that profoundly shaped his subsequent active involvement in the Palestinian art movement. Preoccupied with the preservation and publication of traditional artworks, Mansour aimed to safeguard indigenous Palestinian culture while offering native forms of inspiration to new generations of artists and influencing contemporary art. More on these paintings

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, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, 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.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.