Wednesday, July 24, 2024

01 Work, Middle East Artists, THE ART OF WAR, Ismail Shammout's Memories and a Firebrand, with Footnotes #82

Ismail Shammout
Memories and a Firebrand, c. 1956
Fine Art Digital Print
40 x 29.5 cm 

Shammout always made it a point to never cease depicting the Palestinian exodus in his work. Living under harsh conditions and haunting experiences, as a child he was forced to flee from his home during the Nakba of 1948 and traveled on foot to settle in a refugee camp. He documented that march of death, exhaustion, and thirst in several paintings executed in the 1950s. In his works, the struggle of living under occupation is highlighted with forlorn figures resting in darkness or clinging to one another while they journey across barren land. His own memories of displacement and death are infused with his paintings, depicting the struggle of Palestinians with dark shadows that speak of loss, and children who sit alone in contemplation. Shammout’s works can be regarded as iconic for the Palestinian people. It visually symbolized the very struggles and experiences living under occupation, showcasing not only the memories he carried but for those who are currently living under it to this day. More on this work

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




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