Hassan, Faiq (1914–1992)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Renee Floyd
Keyword(s):  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
Young Age ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
European Modernism

Faiq Hassan was among the pioneers of Iraqi modern art. Along with Jewad Selim and Hafidh al-Droubi, Hassan held a premier position in the development of the modern art movement in Iraq and had a major influence on succeeding generations. Born in Baghdad, Hassan became interested in art at a young age. His talent was evident and he became the second recipient of a government scholarship to study art abroad. While studying at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Hassan was exposed to European modernism and produced copies of masterworks. When he returned to Baghdad after receiving his degree in 1938, Hassan took a position at the Institute of Fine Arts as the director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture. In this position, Hassan was able to focus on the education of young Iraqi artists, and he went to great lengths to ensure that his students had adequate equipment and instruction.

Schapiro, Meyer (1904–1996)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Persinger
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
The United States ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
New School ◽  
Vincent Van Gogh ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Paul Cezanne

Art historian Meyer Schapiro was born in Šiauliai [Shavley], Lithuania, on September 23, 1904, but soon immigrated to the United States with his family in 1907. Schapiro grew up in the working-class, left wing, Jewish immigrant neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn. He graduated from Columbia University with a Ph.D. in fine arts and archaeology in 1935 (having completed his dissertation in 1929). He spent his career at Columbia, though he also taught regularly at the New School for Social Research from 1936 until 1952. While trained as a medievalist, Schapiro was an early proponent of modern art, and over the course of his career he taught courses, lectured, and published on both fields. Through his lectures and publications, Schapiro’s ideas shaped several generations of artists and art historians. Though he published several books including those on Post-Impressionist artists Paul Cézanne (1950) and Vincent van Gogh (1952), his most respected ideas on both medieval and modern topics were published in articles. Schapiro is known for his innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to art history; he explored new art historical methodologies through the use of Marxism, psychoanalysis, and semiotics. He is also known for his essay "Style" (1953), a systematic consideration of past and current theories of style.

Owais, Hamed (1919–2011)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Radwan
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
Social Realism ◽  
Teaching Career ◽  
Diego Rivera ◽  
San Fernando ◽  
Gamal Abdel Nasser ◽  
Egyptian Group

Born in Beni Soueif, Egypt, Hamed Owais is one of the leading painters of Egyptian social realism. He was a partisan of the ideals of the Gamal Abdel Nasser era and was inspired by Mexican muralists, such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. His work portrays the daily life of the Egyptian working class through a clear and direct style, reflecting the strength of his social convictions. Having graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1944, he pursued his studies at the Institute of Art Education in Cairo where he received his diploma in 1946. A year later, he founded, together with other artists of his generation, the Egyptian "Group of Modern Art". Following a teaching career at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria, he received a scholarship in 1967 to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. On his return to Egypt, he served as the head of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria (1977–1979).

Nabaa, Nazir (1938--)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anneka Lenssen
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Art Criticism ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
Fine Art ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Puppet Theater ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Nazir Nabaa, a respected Syrian painter, made his greatest contributions to Arab modern art in the 1960s and 1970s, when he contributed to the graphic identity of progressive political causes and the Palestinian liberation struggle. He joined the Syrian Communist Party in the 1954 and in 1959 was briefly jailed for this affiliation. After his release, he traveled to Cairo on a fellowship to study painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, there developing a heroic realist style around social and labor themes. After returning to Syria in 1964, Nabaa taught drawing in rural schools and worked with myth and folklife. Moving to Damascus in 1968, he worked as an illustrator and became involved in creative projects in support of political mobilization, including poster design, puppet theater, fine art painting, and art criticism. Between 1971 and 1975, Nabaa studied in Paris at the Academy of Fine Arts. Upon his return, he joined the faculty of the College of Fine Arts in Damascus. His later paintings became more fantastical, combining goddess figures with still lifes of fruits, tapestries, and jewelry. He also developed a parallel corpus of abstract paintings based on the exploration of texture and color.

Ahmad, Yousef (1955–)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samia Touati
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art ◽  
Art Appreciation ◽  
Master Of Fine Arts ◽  
Instrumental Role

A writer, an art advisor, and an artist, Yousef Ahmad has contributed significantly to the evolution of art in Qatar. Ahmad took upon himself the responsibility to document and archive the development of art in Qatar. Ahmad has developed an innovative style of calligraphic painting, whereby numerous letters and words are transformed into abstract signs and manifest abstract arrangements. Being more inclined to create large-scale works, Ahmad depicts Arabic words in their variety of shapes with a particular focus on the construction of his composition. In 1982, Ahmad traveled to the United States, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Mills College, University of California. Following his return to Qatar, Ahmad taught art appreciation for more than twenty years at Qatar University, where he met His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani. Sharing an avid love for art with HE Sheikh Hassan, Ahmad has played an instrumental role in collecting a variety of artworks which constitute the major collections of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and the Orientalist Museum. He also acted as the first director for Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, then named the Museum of Arab Art.

Nanyang Style

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Low
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
Pictorial Representation ◽  
Art Production

Nanyang Style was a popular term associated with the paintings of a group of émigré Chinese artists working in British Malaya (present-day Singapore and Malaysia) around the period of the 1930s to 1950s. It referred particularly to works that embodied an experimental and syncretic approach to pictorial representation; impressionist, post-impressionist, fauvist, and cubist elements with Chinese ink and brush compositional and pictorial techniques; and the depiction of local subject matter such as indigenous peoples and their environments. The key proponents of this style included Chen Chong Swee, Georgette Chen, Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, and Cheong Soo Pieng. These artists, who were also collectively called the "Nanyang artists," were associated with the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) either as teachers or associates of teachers. The cultural identity of the artists as ethnically Chinese sojourners was frequently used to substantiate the originality of the Nanyang Style. This term generally described an approach to painting that reflected considerations unique to a group of Chinese artists attempting to arrive at types of modern art production that were linked to the place itself.

Zeid, Fahrelnissa (1901–1991)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samia Touati
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Abstract Painting

Fahrelnissa Zeid was a prominent and influential figure in Turkish modern art. An accomplished early modernist Turkish painter, she was as influential for modern Jordanian art. Zeid addressed a variety of themes and subjects in her artworks, including scenes of everyday life and portraits of family members, relatives, and friends. In her portraits, Zeid exaggerated her subjects’ features. The large rounded eyes and elongated faces she rendered are reminiscent of Byzantine iconography and Egyptian Fayum portraits. Although Zeid’s art is predominantly abstract, her style is unique and draws on Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam. One of the first women to attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul in 1920, Zeid studied under the Turkish painter Namik Ismail. Considered a pioneer of modern Turkish abstract painting, Zeid joined a circle of young Turkish artists known as the D Group in 1942. In 1928, she traveled to Paris and trained in the studio of Stahlbach and Roger Bissière at the Académie Ranson. Zeid took part in a generation of artists referred to as the New Ecole de Paris, as their exhibitions in Paris led to the emergence of various art movements.

Wanly, Seif (1906–1979)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Radwan
Keyword(s):  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Theater Performances

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Seif Wanly is a leading figure of Egyptian modern art. Together with his younger brother, Adham Wanly, he was among the first Alexandrian artists to depict international subjects, such as circus, ballet, opera, music concerts, theater performances, and bull fighting. The Wanly brothers studied under the Italian painter Ottorino Bicchi (1878–1949) in 1929 before they established their own studio in Alexandria in 1935. During the 1950s, they traveled regularly to Europe and visited France, Italy, and Spain. In 1957, they were appointed professors at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria. Seif Wanly was a prolific artist and his work shared an affinity with the École de Barbizon, as well as with Cubism and Fauvism. When his brother Adham passed away in 1959, he went through a difficult period of his life, which was reflected in his work.

Nandakwang, Tawee (1925–1991)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Galloway
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Northern City

Tawee Nandakwang was one of the pioneers of modern art in Thailand. Born in the northern city of Lamphun, he trained at Silpakorn University and also completed a diploma in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1961. Nandakwang established his reputation as a leading artist early in his career, winning numerous prizes in the 1950s. Work from this period was heavily influenced by Impressionism and Cubism, drawing on familiar subjects such as portraits, landscape scenes and still lifes. He eventually settled into his own distinct style, which demonstrated a close interest in technique: each mark on the canvas was carefully considered. He had an affinity with the natural world and strove to create an aesthetic that did not mimic reality, but conveyed an emotional response to the scene. For example, flowers were not simply painted for their beauty; they became vehicles for conveying the changing atmospheric qualities of light and weather through the day. Buddhism was also an influence. There is a reflective quality in his paintings, in which feeling and impression override any direct rendering of the subject. Nandakwang was recognized for his innovation and skill, receiving several awards, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Visual Arts (painting) Award in 1990. His works are represented in Thai and international collections.

Kamel, Youssef (1891–1971)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Radwan
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Royal Academy ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts

Youssef Kamel is an Egyptian painter renowned for his impressionist landscapes of the countryside and views of medieval Cairo. As one of the leading figures of the "Pioneers" group (al-ruwwād), he was among the first students to attend the newly founded School of Fine Arts in Cairo (1908), along with artists Mahmoud Moukhtar and Ragheb Ayad. He studied under the Italian painter Paolo Forcella and graduated in 1911. After working as a drawing teacher in secondary schools, Kamel received a scholarship in 1925 to pursue his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. On his return to Egypt, in 1929, he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, eventually becoming the head of its Painting Department in 1937. Kamel also worked as a curator and directed the Museum of Egyptian Modern Art from 1948 to 1949. He was named director of the School of Fine Arts in Cairo between 1950 and 1953.

Alfred H. Barr, MoMA, and the Entrance and Exit of Outsider Art (1936–1943)

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-25
Author(s):  
Dieter De Vlieghere
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
Art Museum ◽  
Museum Of Modern Art ◽  
Art World ◽  
Outsider Art ◽  
Creative Agency ◽  
Changing Role

Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism (1936), curated by Alfred H. Barr at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, was the first major exhibition of outsider art at the epicentre of the art world. The entrance of outsider art in the art museum coincided with the changing role of the curator: from a custodian of fine arts to an exhibition author with creative agency. The disconnection of outsider art from canonized art history and the peculiar appearance of the works and their makers inspired new curatorial narrations and settings. Barr’s inclusive vision of modern art and curation was, however, strongly criticized, and a few years later that vision was replaced by a hierarchical one demanding the exclusion of outsider art from the art museum. The developments at MoMA between 1936 and 1943 exemplify how outsider art served as a catalyst for the curatorial turn in which the division between the roles of curator and artist began to shift.

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