From the forefathers of Arab Modernity in the late 19th century through to their successors, this movement serves as a principle tenet to the history of art from the region. Myrna Ayad and Saleh Barakat survey this period in the Arab world, which saw rapid political, social and economic change that was similarly reflected through the works of these Modern Masters. 158 A rab Modernity in its artistic sense is a school of thought, of change and of expression. Its two central characteristics are wholly reflective of the time – that particular period of Arab history from the 1870s until, more specifically, its peak in the early part of the 20th century – and the people , the region’s key cultural protagonists, who fundamentally desired a solid iden- tity and sought advancement through education in the West. The political events of this era were absolutely key to the de- velopment of Arab modernity: this was an Arab world working to shed centuries of foreign occupation, with Ottoman control and the colonial authority of the European powers challenged and eventually overthrown. Arab countries were able to estab- lish their independence, with monarchies replaced by repub- lics in another symbolic change. Yet peace was elusive, as the Arab states went to war against Israel, firstly with the country’s occupation of Palestine in 1948 and lastly with the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The forefathers of Arab Modernity were the founding fig- ures who, against significant social, political and economic odds, laid the groundwork for art as a serious profession. Theirs was no mean feat – rural communities across the Middle East were governed largely by feudal systems under which peasant populations did not understand or approve of art as an occu- pation. For an individual in such a context to become an artist was an enormous challenge, and one that was neither ‘normal’ nor welcome, except in the most enlightened of families. The first generation of Arab artists was, unsurprisingly, often mar- ginalised. The few who broke new ground did so with expo- sure to the West by studying overseas, an opportunity usually granted through the auspices of the Western colonial powers, who often appreciated these aspiring artists more so than their own communities did. PAVING THE WAY One of the earliest figures of Modern Arab art is Lebanese- born Daoud Corm (1852–1930), who was sent to Rome to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti in 1870. Initially, Lebanon’s 158 159 Christian sects had brought in artists from Italy and Greece to paint their churches, but they later began sending their own painters to Paris and Rome to study religious iconog- raphy. Corm was among this group and, following his ap- pointment as official artist to Belgium’s royal family, he be- gan painting portraits of governors and other eminent fig- ures in addition to working on several churches across the Middle East. When he returned to Lebanon in the early part of the 20th century, he founded Liban Papeterie aux Cèdres , a library through which he sold art equipment. Through his atelier, Corm attracted many who came to be known as Lebanon’s pioneering artists, among them the ‘founder of Modern Lebanese art’, Khalil Saleeby (1870–1928), Habib Srour (1860–1938) and the celebrated artist, poet and writer Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931). Both Saleeby and Srour went on to establish their own ateliers through which they taught the next generation of Lebanese artists. A wealthy man, Saleeby is considered the ‘father’ of Mod- ern art in Lebanon. As a member of the country’s bourgeois elite, he was financially able and passionately committed to the study of art, but unlike his predecessors who went to Paris and Rome, he travelled to Edinburgh for his artistic training. There, he met American portrait artist John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), who was to have a profound impact on his work. The pair subsequently trained in Paris and worked with the Impressionists, including Auguste Renoir. Sargent then encouraged Saleeby to study in Philadelphia, where he met his wife and muse, the French-born Carrie Aude. When he returned to Lebanon, Saleeby set up an atelier and became known predominantly as a portrait artist. Significantly, Saleeby pushed the confines of conservative artistic practice, painting nudes, with his wife as the principal subject. Tragically, both were murdered in 1928 following a dispute over water rights The first generation of Arab artists was, unsurprisingly, often marginalised Facing page: Jewad Selim.(Detail) Portrait of a Girl Circa 1950. Oil on canvas. 69.2 x 50 cm. Image courtesy Sotheby’s. This page, from top: Moustafa Farroukh. (Detail) Untitled. 1947. Oil on canvas. 42 x 61 cm; Omar Onsi. Fountain . 1936. Oil on wood. 38 x 46 cm; Omar Onsi. Untitled. Circa 1935. Watercolour on paper. 40 x 60 cm. 159 160 161 Moustafa Farroukh. (Detail) Untitled. 1947. Oil on canvas. 42 x 61 cm. 162 THE ART OF REDUCTION Saliba Douaihy’s church commission in Di- man, North Lebanon (Figure 1) reveals the artist’s early tendency to a bolder use of colour in this fresco. Figures 2-4 reflect his palette’s transformation but are also clear examples of how the artist sought to sim- plify his beloved landscape into geomet- ric forms. Douaihy’s desire for a minimalist composition was initiated in the USA in the 1950s at the height of the Post War Abstract Expressionist movement. in the village of Btalloun – an indication of the clannish attitudes which still domi- nated the country at that time. Among Saleeby’s students were Omar Onsi (1901–69) and César Gemayel (1898–1958). Both were typical Impressionist artists who studied in Paris; Gemayel, like his teacher, came from an affluent family and also painted nudes, while Onsi was among the first Lebanese Muslims to venture into art. Both, along with Mousta- fa Farroukh (1901–57), painted landscapes, portraits and still-lifes and sold their work within their local communities. However, their main patrons were Westerners. Even so, these early artists were rarely adequately funded; indeed, Farroukh, celebrated for his paintings of Lebanon and its people, died penniless even though he had studied in Europe and become a professor at the American University of Beirut. Nonetheless, the push to create a concrete art structure in Lebanon stemmed from some of these artists’ ateliers, and the fruits of their labour helped bring about the establishment in 1937 of L’Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (now a faculty of ALBA: University of Balamand). The academy, like others across the region, was actually founded by a collective of artists, in this case with Gemayel as a co-founder. EGYPTIAN RENAISSANCE Elsewhere in the Middle East, Egypt’s Mahmoud Mokhtar (1891–1934) was mak- ing waves with the sculptural compositions for which he was to become cele- brated, both within the region and beyond. Dubbed ‘the father of Modern Egyp- tian sculpture’, he pursued studies at L’École des Beaux Arts in Paris thanks to a grant from the Egyptian Prince Youssef Kamal, who founded the Cairo School of Fine Arts (now part of Helwan University) in 1908 and from which Mokhtar graduated. A patron of education and the arts, Prince Youssef donated the land on which the School and other institutions were built, in the hope of support- ing the art scene in Egypt. A nationalist hero, Mokhtar is renowned especially for his two monumental sculptures (in Alexandria and Cairo, respectively) of Egyptian Prime Minister and revolution- ary Saad Zaghloul, and the public commission, Egypt’s Awaken- ing , completed in 1928. Mokhtar’s contemporary take – inspired by European techniques – on pharaonic elements, infused with Left: Khalil Saleeby. Eva Tabet . 1912. Oil on canvas. 200 x 100 cm. Facing page: César Gemayel. (Detail) Untitled. 1950. Oil on board. 25 x 35 cm. 1 162 163 a strong nationalistic identity, saw him becoming iden- tified in the popular imagination as ‘Egypt’s first sculptor in 1700 years’. These were exciting times in Egypt. A people’s na- tionalist movement led by Zaghloul was demanding an independent Egypt, which was formally declared in 1922, the same year that Howard Carter discovered Tutankha- mun’s tomb. The increased sense of nationalism among Egyptians was also evident in the work of Ragheb Ayad (1892–1982), who joined the Cairo School of Fine Arts the same year as Mokhtar. Ayad, who also studied in Rome, painted popular Egyptian life in an expressionistic man- ner, bringing an artistic focus on the country’s villagers, farms, camels and market scenes. A number of leading Modern Arab artists hailed from the land of the Pharaohs, among them the aristocrat Mahmoud Said (1897–1964). The son of a Pasha, he first pursued a degree in law to appease his father, and then took another in fine art in Paris. Upon his return from the French capital, his family dismissed a vocation in art altogether and Said embarked on a judicial career. However, he continued to paint throughout and at the age of 50 decided to dedicate himself completely to art. Like Mokhtar, Said was sensitive to the changing times in his native Alexandria, and this nationalistic sentiment was ever-present in his oeuvre through his painting of Egyptian subjects and landscapes, blended with European influences. As with Saleeby, Said’s elite background meant that he was able to deflect any comments on his paintings of nudes – he was the cousin of Egyptian Queen Farida, after all. And, as with his fellow artists in Lebanon, it was Westerners who were buying Said’s work. After the 1952 Egyptian Revolution and the departure of most expatriates from Egypt, his work stopped selling and it is only in recent years that that has changed – and rather dramatically. European influences are present in the art produced during this time across the Arab world. Abdul Qadir Al- Rassam (1882–1952), known as the father of realist painting in Iraq, and Mohammed Saleh Zaki (1888–1974) painted landscapes in a realistic method which was influenced by the Ottoman style of topographical art. With the dissolution of Ottoman control over Arab lands and the establishment of a monarchy in Iraq, these founding fathers paved the way for the next generation of Modern artists. The region thus entered a new chapter in its tumultuous political, social and economic history. As the countries gained independence, so too did their artists begin to stand on solid ground, produc- ing works which fall into three main tenets of Arab Modern art: Abstraction, Social Realism and Calligraphy and Signs. 2 3 4 Strip, left to right: All by Saliba Douaihy. A view of the Maronite church ceiling of Diman in Northern Lebanon painted during the 1940s. Photography by Saleh Barakat; Untitled. 1973. Oil on canvas. 62 x 52 cm; (Detail) Untitled. 1971. Acrylic on panel. 171 x 80.5 cm; (Detail) Untitled. Circa 1978. Acrylic on canvas. 80 x 152 cm. 163 As the countries gained independence , so too did their artists begin to stand on solid ground. 164 165 César Gemayel. (Detail) Untitled. 1950. Oil on board. 25 x 35 cm. 166 The control exerted over Arab countries by the colonial powers was matched by a growing desire among local artists to search for a new vernacular. Within the domain of Abstraction, two main groups emerged: first, those artists who sought to expand the process itself – abstraction for abstraction’s sake; and second, those whose practice of the style stemmed from an identity-driven and spiritual search. INTENDED ABSTRACTION A pure investigation of abstraction and a perpetual fascination with visual form charac- terised the first group of Modern Arab artists, who sought to delve into the style solely for the sake of exploration. Their impetus was not one that involved a search for identity tied to Arab nationality; on the contrary, these artists sought abstraction as a phenom- enon. The world was changing – Freud’s theories and the study of psychoanalysis had come to the fore, the Second World War had ended, Post War artistic movements such as Abstract Expressionism revolutionised classic art practices, Arab states established their independence, man went to the moon, and scientific technology advanced. The possibilities were limitless. One artist who is credited with co-founding the Modern art movement in Morocco is Mohamed Melehi (1936–), whose body of work is reflective of his experimentations with science and nature. One key characteristic of his oeuvre is the wave, symbolising rhythm, eternity and the woman, and which is intrinsically tied to his birthplace and cur- rent residence, the colourful coastal town of Asilah. After pursuing his artistic training in several European capitals, Melehi went to the USA in 1962 and it was there that he came into contact with American Hard Edge and Colour Field painter and printmaker Ellsworth Kelly (1923–). The geometric abstraction of Hard Edge, in addition to the solid palette of Colour Field painting, inspired Melehi. However, Morocco was never far from I ABSTRACTION 166 167 Facing page, left to right: Mounir Canaan. Whirlpool 1979. Collage and oil paint on cardboard. 55 x 60 cm. Image courtesy Al-Masar Gallery, Cairo; Mohamed Melehi. Pink Flame . 1972. Cellulosic paint on panel. 110 x 95 cm. Image courtesy Meem Gallery, Dubai. Below, left to right: Jilali Gharbaoui. Untitled 1960. Oil on canvas. 65 x 92 cm. Image courtesy Meem Gallery, Dubai; Shafic Abboud. Untitled. 1967 – 70. Oil on canvas. 145.6 x 145.2 cm. Image courtesy Sotheby’s. his mind – he was infatuated with its ceramics, with the sea, the moon and the mashrabiyyahs – and in the process of re- ducing the world around him into minimal lines and forms, his use of colour became more energetic and vibrant. His fel- low Moroccan Jilali Gharbaoui (1930–71) was also seminal in the foundation of the Modern art movement in Morocco. Using Impressionist art as a platform, Gharbaoui’s path to abstraction was led by his fascination with light and colour, following studies in Paris and Rome. The notion of light and dark reflects his tortured psyche – he had attempted suicide, suffered depression, and eventually died of substance abuse (in 1971). His was a difficult childhood – orphaned young, he was raised in a monastery in the northern part of Morocco, where there were lots of crows. There is something funda- mentally intrinsic about crows in Gharbaoui’s limited body of work through his erratic brushstrokes and somewhat un- defined compositions. In the Levant, Shafic Abboud (1926–2004) left Lebanon for Paris in 1947 and remained there for the rest of his life. Like Melehi, whose Moroccan heritage remained etched in his mind, Abboud’s paintings celebrate his homeland’s land- scape through a dextrous use of light and colour. He was the subject of a major retrospective earlier this year at the Beirut Exhibition Centre, which showcased his early figurative works and their gradual transformation into blocks of colour. In Paris, he had attended classes by Léger and André Lhote (1885–1962) and held the work of Roger Bissière (1886–1964) and Nicolas de Staël (1914–55) in high esteem. With the stories told to him by his grandmother, and the memory of the lush Lebanese landscape and Byzantine churches in his mind, Abboud produced a body of work which saw him experiment in canvas, ceramics, tapestries and lithographs. Such multimedia practice is also echoed in the works of Egypt’s Mounir Canaan (1919–99). While greatly influenced by the American Abstract Expressionists, Canaan manoeu- vred his way through various materials, seeking changes in texture, and via differing perspectives for the sake of abstraction, and finally arrived at collage in his later years. His success with cutting, pasting and gluing to create col- lages and assemblages stemmed from his work as a maga- zine illustrator in Cairo in the 1940s. Yet, over the next two 167 The world was changing . . . The possibilities were limitless. 168 Jilali Gharbaoui. (Detail) Untitled. 1960. Oil on canvas. 65 x 92 cm. Image courtesy Meem Gallery, Dubai 169 decades he sank into financial despair, his works failing to appeal to local audiences at a time when art was defined by contemporary culture. Nevertheless, Canaan was a major catalyst in the modernisation of a traditional-driven Egyptian art scene. INTERNAL JOURNEYS Within the first group were Lebanon’s Saliba Douaihy (1915–94), Saloua Raouda Choucair (1916–) and Aref El- Rayess (1928–2005), as well as Iraq’s Shakir Hassan Al-Said (1925–2004). Generally speaking, this cadre pursued their search for abstraction through elements which were cul- turally and/or spiritually relevant to their surroundings and psyches. Douaihy, who was sent to Paris’s École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1932, began painting typi- cal landscapes in an Impressionist manner. He also paint- ed churches, including the commission for the Maronite church in Diman in North Lebanon. Many of the ‘Douaihy churches’ still stand today in the mountains of Lebanon. Both they and his later landscape paintings vividly reveal his move from a light, subdued palette to a more bold, ex- pressive and energetic one. One of the interesting aspects Facing page: Saloua Raouda Choucair. Poem . 1963 – 5. Wood. 39 x 19 x 7.5 cm. This page: Above: Aref El-Rayess. Untitled. 1961. Oil on hardboard. 63 x 51.5 cm. Image courtesy Sotheby’s. Below: Saliba Douaihy. Untitled. 1974. Acrylic on canvas. Diptych. 60 x 92 cm each. 170 in Douaihy’s work is the infusion of geometric forms he employed as part of a growing minimalist tendency in his oeuvre , all the while adhering to a spiritual pursuit: for him, the Lebanese landscape was divine. In 1950 Douaihy moved to New York, where he came into contact with artists of the Abstract Expressionist movement. He subsequently embarked on an intellectual pursuit of simplifying forms and flattening landscapes, which he continued for the last two decades of his life. Choucair, who is the subject of a major exhibition at the Tate next April, was an apprentice of Farroukh and Onsi and also a student of the famed French artist Fernand Léger (1881–1955). Though she was introduced to the non-figurative movement in Paris, her return to Lebanon saw her develop an abstraction in- spired by Sufism, Islam and Arabic poetry. It was during her studies in philosophy at the American University in Beirut that Choucair’s fascination with Islamic art as an abstract notion was triggered, when a professor had announced that the genre was pure ornamentation. Choucair disagreed and began her lifelong work, interlocking the curve and the line from Islamic design in abstract forms and in various materials and sizes. She faced obstacles for her non-representational work when audiences in the 1950s sought a more defining narrative; this audi- ence was also somewhat discriminative of gender, faith and personal philosophy. Fundamentally, Choucair looked for the unapparent within the apparent, for the invisible within the visible. This divine pursuit is also exemplified in the works of El-Rayess. Largely self- taught, he pursued his artistic training in Paris and Rome rather late in life and taught at several universities in Lebanon. With the onset of the Lebanese Civil War, El-Rayess relocated to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where he was commissioned to create a public sculpture, which celebrated light and divinity through its soaring steel structures, and still stands there today. El-Rayess was primarily concerned with how art could lead to liberty and a spiritual quest in its visual embodiment of beauty and nature. Al-Said’s practice, on the other hand, was intrinsically tied to Islam; essentially, he looked for God through art and for him, painting as an art form was an ephemeral divine journey – simply a means to get closer to God. A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Al-Said returned to Iraq and, along with the revered Jewad Selim (1921–61), founded the Baghdad Modern Art Group in 1951. The group’s fundamental premise was the meshing of traditional and national elements in a modern manner. Al-Said abandoned his ini- tial figurative work and embarked on a search for transcendence, which entailed negotiating notions of time and space. Choucair looked for the unapparent within the apparent, for the invisible within the visible 171 172 Shakir Hassan Al-Said. Untitled 1983. Mixed media on panel. 122 x 91 cm. [For Shakir Hassan Al-Said], painting as an art form was an ephemeral divine journey – simply a means to get closer to God. 173 174 175 Aref El-Rayess. (Detail) Untitled. 1961. Oil on hardboard. 63 x 51.5 cm. Image courtesy Sotheby’s. 176 The advances made by Arab independence movements were mirrored by a desire on the part of the region’s artists to move away from the vernacular towards the creation of works with a broader dimension and more contemporary relevence. As their societies were modernising, so these artists felt the need to carve a cultural identity that reflected the groundbreaking social and political changes that were taking place. Despite living in what were traditionally rather closed societies, some Arab artists had always transgressed the recognised norms, and in the post-colonial era, many decided to use modernity as a vehicle through which they could both ‘sur- pass and succeed’. Whereas many of today’s Contemporary artists are preoccupied with their own personal inspirations, their Modern predecessors were more con- cerned with the wider issues of Arab identity and nationalism. The context in which they were working was both complex and fast-changing, with the Arab states find- ing themselves caught between East and West across a wide spectrum of different policies and concerns, which their newly created governments sought to address. Despite the success of the quest for independence, internal and regional conflicts continued to plague the new administrations: for example, from the mid-1940s on- wards, Syria experienced several coup d’états, entered a pact with the Soviet Union in 1956, was embroiled in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and saw power eventually seized by the Baathist Party. The Baathists also took control in Iraq, where the Hashemite monarchy had been overthrown in 1958, and closer ties forged with the Soviet Un- ion. Then, in 1979, came the instalment of Saddam Hussein. Arab nationalism was epitomised in the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose pan-Arab ideology of Nasserism swept the region. Although revered and admired by many, Abdel Nasser presided over an Egypt undergoing profound social, political and economic change: the Arab war against Israel, the 1956 Suez Crisis following Abdel Nasser’s nationalisa- tion of the canal, his death in 1970, the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the installation of Anwar Sadat as president in 1970, all made for a time of great upheaval. TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS The impact of these conflicts was reflected in the works of a group of Modern Arab artists who were primarily concerned with the human condition, class sys- tems and the strife taking place within society. In addition to a desire to express the new nationalism and identity was an appeal to consider the people and their suffering. This sensitivity to the plight of others embodies the oeuvre of Syrian- born Louay Kayyali (1934–78), who essentially codified sensuality within a society that repressed it. A delicate sense of sadness is prevalent in Kayyali’s works. Though many of his subjects came from poor backgrounds – fishermen, flute players and other members of the working class – they are not rendered as impoverished. Rather, they embody an appeal, an expression of welcoming and serenity, but with a message nonetheless of inner conflict. In subtle gestures, Kayyali’s subjects pronounce their misery in a manner reflective of the depression from which the artist suffered. Lebanon’s Paul Guiragossian (1926–2003) also chose subjects from SOCIAL REALISM II 176