Her Royal Highness Princess Jawaher Bint Majed Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud is affectionately known as “the patron of Saudi artists”. Myrna Ayad meets the Princess in her Jeddah home and discusses her impressive art collection, the establishment of the Al-Mansouria Foundation and the future of Saudi art. stately patronage HeR RoyAl HigHneSS PRinceSS JAwAHeR Bint MAJed Bin ABdul Aziz Al-SAud This page: Mahmoud Mokhtar. La Porteuse d’Eau . 1931. Bronze. 82 x 17 x 16.5 cm. Centre page: A view of the main staircase in the house, designed with hand-sculpted limestone, by interior architect Gilles Saint Gilles. Last page: Adam Henein. Rest 1955. Bronze. 37.5 x 62 x 28.5 cm. All photography by Rabih Andraos. 88 93 I could feel the temperature gently fluctuate between different parts of the house – the thermostat finely tuned to protect artworks – and no- ticed how a group of rare Islamic manuscripts hung underneath a 17th-century Mamluk Qur’an holder, facing Mahmoud Mokhtar’s bronze La Porteuse d’Eau at the base of a winding marble staircase. The after- noon sun’s rays flickered through three Ottoman glass windows – two others of which, I later learn, are part of the Islamic collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum. Eight paintings of Mecca by French Ori- entalist Etienne Dinet circled the domed alcove; bathed in beautiful light, they hung above 17th-century Ottoman consoles inlaid with bone and ivory. It felt as though there was a curatorial intent in the house’s overall arrangement. “Your house is like a museum,” I said. “My house is a museum, in terms of light, space, height and circulation,” replied Her Royal Highness Princess Jawaher Bint Majed Al-Saud, daughter of the late Prince Majed Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, who was Emir of Mecca for 21 years. We sit in one of her favourite rooms, where volumes of books line the shelves, punctuated by framed family photos, sculptures and other artworks. I spot Pablo Gargallo’s bronze Masque de Kiki de Montparnasse – another edi- tion of which is housed in the Louvre – and the Princess regales me with the story of how she purchased it decades ago. On the coffee-table is a copy of Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence , dotted with Post-It notes. It isn’t too long before one realises that the Princess’s home is very much an exten- sion of her personality, expressed particularly through an arrangement of individual items that is anything but random. “Decoration,” she says, leaning forward, her tone cautious, “is there to hide mistakes made by architects. So if you have no mistakes, you have nothing to hide!” She then laughs heartily, “So you see, decoration in this house is minimal.” Facing page and below (detail): An Ottoman Paravan inlaid with turtle shell and ivory. 16th century. 210 x 280 x 3 cm. Photography by Rabih Andraos. ART PATRON 95 94 This page: Ziad Dalloul. Quintette Fluvial 2005. Oil on canvas. 130 x 162 cm. Photography by Rabih Andraos. Facing page above: Faisal Samra. Head No 15 . 2000. Wire mesh, mixed media, glass and steel. Steel stand, glass and head measure 150 x 20 x 20 cm, 20 x 30 cm and 30 x 22 cm, respectively. Photography by Rabih Andraos. Facing page below: Shadia Alem. From the book Jinniyat Lar with text by Raja Alem. 2000. One of 12 hand-finished original silk-screen prints, on Vélin de Rives paper. Limited edition of 200 copies, each encased in a hand-bound box. 42 x 60 cm. “I am an Islamic person, I feel strong in my identity... the Islamic civilisation is one of the greatest civilisations and I want to celebrate this, surround myself with it and come back to my roots.” 96 ART PATRON FROM THE GROuND uP The preliminary premise for the house’s construc- tion was for it to accommodate the Princess’s art collection, which ranges from Orientalist paint- ings and Islamic artefacts to Modern and Con- temporary Arab and Western artworks, among others. Even before ground was broken on the home which would take 11 years to complete, the Princess had intended for her Jeddah resi- dence to become her legacy – a gift and a focus for those who appreciate art and culture. Through a lifetime of intellectual pursuit – studying books, scouring exhibitions and travelling the world – the Princess’s home was built around a careful ad- herence to Islamic architecture and design, and is a thorough reflection of her own personality. “I am an Islamic person, I feel strong in my iden- tity,” she asserts; “The Islamic civilisation is one of the greatest civilisations and I want to celebrate this, surround myself with it and come back to my roots.” After meeting numerous architects and in- terior designers, she settled on Gilles Saint Gilles, making her home his first project in contempo- rary Islamic architecture. The Princess lent Gilles 102 books on Islamic art and architecture, com- plete with notes on her likes and dislikes. “I told him, ‘I’m going to let you see what I see through my eyes’.” As opposed to artworks adapting to rooms and halls, the Princess was intent on just the opposite – the structure would be built to accommodate pieces from her collection – one example being the dining room’s centrepiece, a 16th-century Ottoman paravan inlaid with turtle shell and ivory. The result? A sum that is greater than its individual parts. The synergy by which all elements fall into place is absolutely seamless. THE BIGGER PICTuRE The house is also the seat of the Al- Mansouria Foundation, an organisation established in 1999 by the Princess to promote Saudi art. “This country gave me so much, from love and security and more,” she says, “and so shouldn’t I give something back to it?” The Foundation was named after its pre- mier supporter, the Princess’s husband, Prince Mansour Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, “who stood beside me and without whom this would not have been made possible.” The Foundation is another legacy which the Princess would like to impart to her daughters. “After personally col- lecting art, I realised I should have a stronger role on the Saudi art scene,” she says. For two years after the inception of the Al-Mansouria Foun- dation, the Princess, together with her team of leading art experts, held exhibitions for Saudi artists – both in the Kingdom and overseas, in France, Switzerland, Korea, Egypt and Lebanon, among others – and organised a series of pub- lications on their work. “We have very good art- ists in Saudi Arabia and what my Foundation is trying to do is document their experiences, buy their work and showcase it around the world,” says the Princess. Through the Foundation, re- nowned Saudi-born Bahrain-based Faisal Samra ( Canvas 1.2) held his first exhibition in his home country; and among the roster of Saudi artists “After personally collecting art, I realised I should have a stronger role on the Saudi art scene.” Facing page: Above: Works by Etienne Dinet. Prayer at Sunset . 1901. Grisaille on board. 33 x 50.8 cm; The Sa’y . 1901. Grisaille on board. 33 x 50.8 cm. Two of a set of eight. Below: An Ottoman console inlaid with bone and ivory. 17th century; A Mamluk Qur’an holder and Qur’an boxes. 16th century. Photography by Rabih Andraos. This page: Pablo Gargallo. Masque de Kiki de Montparnasse . 1928. Bronze. 20 x 18 x 12 cm. Photography by Rabih Andraos. 98 which the Foundation supports are Zaman Jas- sim, Shadia Alem and Mahdi Al-Jeraibi, whose careers have been propelled internationally by the Foundation’s patronage. “We are committed to celebrating Saudi Arabia’s perspective,” says the Princess, “and we are keen on setting up a dialogue with other cultures within the global Contemporary art movement.” In tandem with this vision, the Foundation purchased a studio – the Al-Mansouria Atelier – in 2001 at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Since its opening in 1965, the institution has ac- commodated over 18,000 international artists as part of its mission to further artistic practice, discourse and techniques. Residency selections are made by the Foundation and the Cité Inter- nationale des Arts, and among the Arab artists who have completed residency programmes at the Atelier are Samra, Jassim, Al-Jeraibi, Abdulaziz Ashour, Rafa Nasiri, Mohammed Omar Khalil and Ehab El-Laban. Some have enjoyed sell-out shows and stayed at the Atelier more than once, often for much longer than the minimum two- month stay. For its 10-year anniversary in 2011, the Foundation is planning to present the Atelier’s Collection – a catalogue and exhibition of works donated by artists who the Atelier has hosted. Following the completion of Mecca-born Al- Jeraibi’s residency, the Foundation had organised Dialectics, an exhibition scheduled for October 2001 and in which it had invested a great deal of time curating, organising, promoting and pub- lishing a catalogue. But then tragedy struck the world with 9/11; severe political ramifications followed and with it came an intensely negative perception of the Middle East. Profound stere- otyping intensified, and to date, the Princess is “unsure and confused” as to how deep the ef- fects of 9/11 remain on Saudi art, emphasising however that “art and culture are the victims of political situations.” Al-Jeraibi’s show went ahead as planned, awarding the conceptual artist par- ticipation in La Force de l’Esprit , an exhibition and auction at Paris’s Drouot Montaigne in Septem- ber 2002, as well as in Babel 2002 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea. “We are committed to celebrating Saudi Arabia’s perspective.” ART PATRON This page: A coloured glass window. 1893. Moulded and carved stucco produced in Egypt during the Ottoman period. 82 x 60 x 3.5 cm. One of a set of three. Photography by Rabih Andraos. Facing page: A group of rare calligraphy manuscripts produced in 1495 AD(901h) and 1858 AD (1275h) and a 17th-century AD Mamluk Qur’an holder. Photography by Rabih Andraos. 101 100 This page: Two works by Youssef Jaha. Above: Untitled. 2000. Oil on canvas. 99 x 91.4 cm; Below: Untitled. 2000. Oil on canvas. 98.5 x 91.6 cm. Facing page: Zaman Jassim. Remains of a Memory–2 1998. Acrylic on canvas. 61 x 46 cm. 102 103 The WriTTen And The recognised “At the time [following 9/11], i thought it would be better to concentrate on the publishing of books,” says the Princess. The Foundation has, to date, published eight titles, all of which are bilingual, with the exception of a hefty mono- graph on Adam henein ( Canvas 2.2), whose 345-page tome, co-published with skira for english and French versions and dar el-shorouk for Arabic, covers the egyptian artist’s 55-year career. Featuring paintings and sculptures, the book was launched after henein’s retrospec- tive at the Prince Taz Palace in cairo, which the Foundation organised in 2006. other books in the Foundation’s roster are Images of Saudi Ara- bia, Hammas , monographs on Faisal samra and dia Aziz dia and Signs and Jinniyat Lar (which combines art and poetry). The Foundation’s lat- est venture is The Door – launched on the occa- sion of the King Khaled exhibition in May of this year. The Door celebrates the door of the holy Kaa’ba, one of the late King’s legacies [through his tireless patronage of it], alongside texts by distinguished writers and five etchings by the renowned Ziad dalloul ( Canvas 1.2), which por- tray the variation of light at each of islam’s daily prayer times. Aside from publishing and holding exhibi- tions, the Foundation also lends works to vari- ous cultural endeavours, among them the cairo Biennial; pieces by Al-Jeraibi formed part of Edge of Arabia’s debut at London’s school of oriental and African studies in october 2008; and he- nein’s Umm Kulthum sculpture was donated to The Fourth Pyramid , a travelling exhibition begin- ning at the institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and which celebrated the late singer’s legacy. The Princess remains adamant that cultural educa- tion must begin domestically. “it requires many people in different fields to make an impact,” she says, “one entity alone cannot bring this about, we are talking about influencing an entire com- munity.” efforts to promote contemporary saudi art have been on the rise in recent years, begin- ning with the Edge of Arabia show. christie’s du- bai pioneered the sale of contemporary saudi art during their April 2009 auctions and more saudi artists are being represented by regional and Western galleries. Jeddah’s Athr gallery’s sophomore participation at Art dubai this year reported great sales, and next year the Kingdom will host a pavilion at the Venice Bienniale. “They [saudi artists] really deserve to be rec- ognised now, while they’re alive, and that is what my Foundation is trying to do,” says the Princess, citing poor marketing and a sparse local art scene as disadvantages in the promotion of saudi art. “There are so many exhibitions to see in Paris on a weekly basis and this is precisely what i miss in “They [Saudi artists] really deserve to be recognised now, while they’re alive, and that is what my Foundation is trying to do.” ArT PATron the Arab world,” she says, “art appreciation can be nurtured and we simply have to do it.” The Prin- cess is aware that reaping the fruits of cultural labour requires time – enough time to plant, nur- ture and cultivate – and yet, she remains resolute that it must be done. “otherwise, i would feel very bad if i hadn’t tried my utmost best,” she says. she maintains that her ambitions for her Foundation are “utopian”, but stresses that “it is nothing but a pleasure and a gratitude to the Arab world.” A sAudi LegAcy The drive to widen the impact of art and culture is rooted in the philosophy instilled in the Princess since childhood. she spent the formative years of her life between riyadh and Jeddah, in homes that were steeped in islamic architectural traditions. classical music, the recitation of Arabic poetry and a great deal of reading were predominant aspects of her youth – and still are. her foray into the world of art began after she married, when, “like any woman, i wanted beautiful things to put in my home.” european fairs and galleries provided the basis for her art education, as did extensive read- ing, “which allowed me to become quite the con- noisseur,” she says. As far as her tastes went, she be- gan with classical art, veering towards orientalism, and believes that “to get to contemporary, you’ve got to go through the classics first.” her passion for islamic art grew with every trip to the Middle east, especially to istanbul and cairo – cities which re- main her favourites. “Because i was exposed to eu- ropean culture at such a young age, i started to feel like i wanted to withdraw to my roots,” she says, “i don’t know how that happens, but eventually you realise that this is who you are and it’s what you feel comfortable with.” A friend who owned a gallery in the eastern Province introduced the Princess to local art, and so began a mission to support contemporary saudi artists. “i have the biggest and best saudi art collection,” she beams, “and i am known as the mother of saudi artists.” The Princess re- fers to her vast collection as her “emotional documentation”, likening the works to music and its ability to transport one to another time or place. “But, when you get older, you start to consider how you want to be remembered,” she says, “and this is how i would like to be remem- bered – by giving to others the pleasure i have had with my collection.” For more information visit www.almansouria.org Facing page: A large ceramic bowl on a stand. 1800. Produced in Central Asia. Bowl: 46 x 50 x 50 cm; Stand: 112 x 30 x 30 cm. Photography by Rabih Andraos. This page: Mahdi Al-Jeraibi. (Detail) Untitled. 1997. Oil on canvas. 40 x 60 cm. All images © The Al-Mansouria Foundation.