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Dia Azzawi is internationally renowned as one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. Azzawi’s oeuvre includes a range of subjects derived from Iraq’s of Mesopotamian heritage, Arabic poetry and topical the political issues, executed in a variety of media: painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, and book art. artist He lives and works in London but continues to draw inspiration from his homeland, Iraq. Colophon presented Born in Baghdad in 1939, Azzawi started his artistic This catalogue is published in conjunction with the Frieze career in 1964, after graduating from the Institute Masters exhibition held in Regent’s Park, London, 15–19 October 2014. of Fine Arts in Baghdad and completing a degree in archaeology from Baghdad University in 1962. Published in 2014. In 1969, Azzawi co-founded the New Vision group, © Charles Pocock uniting fellow artists ideologically and culturally as © Saleem Al-Bahloly in opposed to stylistically. Through his involvement © Nada Shabout © Art Advisory Associates Ltd. pdf. with New Vision, Azzawi found inspiration in contemporary subjects and issues, particularly All works by Dia Azzawi © Dia Azzawi copy the plight of the Palestinians. From 1968 to 1976, Used by permission. All rights reserved. Azzawi was the director of the Iraqi Antiquities Department in Baghdad. He has lived in London ISBN: 978-1-907051-37-1 to since 1976, where he served as art advisor to the A catalogue record for this book is available from the British city’s Iraqi Cultural Centre from 1977 to 1980. Library, Library of Congress, Bibliothèque National de www.ibrahimicollection France, Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Al Noor Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be With exhibitions of his work held worldwide – reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted including, more recently, the unveiling of Sabra in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, and recording or otherwise, without the Shatila at the Tate Modern – his art features written permission of the publishers. in international private and public collections

Art Direction and Design by Noura Haggag of Meem Gallery including the Museums of Modern Art in Baghdad, Damascus and Tunis; Jordan National Gallery Edited by Samar Faruqi of Meem Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Published by the Publications Department of Meem with Art Modern Art, Doha; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Advisory Associates Ltd. Kinda Foundation, Saudi Arabia; Una Foundation,

Cover Photography by: Chris Wood, London. Casablanca; Arab Monetary Fund, Abu Dhabi; Development Fund, Kuwait; Jeddah International All the other images photographed by: Anthony Dawton. Airport; British Museum, Tate Modern, and Victoria London. for and Albert Museum, London; Institut du Monde Meem Gallery Arabe, Bibliothèque Nationale de France and Colas P.O. Box 290 publishing Dubai, United Arab Emirates Foundation, Paris; Harba Collection, Iraq and Tel: +971 4 3477883 Italy; Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon; and Library of www.meemartgallery.com Congress and the World Bank, Washington, DC. on the site courtesy

10 Contributors of 12 the Foreword artist 16 Utopian Reality: 26 Dia Azzawi, 1964– presented 30 1973 40 Iraqi Art in the 50 in 1960S & 1970S pdf. 80 90 In Conversation with copy Dia Azzawi to www.ibrahimicollectionExhibitions & Collections Bibliography

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Modern Arab Art: Formation of Arab Aesthetics

received a PhD in Anthropology Anthropology a PhD in received Saleem Al-Bahloly of California, the University Berkeley in 2014. from he is a fellow at EUME, year 2014-2015, During the at the programme research a multi-disciplinary he in Berlin, where Studien Forum Transregionale about art and the critique of is working on a book world during the 1970s. violence in the Arab of Meem Charles Pocock is Managing Director of Al Noor Institute of Gallery and the founder Middle Eastern Al Noor Library. Art (NIMEA) and to the Abu Dhabi Music and He is cultural advisor has written and produced Arts Foundation. He books on modern and contemporary numerous Middle Eastern publications on the art, including Ali Omar Ermes artists Dia Azzawi, Parviz Tanavoli, also writes art columns He and Abbas Kiarostami. on the subject in GCC journals. He provides commentary on the Middle Eastern a art market to number of leading international newspapers such , as the International Herald Tribune Journal, Fellow of the Royal Asiatic and Royal Geographical Geographical Fellow of the Royal Asiatic and Royal Societies in London. and the of Art History Nada Shabout is Professor Arab and Muslim of the Contemporary Director of Studies Initiative (CAMCSI) at the University of the She is the founding president North Texas. Association for Modernfrom and Contemporary Art (AMCA); the author Iran and Turkey the Arab World, of 2007); co-editor with (University of Florida Press, Salwa Mikdadi of New Vision: Art in the 21 Arab Century co-editing with Anneka Lenssen and Sarah Rogers co-editing with Anneka Lenssen and Sarah Rogers the forthcoming volume Modern of the Arab Art Primary Documents, part of the International World: at the Museum of ModernProgram Art, New York, of the director 2017. She is the founder and project Modern (MAIA), which documents Iraq Archive Art and digitizes modern Iraqi heritage. Shabout is the at Mathaf: Arab of Research Consulting Director Museum of Modern Art, Doha. Contributors

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on * See http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/ tateshots-dia-al-azzawi and http://www.theartnewspaper. com/articles/The-Tate-buys-work-about-Sabra-and-Shatila- massacres/27162. collection and after her passing in 2008, the estate the estate collection and after her passing in 2008, 2009, where was sold at Skinner Auction House in Barjeel Art Foundation. the work for the we acquired 1964 to from It feels that we have come full circle, 2014, fifty years. I cannot thank enough Samar Faruqi, Meem’s for editing and organizing of Research, Director our the content of this publication; Noura Haggag, book; and for designing a great Director, Creative of Business Director Meagan Kelly Horsman, Meem’s year ago, Development, who joined the gallery one for her focus on developing our participation in international art fairs and making Frieze Masters happen for Meem. Thank you all for your patience, understanding and for making this happen. publishingCharles Pocock Gallery Meem Managing Director, Dubai September 2014

for Kaissar Rizkallah, Kaissar Rizkallah, Charles Pocock, and Dia Azzawi in La Mirande, August Avignon, 2014 Eastern art but to Azzawi’s work from an early an early work from Eastern art but to Azzawi’s the 1960s and 1970s, many of period of his career, or Europe. which have not been exhibited in London to Britain in 1976, Baghdad Having moved from studio is London is very much home to Azzawi—his as well as his family. here my guide, I would like to thank Dia Azzawi for being an incredible my accomplice and above all for being Masters 2014 has been at Frieze friend. The project us in put together with Dia and he has supported I all ways: with the catalogue and the exhibition. for lending Azzawi-White would like to thank Tala works as well magnificent us some of her father’s as the collectors who lent works who would like to anonymous. I would like to thank Sultan bin remain Sooud Al-Qassemi and the Barjeel Art Foundation Mask, a work Meem for the loan of Pretenders for Barjeel at Skinner Auctions in Boston, acquired Massachusetts. The painting was first acquired first solo show at Al-Wasiti Azzawi’s from directly Gallery in Baghdad in 1965 by Louis Albert McMillen to the United States when Mr McMillen and brought Baghdad in the late 1960s. moved back home from After his death in the 1980s, his wife inherited his

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presented joined the permanent Sabra Shatila joined the permanent artist

What Professor Nada Shabout and Saleem Al- Shabout and Saleem Nada What Professor essays in this catalogue written in their Bahloly have cannot be bettered. Azzawi and his work about Dia getting really them enough for cannot thank I really and examining the subject matter to grips with the and the period it was the body of work exhibited exceptional in. Both Nada and Saleem are produced them honour to have is a great art historians and it this publication on Azzawi. both contributing to first Dia now for eight years. We I have worked with years ago in 2003 and it met at his studio eleven my worth. I have learnt prove took a few years to and with Dia. I cannot do justice so much from built over we have to the relationship with words and personal. I will the years, both professional and stress endeavour to ‘take it easy’ in times of quite happy when something is unacceptable, be well known to all to say ‘insult!’—expressions relationship those who know Dia well. I believe the close and between an artist and gallery should be respect, trust has to be mutually beneficial. There learn We and understanding between both parties. together. each other and grow from The international of modern awareness and contemporary Middle Eastern art has grown Azzawi’s rapidly over the past eight years. In 2012, masterpiece Modern, hung in the collection of the Tate Visions’ display at the museum.* We ‘Transformed Tanavoli, have seen the works of Azzawi, Parviz Ibrahim Salahi, Marwan and Abbas Kiarostami Modern, join the permanent collections of the Tate Pompidou, LACMA, MoMA, British Museum, Centre V & A, Mathaf, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Met in the past six years, to name a few leading international collections. Meem Gallery has worked with these leading artists and to see their directly audience and as part of work exhibited to a broader honour. this movement is a great of Dia Azzawi has been at the forefront contemporary Arab art for fifty years. His paintings exhibited at Frieze Masters in October 2014 will not only expose a new audience to modern Middle

of1974 to 1964 Azzawi:

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the Stylistically, Stylistically, 4 on A student of the Iraqi modernA student like Faiq pioneers, he Arts in Baghdad, the Institute of Fine Hassan, at ancient its with Iraq through his love affair had started of the at the Faculty archeology heritage, studying studied Having at Baghdad University. Humanities academic art styles at the institute and European through at the university, ancient Iraqi mythology tensions Azzawi developed these contrasts and understanding of the a unique and intimate while simultaneously layers of Iraqi history, different deciphering modern It also made him art movements. ancient and moderngrasp the affinity between forms. Humanities Azzawi joined the At the Faculty of the by the artist Atelier directed active Free extremely that was transformed The atelier Hafidh al-Droubi. in 1953 is Group later into the Impressionist further harnessed Azzawi his love for where probably Al-Nawab poet Muzaffar meeting the poetry through and other Iraqi intellectuals of the time. however, Azzawi and many of the other artists in Azzawi and many of the other artists in however, style. The Impressionist did not favour the the group in its focus on Iraqi unity was manifest more group subjects rather than style. an the beginning expressed style from Azzawi’s of Jamaat Baghdad in the earlier experiments interest of ModernLil Fan al-Hadith (Baghdad Group Art), best-known modern artist, Jewad formed by Iraq’s and their Selim and Shakir Hassan Al Said in 1951, with heritage. of an innovative engagement promotion most significant art group, as Iraq’s Considered step beyond what it as a necessary Selim perceived al-Ruwad (pioneers) had accomplished in their efforts modernto introduce art in Iraq, to initiate a new way of thinking about making art and to fulfil the notion of Moreover, negotiating both the past and the present. that constituted a movement/ it was the first group publishingschool of thought and style instead of a gathering Nevertheless, a philosophy. of artists who shared the concept of istilham understanding of Azzawi’s al-turath (seeking inspiration and motivation from that epistemologically from heritage) differed of Modernof the Baghdad Group Art, and his understanding of humanity diverged tremendously the changes of the period given theirs, reflecting from the socio-political fluctuations in society.

for 2 3 historical intersections as free outcomes outcomes intersections as free historical national the needs of able to subdue of evolution to their parallel and their cultures expressions. statements of contemporary In his journey of art, Azzawi’s understanding of a In his journey of art, Azzawi’s as a seeing content from painting was transformed its boundaries and existence surface that understood colour sensitivities into an interior evoking through his which he negotiates through personal extension In the later morphology, with humanity. relationships content no longer any distinctions between are there intertwine to construct what and form. Instead, they that ‘utopian reality’ I would argue is a dynamic its moment of expression, is capable of surviving ‘When man finds the way as Adonis would say. their external from stripped of illusion, things are adept to boundaries,’ Azzawi explains, ‘and become their inner being.’ express artist Azzawi is a transnational and trans-spatial decades of important spans several whose career In his region. moments and shifts in the history of the with Baghdad, intimate and passionate relationship for Iraq, Azzawi which equally acts as a surrogate is, a spatial constructed a ‘Baghdad imaginary’, that rather than territorial construct, often carrying place but not to time. This Baghdad to the references of inspiration source his main imaginary will remain in his work. His collective negotiated and is repeatedly of art that considers is in itself a total work oeuvre directions many of the same concerns different from With moments. recognized a strongly and at different and prolific and distinct personal style, Azzawi is a daring artist who continuously experiments with various topics mediums and has addressed different love to war. in his work from The Beginnings oldest and Azzawi was born in one of Baghdad’s most traditional neighbourhoods, al-Fadhil, with and involvements, siblings of diverse artistic interests whom he was exposed to the city’s through by up surrounded he grew intellectual life. Moreover, Thus from rich with folkloric iconography. a culture pulse and an early age he had his finger on the city’s participated in her various events.

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artist Unknown text, mysterious, beautiful ancient Unknown text, mysterious, beautiful ancient heritage, neglected wall drawings, and what individual and collective histories and concerns, as well as of secrets reveal outbursts that emerge some of humanity’s These documents in the midst of restraint. signs, whether accidental or as an are a national history and inclination towards my and these are living popular memory, Their value expression. means to effective is in what they construct, in the least, as that surpasses the an extant relationship knowledge of the viewer or new intervals of consciousness; times that counter isolated and temporary visual statements. These us with common internal present sources to human assets and daily life. regulations It also displays possibilities that explain ‘The art we want is the art that arises from and and arises from want is the art that ‘The art we the It is the art that takes in humanity. culminates If art has and goal. as its source human being would be its meaning,’ in my opinion this meaning, Adonis in 1953. the Arab poet wrote

the aesthetics and style but art should not be about its endless toils. His rejection about humanity and not only evoked the heated of ‘art for art sake’ conservative and progressive debates between the but also came at a time modernists in Europe, touted as a triumph of the when formalism was in the Arab world, Artistic progress avant-garde. be based on ideology and he argued, should to aesthetics and form, existentialism as opposed the latter. the former shaping Nevertheless, Adonis’ stance on art equally of modern Arab artists the predicament reflected in the in their quest to negotiate their place several experiments were history of art. There artists by the earlier generation of the pioneer to localize in the Arab world, in Iraq specifically, their formal their subject matter and to an extent of works. One of the in the execution approach Arab world, most influential artists in Iraq and the to abandon neither. strove Dia Azzawi, however, exhibition at Nadhar to his 1976 In an introduction Gallery in Casablanca, Azzawi explained: Nada Shabout Nada

of 1964–1974 Azzawi, Dia

Utopian Reality: Reality: Utopian 14 courtesy 17 site

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on Hence the prevalence of of prevalence Hence the 8

10 (1964), the artist abstracts Ancient Symbols (1964), the artist abstracts Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, Return (1962) to Jaykur Under the sun of the green east— green Under the sun of the horse of a dream, on the grey bounteous summer Jaykur’s through roads, I rushed along distant between flowers, dew and water, star, the horizon for a searching a birthplace of the soul beneath the skies for a spring to slake the flames of thirst, traveller. for the exhausted searching Azzawi eliminates the presence of the contemporary contemporary of the the presence Azzawi eliminates through present existence is instead person whose the past.’ traces of Azzawi’s works displayed in the 1964 Annual in the 1964 Annual works displayed Azzawi’s Exhibition of the Iraqi Artists Association and the introduced Group, Exhibition of the Impressionist ancient audiences to his negotiations between Iraq’s and folkloric heritage and modern form. In the painting cultural iconography into a survey of possibility of meaning. Recalling two distinct cultural periods Azzawi’s early works express his mastery of line and his mastery of line and early works express Azzawi’s relationship graphic qualities, but equally betray his which develops into a central theme with poetry, conveyed a in his later work. His work has always and of poetic sense: the poetics of line, of colour abandons the intimacy Azzawi never relationships. of the line but later its delicacy is overpowered of his colours. and sensitivity by the strength his Nevertheless, his early work, which divulges back through distinctive style, will continue to flash in his early present his later work. The Arabic letter, works, transforms in many ways to become the his earlier love for line and where meeting ground poetry is manifest in new negotiations between text and image. the notion of the epic in Azzawi’s work almost work almost of the epic in Azzawi’s the notion a moral which beginnings, through form the very direct In his later work, a more position is revealed. the is found, nevertheless, still within confrontation epical construct. Stylistic Transformation publishing

for Al-Rawi Al-Rawi 7 Thus Azzawi’s person is almost never person is almost never Thus Azzawi’s 5 She is not a linear construct nor does she she She is not a linear construct nor does 6 For the Baghdad Group of Modern Art, Baghdad’s of Modern Art, Baghdad’s Group For the Baghdad of preservation with its popular culture contemporary They was the main emphasis. folklore tradition and in coining the contemporary very successful were and today prevalent that remains Iraqi iconography profoundly generations were with which the following to negotiate a local style engaged. Selim managed dialogue with the internationalthat was also in full the scope modern however, movements. For Azzawi, was very limiting. The world of Azzawi’s the group concerned not concretely with the paintings were His works had no geographical or temporal present. through instead a utopian reality boundaries. It was of history in Iraq intersected which various moments juxtaposed. He did not discriminate against and were form or content, and constructed a transcendent at first celebrated the that existence; a hyperreality possibilities of further glory. always Nevertheless, his constructed world was Azzawi, about people, even in their absence. For ‘a person (al-Shakhs) is an integrated world, by extended, pervasive, influential, and influenced hustling to [periods of] activities from all of life’s he has a temporal dimension, silence. Moreover, this person the impact of emotions, and through amplified extends to events and times. He is also while he exists through passion and dreams through his mythological his apathy personified through interests.’ necessarily exist in a chronology of history. Hers is Hers is of history. necessarily exist in a chronology She is, history. rather a dialectic existence through an incapacitated person because of her however, utopian existence and dreams. 1971 solo exhibition to Azzawi’s In the introduction at the Baghdad National Museum of Modern Art, the ‘If I may propose critic Moa’id Shukri al-Rawi wrote, period of Iraqi art with [the ending a progressive artist Jewad] Selim as someone who developed a fundamental vision for Iraqi art, then I can also point to Azzawi as someone who continued, intensified conscious, a more and advanced that vision from inclusive and informed private world.’ individualized but is rather constructed as a type, a as a type, a individualized but is rather constructed persona. argued that ‘in his contemporary moral stance, argued that ‘in his contemporary moral stance,

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Shakir Hassan Al Said (1954) Al Deek Al Faseeh (The Articulate Cockerel) Oil on canvas 60 * 44 cm Image Courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation 16 courtesy 19 site

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Jewad Selim Baghdadiyat (1956) Mixed media on board 98.5 * 169 cm Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha 18 courtesy 21 site

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for Faiq Hassan (1950) Bedouin Tent Oil on wood 58 * 74 cm Private Collection, London

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pdf. 12 in He further explained its timeless He further explained its timeless 13 helped Azzawi construct his Epic of Gilgamesh helped Azzawi construct his of interest. Here again, the graphic qualities of the the graphic qualities of again, the Here of interest. is the colour palette but strong are composition feeling to the sombre adding a quite conservative, smaller by the contrast created The strong moment. that initiates the tension in the painting of red areas work. in Azzawi’s a signature will remain Pretender Azzawi’s year, Executed in the same subdued pallete he earthy, Mask (1966) displays the of his later work. While one could abandons in much in ancient mythology with clearly situate the mask to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the title betrays references new focus on contemporary political Azzawi’s a volcano that erupts events. The mask resembles including carrying several symbols, ground the from hand. a very clear contemporary sign of the The it into what he termed and transform utopian reality and content, ‘epical contemporaneity’, as both style its plastic dimension a presence achieve through ‘To reality.’ tied to our psychological and intellectual significance based on the universal concepts it significance based on the universal concepts it particularly that of the injustice of death, addresses, The epic presented a meeting ground for Azzawi’s for Azzawi’s ground a meeting The epic presented poetry and his concern love of ancient mythology, with contemporary issues. The Epic of Gilgamesh of the king is a poem that narrates the adventures insights into of Uruk in Babylonia while offering friendship love and adventure, man and nature, story about and combat, and life and death. It is a ends in however, the meaning of life. The story, thus illustrating a failed struggle for immortality, the impossibility of a utopia. drawings, produced from 1966 to 1967, Azzawi 1966 to 1967, Azzawi from drawings, produced a means of guiding his the ancient epic as explored of the concept of and representation interpretation struggle in a contemporary context. Azzawi articulated his admiration of the Epic in an essay published in 1965 in the Amiloun fil Naft magazine edited by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, which he opened with: ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh, that should be named the eternal Iraqi “Odyssey”, is a masterpiece epic in It is the oldest heroic of world literature. history with no parallel in any ancient civilizations the Greek.’ before

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(1966), the Islamic Folkloric Mythology (1966), the Islamic In Azzawi’s, history seem to overpower elements of Iraq’s animal that of the ancient. The horse, a precious carries conflicting symbolism in Arab mythology, work, making several and significance in Azzawi’s In this work oeuvre. his appearances throughout connection yet obscure a ubiquitous Azzawi offers beneath it, between the horse and the structure the black cube which simultaneously references of Imam of the Ka’aba in Mecca and the shrine reality, Husayn in Karbala. Expounding the utopian virtually touching the horse floats above the ground, balancing two smaller moon above, the crescent the mirroring on his back, perhaps crescents – the Ka’aba and conflation of the two structures is There below. presented shrine – Imam Husayn’s no distinct geographical setting, leaving the viewer The crescents history. equally floating through and hilaliat (crescent-like) those of Selim’s recall of Modern Selim the Baghdad Group Art, where abstracted the visual rhythm and form of the ever- the two basic duality in his work through present into gestural and and square shapes of the circle shapes. However, stylized articulations in crescent move beyond equally signify Azzawi’s the crescents boundaries, particularly in choice of the group’s subject matter that extended beyond their sphere Stylistically his work of the early 1960s remained of the early 1960s remained Stylistically his work mythology ties to with stronger figurative more that maintained which was the thread and history, of Modern Baghdad Group his connection to the inheritor who could further Art as their anticipated use of colour reflected Azzawi’s their goals. Equally teacher Faiq Hassan. He the inspiration of his two distinct strands of was thus able to negotiate development in modern art: the philosophical Iraqi signs and symbols by the abstractions of Iraqi of Modern Hassan’s Baghdad Group Art and Faiq colour mastery of technique and the passionate of Iraqi representation direct sentiments of his more daily life. in Iraq, the painting resembles an impression of a of a an impression painting resembles in Iraq, the a traditional Iraqi kilim, seal imprinted on Sumerian an symbols creating time and place, the pervading cultural signatures. array of new 20 courtesy 23 site

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on There were a number of a number of were There 16 15 in 1965 forms a pivotal shift in the Epic in 1965 forms a pivotal shift in the Martyr’s to resume his participation in a wider discourse that in a wider his participation to resume he outlets in the country—as all intellectual covered his siblings. through did as a youngster witnessed generation of artists The 1960s Azzawi argues marked a pivotal shift, which of a modernthe actual beginning Iraqi art liberalism a pronounced through historiography, and experimentation. The establishment of the Academy of Fine Arts The establishment of the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1962, and the Department of Printmaking (graphic art) headed by the Polish about a new brought artist Roman Artemovsky, understanding of modernism. A new wave of artists did returned to Iraq. This group studying abroad but a number not only study in Western Europe, distinct developments that fostered the environment the environment that fostered distinct developments in the visual and new directions for new progress first time in For the arts, poetry and architecture. public art by Iraqi artists was the history of Iraq, including in various parts of the city, being erected Nasb al-Hurriya (the Monument of Jewad Selim’s Nasb al- al-Rahhal’s 1959–1962), Khalid Freedom, Umouma (Monument to Motherhood), the architect Nasb al-Jundi al-Majhoul (The Rifat al-Chaderji’s and Unknown Soldier Monument, 1959–1961), Celebration of Victory Mural in 1958. Faiq Hassan’s the National Museum of Modern Art Additionally, was inaugurated in 1962. established giving A number of art galleries were which space for artists to exhibit their work, number of exhibitions. the consequently increased and Solo artists’ exhibitions started in 1964 lists two multiplied with time. Azzawi specifically Fattah, exhibitions by Kadhim Haider and Ismail as two of although contradictory in their vision, introduced the most influential at the time. Fattah’s Of a new understanding of modern sculpture. ‘The exhibition of Azzawi recalled, Kadhim Haider’s the history of Iraqi art. The exhibition took place during complex political and cultural circumstances, into a contemporary which transformed martyrdom any symbol loaded with tragedy and away from publishing signification.’ religious

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14 the ‘eternal struggle between man’s inevitable death death inevitable the ‘eternal between man’s struggle for existence.’ desire and his subjugated Azzawi’s utopian concept of reality takes a takes a concept of reality utopian Azzawi’s elements of the various approach deconstructive possible contemporary involved to probe the notion It thus goes beyond reinterpretations. that combines diverse of a synthetic composition reading by history to a direct elements inspired of cultural memories. It also of historical analyses of a narrative a perception retain allowed Azzawi to and never linear or that is always fragmented took his negotiations of the contained. It equally level, between text and image to a new relationship lose their intrinsic meaning in which both media temporal and and value to form a new distortion of spatial spheres. carry Another historical theme that came to the contemporary significance for Iraqis is Muhammed’s Prophet of Husayn— the martyrdom of Karbala grandson who was killed in the battle In its contemporary in Iraq in the seventh century. the martyrdom manifestation in modern Iraqi culture, in Iraqi folkloric symbolism, came to represent, context of its religious and betrayal devoid suffering The Iraqi artist its political connotation. but retaining in 1964. Kadhim Haider first articulated the theme of the theme For Azzawi, his stylized deconstruction of a utopian reality further facilitated his shift from reality possible optimism to its opposite, a dystopian deceit and duplicity. that invokes anxiety, A New Vision Azzawi is one of the few Iraqi artists of his generation who was fully trained in Iraq. During his education at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad and given he had very the lack of art books at its library, art movements. After limited access to European the new private Riwaq graduation, Azzawi directed Gallery) established by a number (Al-Wasiti al-Wasiti to European his exposure where of Iraqi architects, his modernism came through and its avant-gardes scholarships contact with Iraqi artists returning from It was also and exhibiting in the gallery. to Europe he held his first solo exhibition in February where at the gallery allowed him his work 1965. Moreover,

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Kadhim Hayder Epic (1965) The Martyr’s Oil on canvas 91 * 127 cm Image Courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation 22 courtesy 25 site

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on Interconnection [Tawasal] In Interconnection 22 (1968), solidifies the new Visit the new al-Kassim (1968), solidifies to (1972), the figure is more is more (1972), the figure al-Yaman Waddah Azzawi’s Azzawi’s he introduced defiance that of contemporary trope or bottom of person at the edge the lonely through Abu is the son of The Imam al-Kassim the painting. and is in Baghdad, whose shrine Mussa al-Kadhim within the Iraqi folk culture. holds a special place of the city of Babylon His shrine on the outskirts visited by (modern frequently city of Hilla), is a site a special memory for Azzawi Iraqi families, and holds the same concept of of his childhood. Following significance used with the secularizing religious further within of Husayn, Azzawi reaches Martyrdom plane, By flattening the picture the Iraqi folk culture. form into colourful ornamentsAzzawi transforms the human focus. The woman at without sacrificing and is faced by Assyrian hair, has the foreground appears in the dog, a domestic, friendly animal, that work of this period. Azzawi’s of the human the dominance The shift towards is the figure, albeit not necessarily presence, demonstrated in Southern Bride (1969). Here, to ancient Azzawi does not abandon his references the decorative and Islamic history nor does he deny colours, plastic qualities of line. His complementary very economical, although his signature are however, is the focus of the dominates. The bride, who red work, appears mummified. In his Death Will Be Your Bridal (1970) the space of the painting is busier. occupies the space, however, than one figure More they do as a dominant form of the decorative. the Arabic letter takes a stronger Additionally, stance in the work. (1972), however, the figure is disentangled from the the is disentangled from the figure (1972), however, decorative form of line and colour composition. In isolated and quizzical as the negative space publishing in the painting and the ornamental increases Although no direct element becomes weaker. is found in Memories to the Azzawi figure reference (1973), one can still sense his trace in time. In the mid-1970s, Azzawi served in the army reserve During his time in the army, again for another year. Azzawi was only able to collect visual memories. Unable to draw or paint, he would only occasionally

for 21 Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement (1968), Azzawi’s reference to the to the reference (1968), Azzawi’s Crying Wolf Islamic mythology, after forming the New Vision Vision forming the New after Islamic mythology, mythical to the historical and went beyond Group, Azzawi the group, Through reality. his contemporary He art and revolution. parallels between drew society and built role for artists in specific charted a generation of the previous further on the objectives the public. by connecting with of the New Vision manifesto and expression A strong connect with the public to further desire the group’s concerns that was a poster exhibition shared through in organizing in 1970. The artists Azzawi participated forum for civic honest to be a more found the street and posters the ideological connection than galleries with the public. art for generating dialogue of Azzawi continued to negotiate the mayhem the negative the time and his discontent through construct of the of the person. Azzawi’s presence existence contemporary person fluctuated between that eternal which recalls and being a memory, through struggle in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Moreover, his strong the aesthetics of absence, he registered eliminating any distinctive of the status quo, rejection of declaring his refusal and contemporary features the moment. In with the Iraqi kilim appears once again, along of the references Sumerian eyes and features, hilaliat, and his vibrant colour palette. Nevertheless, while the title is telling of the ethos of the time, The the common folkloric story. equally referencing to the police painting was instigated in reaction Al-Nawab. hunt for the poet and activist Muzaffar the distortion of time and space, While retaining of the one subconsciously senses the presence is the desert. Most striking, however, primordial woman at the lower right corner staring with at us in a moment of her Sumerian eyes directly Les femmes recalls Pablo Picasso’s defiance that version O (1955), a work in which the artist d’Alger, in Eugene deconstructed the Orientalist tropes Delacroix’s (1834). In this work Azzawi widens his utopian further while unknowingly engaging with a reality long tradition in the Western art historical canon.

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pdf. in The artist is no longer able to remain The artist is no longer able to remain 19 We reject the artist of partitions and the artist of partitions and reject We we will fall. But advance. We boundaries. We to the world our While we present not retreat. new vision.... from resulting social relations reject We reject what is given and we falsification masks to achieve the ones are We to us as charity. our justification of our existence through journey of change.... deny a military challenge the world. We We and intellectual defeat for our nation [our war glorify the popular liberation ummah]. We this signified by the martyrs ... the glory of nation. expressed the group’s vision in a strong language of of language strong vision in a the group’s expressed and political of social, cultural rejection and defiance It was not a new school conditions and limitations. injustice. vision towards of art but an activist the relationship most radical expression, In Azzawi’s while was declared between art and revolution in making a new humanity role articulating art’s Art as a capable of forming a better future. is further clarified. injustice mechanism of rejecting the human existence ‘submits to Art, he declared, and colour, its autonomous world by means of line, become two rebellion and mass, and thus, rejection the continuous act of existences inseparable from creativity.’ in further challenging the existing state of affairs. state of affairs. challenging the existing in further of the in October manifesto, published The group’s a New Vision title Towards under the same year, neutral but becomes akin to a freedom fighter, fida’i, fighter, neutral but becomes akin to a freedom who constituted a new model of a human being able and act upon his dissatisfaction with the to express resistance. world of injustice through the but through art was always political, Azzawi’s New Vision, it became politicized. It was precisely aspect this politicization that added a confrontational to his work during the late 1960s and early 1970s. artist is one who faces He believed that ‘[A] sincere for the challenges that accompanies the search without sacrificing his moral stance.’ true creativity Thus Azzawi’s concern with human suffering that that concern with human suffering Thus Azzawi’s ancient and negotiated through was previously

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the of (the New Vision Group), which in many which in many (the New Vision Group),

returned from China, Cuba, Poland, and the USSR. and the USSR. Cuba, Poland, China, returned from 1950s leading to the optimism of the The political that for a period an activism inciting 1958 revolution, state had evaporated itself with the of time aligned of the 1963 turmoil. in the wake Within the widespread feelings of defeat and anger, Within feelings of defeat and anger, the widespread the potential of pan- sentiment towards a strong for Arab unity was manifest Arabism and the desire (crisis) that resulted from the rapid the rapid from The 1967 Naksa (crisis) that resulted six-day loss of Arab armies against Israel in the social and war shocked and disrupted many of the and propelled cultural conventional understandings artists. It also intensified from reactions unfiltered among artists around current a new revolutionary exhibited his already Azzawi, who had the region. in Iraq dissatisfaction with what was happening while further his shift to the dystopian reality through emphasizing the absence of the contemporary active position. man in his work, now took a more In 1969, along with the artists Hashim Samarchi, Mohammad Mehr al-Din, Rafa al-Nasiri, Saleh al-Jumaie, and Ismail Fattah, formed al-Ruyya al-Jadidah ways further defied the legacy of the 1950s artists while simultaneously building on it. While Azzawi’s formal approach continued to pay to pay continued formal approach While Azzawi’s of Modern Group Art, he allegiance to the Baghdad selecting themes his subject matter, reconsidered that that extended beyond the local references artistic manifesto. of the group’s formed the core candid His late 1960s work added a particularly local political dimension to aestheticizing the that Jewad Selim had and characteristics folklore decade. As such intellectualized during the previous as was Azzawi challenged the notion of tradition of Modern Art. advocated by the Baghdad Group not dictatorial or of tradition was His perception bound by a local nationality. tensions of the time when he served his eighteen- tensions of the time in duty in the army reserve month compulsory in northern1966 and was stationed Iraq during the that for an independent Kurdistan Barazani Rebellion had turned the Iraqi army into a long war between and the Kurds. 24 courtesy 27 site

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on (notebook) that negotiated current that negotiated current daftar (notebook) 45 (November 1965): 1-7, 1-7, Al-Amilun fil Naft 45 (November 1965): 67 (Spring 1992): 165-6; and As’ad Orabi, Mawakif 67 (Spring 1992): 165-6; and As’ad Orabi, Al-Azzawi, ‘Manifesto: Towards a New Vision.’ Al-Azzawi, ‘Manifesto: Towards Ibid. Ibid. of by the Iraqi Directorate In 1968 Azzawi was hired The 1970s witnessed a second wave of intensified Samir al-Sa’igh, Azzawi, Exhibition catalogue, March for the introduction ‘Dia Azzawi: A Positive Modernity,’ Ibid. ’ al-Tashkili See Azzawi, ‘Al-Sitinat, Izdihar al-Wa’yee of internal The years between 1958 and1968 were a New Vision,’ in Al- Al-Azzawi, ‘Manifesto: Towards ‘Dia Azzawi and Yahya Swelim: Fine Arts in Iraq Faced Swelim: Fine Arts in Iraq Faced ‘Dia Azzawi and Yahya , First exhibition catalogue The New Vision Al-Azzawi, catalogue , First exhibition I: An Vol. ed., The Ancient Near East, See Pritchard, ’ (Historical Dia Azzawi, ‘Gilgamesh Tarikhiyan Nsus, no. 1 (1994), as Haider,’ Dia Azzawi, ‘Kadhim ’ (The Modern and the ’ (The ModernAl-Mustahdath wa al-Mawrouth and the 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 14 15 16 17 18 11 12 13 manuscript) in Islamic history was thus transformed to a to a thus transformed in Islamic history was manuscript) contemporary concerns. events and Antiquities to supervise the design of the galleries at the galleries at the Antiquities to supervise the design of the in Mosul new museums of antiquity outside of Baghdad (north of Iraq) and Nasiriya (south of Iraq), immersing him simultaneously in both ancient cultures. abstraction that allowed for the primacy of the Arabic letter beyond the initial individual experiments by Jamil Hammoudi and Madiha Umar. 1975, National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad. at Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris 2001. See retrospective Dia Azzawi, exhibition catalogue, 30 October 2001–13 January 2002, Institut du Monde Arabe and Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha. Dia Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. 30 October 2001-13 January 2002. Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 2001. (The Sixties, the Prosperity of the Visual Consciousness), the Visual of Consciousness), (The Sixties, the Prosperity Fradis 4/5 (Paris, 1992). political and social changes marked and great unrest the 14 July 1958 by a series of military revolutions: of the Iraqi monarchy that ended the reign revolution military regime and turned under the Iraq into a republic coup of 8 headed by Abd al-Karim Qasim; the military Party to power; the Ba’th February 1963, which brought attempts the time of instability caused by several failing the government, the accidental to overthrow followed by who Abd al-Salam Arif in April 1966, death of president Arif; Abd al-Rahman was then succeeded by his brother to brought then the 17 July 1968 military coup which of a renewed power the Revolutionary Command Council party and out of which Saddam Hussein gradually Ba’th figure. emerged as its strongest Bayanat al-Fanniyah fi al-Iraq (Art Manifestos in Iraq), n.p., 1973), edited by Shakir Hassan Al-Said (Baghdad: Vision’ of a New 31–35; also see Shakir Li’abi, ‘In Search in ‘ Inherited) in the same issue, 149-50. 578 (January 2007), Unfavorable Challenges,’ Al Arabi 578 (January 2007), Kuwait Ministry of Information: 68-77. Fussul min Tarikh Tarikh Said, Fussul min of artist). See Al (copy courtesy and Li’abi, In fi al-Iraq, part 2, 85; al-Tashkiliah al-Haraka of a New Vision, 1992): 166. Mawakif 67 (Spring Search , 40. and Pictures Anthology of Texts Gilgamesh), 19: 1. al-Basar: Nusus wa in Azzawi, Lawn Yajma’ reproduced (Colour Motivates Vision: Hiwarat fi al-Fan al-Tashkeely in the VisualArticles and Dialogues Arts), 50-61; 59. publishing

for , edited by Salma Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Salma Azzawi’s epistemologically holistic awareness of of epistemologically holistic awareness Azzawi’s , As quoted in Mu’ayyad Shukri al-Rawi, Dia Azzawi in Islamic of figures This is not unlike the representation Mu’ayyad Shukri al-Rawi, Dia Azzawi, 1. Ibid., 7. Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964), Return to Jaykur, Adonis, ‘The Meaning of the Painting, in al-Bina’ (9 Adonis, ‘The Meaning to his personal exhibition Azzawi, Introduction (The Artists in the Azzawi, ‘al-Fannan amam al-Tajruba Al-Nawab (b. 1934), is a leading revolutionary, Muzaffar All translations are by the author unless otherwise by the author unless otherwise All translations are noted. Exhibition catalogue, National Museum of Modern Art, ModernExhibition catalogue, National Museum of Art, Baghdad, February 1971, 5. a person is never individualized or animated art, where reveals of characteristics that but rather displays a group his or her identity. translated by Christopher Middleton and Lena Jayyusi, in 1991), Columbia University Press, Khadra Jayyusi (NY: 427-437, and 432. December 1953): 10. Adonis is the pen name of Ali Adonis is the pen name of Ali December 1953): 10. winning Syrian poet, an award Ahmad Said Esber, essayist, and translator. 1976, at Nadhar Gallery in Casablanca, Morocco, wa al-Basar: Nusus in Azzawi, Lawn Yajma’ reproduced (Colour Motivates Vision: Hiwarat fi al-Fan al-Tashkeely Articles and Dialogues in the Visual (London: Touch Arts), Edition, 2001). 129. (Baghdad, Face of Experience), al-Muthaqaf al-Arabi 1976). His Iraqi poet. and at the time a highly controversial His poetry contains Arab, Islamic and leftist symbolism. work championed using local and Southern Iraqi dialect various poignant His poetry addressed in modern poetry. with an impact political and social contemporary issues till today. that resonates 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 * 2 3 4 analysis, it is because of his utopian/dystopian utopian/dystopian is because of his analysis, it space that occupies a different that Azzawi realities which is why he and history, geography rejects beloved Iraq. will not return to his ultimately heritage while understanding the obsession with artistic heritage while understanding the obsession with artistic identity as a major political ramification of the twentieth led him to an important experiment with the century, Azzawi, the Arabic letter was primarily To Arabic letter. a plastic form with cultural and political significance, and positions. Withand occupied various roles time, the letter gave way to the dominance of the concept of the book, and in turn to another layer of history that of Arab nationalism, although the prominence preceded without denying it. The centrality of the book (the

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pdf. in correctly argued that Azzawi is not a regionalist, regionalist, Azzawi is not a argued that correctly Azzawi is a humanist. nor a nationalist. a globalist identity to one he does not profess As an artist On of humanity. or to a myopic understanding his is a discursive existence where the contrary, with ease and confidence through he treads and world heritage the historical continuum the uniqueness and distinction without sacrificing Nevertheless, his of his cultural background. to the past or nostalgic references never are Azzawi instead deconstructs commemorations. past to construct new inclusive the symbols of the criticism His work offers narratives of possibilities. aesthetics or of the status quo but never abandons the work. beauty as an essential component of form It is in the same manner that Azzawi negotiates The decorative, the figurative and the and colour. together in his work. always present abstract are firm creativity, dynamic Passionate expressions, celebration and positive stances on life (whether in not or mourning) by always defying and rejecting the vocabulary are ignoring injustice and savagery, his work is never formations. As a result, of Azzawi’s it always abstract, figurative or decorative. Rather, signifies larger issues of concern to humanity as away a whole. Nevertheless, Azzawi never shied negotiating ugliness. beauty as a means of from of reality, His visual language constructs a utopia an epical contemporaneity or ‘contemporaneous momentary of different allegories epic’. This creates and abstract fluctuate the figurative narratives where in a symphony of colour and form; narratives of anticipations and possibilities instead of memories. A self-exiled diaspora artist, Azzawi is comfortable in and transnationality his chosen location the freedom has granted him. He trusts what he calls in Europe savage, loud his internal storage of his heritage’s and rich colours in contrast to the coldness and hues of the London environment. grey sombre thinking, dominating the politics of western of western dominating the politics thinking, covertly).’ openly (and their culture countries Contradicting the daily reality of the city through of the city through Contradicting the daily reality an alternative colour creates to audience viewers into a conversation expectations, prompting he adds. Nevertheless, in the final about the other,

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mange to read a smuggled book. Upon his return, his return, book. Upon a smuggled read mange to embarked on drawing he immediately however, different in visual forms, of on his recollections titled the Human media in a set of works sizes and exhibition at the 1975 . In his March Conditions Museum of ModernBaghdad National Art, Azzawi in agony and deprived of exhibited his new person, she or he inhabited in any of the cultural signification his exhibition to works. In the introduction previous art critic Samir al-Sa’igh catalogue, the Lebanese isolation: ‘Azzawi figures’ Azzawi’s about wrote tensions between the two manipulates the old joy and boundless pain, brilliant positions: extreme Each position unites ambiguity. clarity and complex joy the moment separates between the two, where Then or proximity. and pain, without comprehension suddenly smiles turn is into wounds, and the night ignited by its intense darkness.’ Transgressions writer and art critic Alain In 2001, the French of Azzawi, ‘Dia Azzawi has wrote Jouffroy all the imperialist and instinctively transgressed colonialist categories that still disrupt western During the early 1970s, Azzawi’s activities activities During the early 1970s, Azzawi’s region. Along intensified both at home and in the Iraqi Artists with Ismail Fattah, he transformed the entity, proactive Association in 1971 into a more and with theatre relationships forging stronger A particularly important contribution of the poetry. was their idea of organizing two artists, however, which, for the first time, Festival the Al-Wasiti an opened the door for Baghdad to become for modern also artistic centre Arab art. Azzawi participated in organizing an Iraqi-Syrian art exhibition in Baghdad and Damascus in 1972, that bypassed the marking a unique occurrence activities. official state organization of inter-regional a In 1966, Azzawi was the first Iraqi artist to hold solo exhibition in Beirut, a move that opened the door to what became a tradition for Iraqi artists. that Azzawi’s new person resumes the epical aura of the epical aura of new person resumes that Azzawi’s his Monument humanity that Selim had charted with . Despite the sculptural qualities recalling of Freedom new person is that of the Azzawi’s Sumerian figures, contemporary Arab. 26 courtesy 29 site

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from the context of their use and re-arranged on the on their use and re-arranged the context of from of together into a kind fitted are they canvas, where would reappear Many of these symbols composition. instance, the sixties. For throughout in your work triangular patternssome of the in ‘Ancient we see in ‘VisitSymbols’ appear also (1968) to al-Kassim’ Can you tell us about these and ‘Crying Wolf’ (1968). you sought to do by using them? symbols, and what Because the beginning. from This painting is really University of Baghdad in of my studies at the I looked at a lot of very important archaeology, [National Museum of pieces in the Iraq Museum I also had the opportunity to Iraq] quite closely. mythology and to read gain knowledge about it In that regard, Sumerian and Babylonian poetry. the Institute was the opposite of my experience at very modest information we had of Fine Arts, where art and nothing about the history of European My study of about the ancient civilizations of Iraq. Egyptian not only Iraqi civilization but also ancient vision than and Syrian civilizations gave me a wider and whom that of the other artists in my generation I became I was with at the Institute of Fine Arts. in particular in folkloric production, very interested kilīm the kilim, or rug, especially what is called al-samawa or al-busut, which is a specific kind of south of Iraq. kilim widely used by peasants in the the kilim rather than So I tried to use motifs from civilizations. These Sumerian or other ancient from to the geometric work done by related motifs are women in Samawa, not by men. this kind of geometric that time, I tried to use From for a personal identity as work as part of my search an artist. For many years, when I was a student at the University of Baghdad and at the Institute of Fine publishingArts, I was very much influenced by Jewad Selim, In a sense, here, Faiq Hassan and Kadhim Haider. what I am trying to do in this piece is to put together to my own vision rather related something that’s than to the vision of others, and this was part of my to do something for myself when I wanted search been done. For to do something that had already example, Shakir Hassan [Al Said] also did a lot to the influence [of the kilim]. This of work related

for Even in 1964, when Even in 1964, when 3 Also by 1963 a space had been created for the Iraqi for the Iraqi created a space had been Also by 1963 Museum of Modern and the National Artists Society the Gulbenkian financed by Art was opened, of the Iraqi Artists The importance Foundation. us that it provided lay in the fact Society building and in particular for one- with an exhibition space, it became clear for many man shows. After 1963 important more shows were artists that one-man been exhibitions with others, which had than group So it became easy for many the norm in the fifties. to show their work. artists to have the opportunity again, Party came to power In 1968 when the Ba’th and it became easier to relaxed, more things were have again, or even to a group work with others as an exhibition abroad. It What was it like to work during that period? easy because of the chaos and that really wasn’t artists the politics and the uncertainty for most to work and writers. Some of them left Baghdad parts of the world. in Beirut. Others left to different in show, For me, when I had my own first one-man that I met and it was there Gallery, 1965, at Al-Wasiti Ismail Fattah and other artists, it was Kadhim Haider, to be involved obvious that I was an artist who tried raised by the in the identity question which had been of ModernBaghdad Group Art. I participated for the first time in the exhibition of the exhibition of the I participated for the first time in the it was clear that my work was Group, Impressionists that group. absolutely counter to the objective of al-Khal, the owner of I met Yusuf Gallery, At Al-Wasiti take the work Gallery One in Beirut. He asked me to exhibition, with other new work, the from remaining That opened to Beirut for a show at his gallery. the door for Rafa al-Nasiri, Salem al-Dabbagh and to also have an exhibition at Hashim Samarchi Portugal. What Gallery One when they returned from this meant was that Beirut became a kind of window working for us, opening the space in which we were beyond Baghdad. ‘Ancient Symbols’ (1964), One of the works here, was shown in that first exhibition you had at Al- Gallery in 1965. It is a large painting in which Wasiti isolated popular life are symbols drawn from different

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artist 2 Saleem Al-Bahloly: The ten works exhibited here, exhibited here, The ten works Saleem Al-Bahloly: a rough to 1973, offer 1964 from which date did in the first decade of the painting you overview to begin by asking I would like of your practice. that moment in the us a little bit about you to tell you first began to make art. early sixties, when a in 1958 were the revolution The years following Party and the time in Iraq, as the Ba’th harrowing became locked in a vicious Iraqi Communist Party culminated in the first Ba’th conflict that ultimately of not brutal repression coup in 1963 and their and those accused of being only the Communists, leftists in general. And yet it Communists, but also of that violence that a robust was in the aftermath into existence in Baghdad. practice of art came things became Dia Azzawi: After the revolution, the chaotic. What happened in 1963 is maybe the art, most important event that characterized sixties. That year a lot and politics of the literature or a long of intellectuals went to prison, for a short I was one of assassinated. time, and others were months, and those who went to prison, for three after that. was released still students at In 1965, a few artists, who were called the Institute of Fine Arts, formed a group and they the Mujadideen, or the Innovationists, many artists held an exhibition. At the same time, like Kadhim Haider abroad, returning from were they all held and Ismail Fattah among others, and very new at one-man shows. This was something did of the fifties hardly most that time. Throughout whether by we ever hear of a show by one artist, Jewad Selim or Faiq Hassan or al-Hafidh Droubi or any of the other Pioneer artists.

the exhibitions of Kadhim Haider and Ismail Fattah, and even that of Mohammad Mehr al-Din, who returned of them Poland—the three at that time from with them a style and topics that were brought very much new for the Iraqi art movement, despite work on Husayn or the fact that Kadhim Haider’s Karbala was something familiar to many artists, it at though not in the way in which he presented that time. Saleem Al-Bahloly Saleem

of Azzawi Dia with Conversation In

Iraqi Art in the 1960S & 1970S & 1960S the in Art Iraqi 28 courtesy 31 site

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Human States (1975) Oil on canvas 96 * 72 cm Kinda Foundation, Contemporary Arab Art Collection, Riyadh 30 courtesy 33 site

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At that time, composition was very rigid. I tried very rigid. I tried composition was At that time, balance of so that the the composition to break engage the viewer’s or element would each shape eyes can go around the sense that the vision, in just one element rather than to see the painting, that painting. In this work, and then depart from very with the decorative parts under it is the figure the to and the topic is related much a composition, than Baghdad. It is very much south of Iraq rather than to peasant life and narrative life rather to related everyday city life. have this hold on you? Why does the south richer than the north [Azzawi laughs]. Because it’s very No, but, in a sense, yes. Maybe I’m not For example, if we take to the north. much related the most the intellectual side of things, many of the south … writers, a lot from important poets are in that sense. of artists. It is richer in culture a number of artists – together In 1969 you brought Samarchi, Rafa al-Nasiri, Saleh al-Jumaie, Hashim – to Ismail Fattah, and Mohammad Mehr al-Din of art. On the make a statement about the practice of one hand the statement situated the practice that followed art in the new political circumstances with War the defeat of the Arab states in the June the statement was the Israel in 1967. On the other, movement in culmination of developments in the art In fact, much of the years. Iraq over the preceding your own practice. language used is drawn from cited as an For instance, ‘legends’ [‘asatir’] are will arrive at ‘historical means with which the artist the a new vision of the world’ that ‘cuts through fakeness’ [‘tamazaq al-tazayif’]. publishing The manifesto was published under the title, a New Vision’ [‘Nahwa al-Ru’iyya al- ‘Towards Jadeeda’], in a booklet that included images of works by each of the six artists who signed the statement. It was also published in a few newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Beirut. Among the images of your own work printed in was an image the booklet, as well as in the press, of ‘Crying Wolf’ (1968), which is being exhibited

for 5 If we look back at your work on Husayn in ‘Folklore on Husayn in ‘Folklore back at your work If we look Mythology’… belongs to something that to create I was trying at of others, and than the influence myself rather helpful to mythology was more that time folklore When you look at the work of me than other things. you see that their subjects are the Pioneer artists, I think the to the village than the city. more related son of a city is Jewad Selim. All only one who is the Faiq Hassan, did work that the others, in particular to the peasant or the sheikh or other was related nothing to do with life in the city, things which have in Baghdad for example. in the But how did you come to ‘asatir’, or legends, first place? If you listen to some of the lamentations about theIf you listen to some of the lamentations reader killing of Husayn – it is something that the hours, with an incredible for two or three recites – that sad atmosphere a very voice and that creates to knowmakes you closer to yourself. But you have going on. For me, when I use the history of what’s What Kadhimthe legend of Husayn, it is about 1963. Haider did in The Epic of the Martyr was also very him saying so. It is more to 1963 without much related which was very to that period or that event related and artists, and to many intellectuals violent towards leftists in general [than it is to Husayn himself]. work is As a composition, you can see that the illustration rather than to manuscript related more and made painting. I put the mosque in the front it the same size as the horse. The composition is flat not perspectival. For me, the point was to put emphasis on the horse rather than on other more elements in the painting, and in that way to put more emphasis on the martyr than the horse. see the same composition in ‘Southern We Bride’. The painting is itself almost desolate. The few ornamental are and the figure forms surrounding a line that functions not as a concentrated around one line of the horizon but as the kind of ground-line sees in manuscript illustrations.

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pdf. in one sect or the other. I remember that my family that my family I remember or the other. one sect part of my As a topic, this was there. used to go to something related to try to work with intention, terms of explanation, rather than to local humanity sect to this something is related to which according My view in the work I did on of society or the other. more this one and others, relates Husayn, however, the martyr or talk about To to politics than religion. of people to is to talk about the effort martyrdom than me much more interests find justice, and that side of mythology. the religious to ‘Visit years of al-Kassim’ – in those With regard for example Saleh al-Jumaie, other artists in Iraq, doing work on the mosque as a landscape also were amongst artists at it a trend of everyday life. Was practices? that time to look at popular religious [ Mask No. Let me tell you about Pretender an Islamic site Jouf]. I used to work in al-Ukhaidhir, When I would go to Karbala. about 45 minutes from I would Karbala to buy food and other provisions, which pass by on the way a site called al-Jouf, is a place that does not have clear architectural , I tried to Mask elements. In the painting Pretender visit to Karbala combine the faces I would see on my to the with this site. The hand you see is related come to the mosque people have when they desire Maybe in Karbala to get something for the future. fabric, hoping they put some money or use a green In the future. that they will get something out of it in of the people that way I tried to combine the reality I passed by each with the mysterious space there time on the way to Karbala. But why did you see these faces as masks [‘iqna’t’]? When you go to the mosque, you find a lot of wearing Most of these women are women there. see any part of their the abaya, and you can hardly a mask, but inside is a very face. This is in reality normal woman. Sometimes some of them even try men in the mosque. Because this is the to approach tradition, you cannot go with an open face to a holy place, but at the same time this is the only place women and men can meet each other. where

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Quickly though you moved to symbols of another of another Quickly though you moved to symbols kind, symbols with forms, unlike the triangular are patterns that on rugs or the crescent, found in what conceptual or semiotic and that are al- was coming at that time to be called ‘al-adab English, ‘al-foklor’. In from sha’biyya’, or borrowing ‘Folkloric Mythology’ [‘min al-asatir al-sha’biyya’] of the horse, an (1966), you work with the figure emblem of the martyr Husayn. At that time some friends and critics questioned how how At that time some friends and critics questioned to be part of our we could use Sumerian sculptures a completely modern of life when this is the product In a sense maybe this was a culture. different to something related them to do challenge from the past. everyday life rather than only talking about Why did it become important to work more closely closely more Why did it become important to work on everyday life? It was very easy for me to widen my vision by me to widen my vision by It was very easy for I did some parts of Iraqi culture. looking at different by Sumerian sculpture work very much influenced and at the same time I was also very in particular, some Assyrian works, but to go much influenced by to become closer to everyday to folkloric motifs was life rather than to use only the past. How did you move from archaeology to folklore? archaeology from How did you move painting is more about folkloric production than the the than folkloric production about more painting is or whether Abbasid civilization of Islam, intellectual is widely used it And as for the crescent, otherwise. of Karbala and motifs, in the mythology in folkloric very crude furniture small furniture, even in some the south of Iraq. used by peasants in Mythology was very much a part of most of my Mythology was very much a part of most of my thinking at that time, whether folkloric or ancient. in the I was interested In this work in particular, Husayn surrounding the Shi’a mythology, mythology, and the Battle of Karbala. For example, ‘Visit to al-Kassim’ is about a well-known mosque near the city of al-Halah that is popularly visited by both Shi’a and Sunni families. It is not associated with this turn in your practice narrative? towards 32 courtesy 35 site

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on ], the poet is mainly Rihan], the poet is mainly Ya

same in 1967 when the Egyptian army was crushed army was crushed when the Egyptian same in 1967 gave us some All of these events by the Israelis. this of this state, or the whole concept idea of how the tazayif. That’s was fake. regime, and the after 1963, became prominent Muzaffar and earlier began to circulate, poems he had written one of of the farmers was revolt this poem about the of his find collections you didn’t them. At that time of find a collection you rarely work, and even now out the poems he liked to read his poems, because of of friends or at the invitation loud among a group than print them. an organization, rather published, poems weren’t Al-Nawab’s If Muzaffar of the then how did he come to the attention government? to his friends. He used to send new poems in letters I first learned of him in 1965 when he participated but Group, in an exhibition with the Impressionist he was he could not attend the exhibition because from in prison. Then I met him after he escaped He published prison, in 1968, I think, as I remember. and I did the a collection of poems for the first time, illustrations for him. with In subsequent years you did a lot of work poetry in particular. Bridal (1970) is another work I Death Will Be Your poems. In the poem, which did on one of Muzaffar’s is called Oh, Basil [ about about his love for her, talking about his lover, how difficult it is to have contact [with her], and at of the same time he paints the beautiful features in the middle this woman. So I tried to use the figure on the publishingat the top in contrast with the other figure right side. On the left side of the painting, you find something like a traditional folkloric symbol used in the festivals in Karbala and Najaf, because as I the work is very much from said most of Muzaffar’s of southern features Iraq. And the writing we see in the corner?

for Hassan al-Shamus]. It is a very long poem in Iraqi dialect, and in Iraqi dialect, and It is a very long poem 8 ’] – has to do with a revolt of farmers of farmers ‘Ashair Sa’ud’] – has to do with a revolt work I did for a friend, a poet, who went to prison who went to prison for a friend, a poet, work I did against poems he wrote stand. All the for his political in like a wolf howling time were at that the regime poet to cry out, and the need for the spirit desperate Al-Nawab. about is Muzaffar I am talking a well-known poem about the For instance he had the in Baghdad who came from mother of a soldier of her son who was killed during south in search and the Ba’th group Qasim’s the clashes between Party. If we look at the painting, we see to the left of the left of the If we look at the painting, we see to the reaching up his arms lying on his back with figure, the triangular motifs that first made their in the air, appearance in ‘Ancient Symbols’. written are Most of the poems written by Muzaffar he writes in Iraqi dialect and most of the events why the motifs about happened in the south. That is related and the woman are the figure surrounding a way to to the kilim. I thought that this would be it took place. give a hint to the event, and to where of Sa’ud The poem I based this painting on – Tribes [ against the sheikhs that was crushed completely This was another of his by the police and the army. well-known poems at that time. But the painting is have to put it We not about this poem in particular. It is about how much the situation at that together. in the time was not what we thought, not as we read newspapers. It was something completely different. of It was the same thing in 1963 when the regime Qasim, who was very popular in Iraq, fell, and the it is a very important piece of work which really piece of work which really it is a very important event. Because he was characterized the whole the mother in the poem at that time a Communist, is the party and his followers [the asked, ‘Where people Communists]?’ in the way that you hear the Arabs’ followers?’—that is, are ‘Where say, to have so that we supposed the followers we are It the revolution. against can defeat those who are unrealistic was very much a discussion about the others had of the Iraqi and expectations Muzaffar is called Communist Party in 1963. The poem Hassan of the Suns [

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pdf. in It became very clear that we had that we had It became very clear 7 context, have to do with the defeat of the Arab defeat of the Arab to do with the context, have in 1967? with Israel June War states in the armies made us crushing of the Arab The Israeli Arab world institutions in the how fake the realize all sense that for the first time we faced in the are, at which was completely the war, this publicity about odds with reality. to work together as Arabs rather than as Iraqis. And Arabs rather than as Iraqis. And to work together as also to push the local terms maybe part of it was than to just keep working to a wider vision. Rather we need to work outside within the village, maybe why Beirut is one reason this village, and this for us. became very important the manifesto in order said that you wrote You a forum where in to make your voice heard participation was limited to an older generation of artists. In the mid-1960s, the Mujadideen young artists at the of [Innovationists], the group launched Institute of Fine Arts you mentioned earlier, that emphasized in a debate about expression particular the development of new techniques, was specifically and that debate about expression was the relation at their teachers. What directed Mujadideen between those debates started by the the New Vision? doing in and what you were Their manifesto was different. The Mujadideen were That written by a poet named Mu’ayyad al-Rawi. not because they of artists came together group they were needed to be together but rather because Mu’ayyad pushed or encouraged by someone else. – and all al-Rawi, like another poet Fadhil Azzawi part of of 1963 – were products these names were All of them knew called the Kirkuk Group. a group English and had knowledge of what was going on outside of Iraq. Mu’ayyad was a very intellectual person, and he liked to discuss everything with between the New anyone. This is the difference Vision and the Mujadideen. So how then does ‘Crying Wolf’ fit into the context of the New Vision? to both 1963 and 1967. It is a This work is related

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To what extent did the emphasis on an Arab context on an Arab context what extent did the emphasis To for the practice of art, rather than just an Iraqi The most important part of the text as far as I am far as I am The most important part of the text as concerned the was that for the first time we stated rather importance of being part of the Arab world of For example, the Baghdad Group than Iraq only. in the 1950s Modern Art and the other art groups rather than Arab art. Iraqi art talked about creating for the first time saying very clearly that were We part of the Arab countries and that we are we are a movement of Arab art, and that trying to create and the Pioneer our teachers from different we are our stand with the Palestinian declared artists. We involved movement at that moment and to be more in politics. The vocabulary of the manifesto was less Now when I to art than it was to literature. related to literature. related the text it seems more read The Iraqi governmentThe Iraqi was going to participate in Cairo of Arab art discussion in a roundtable all the artists who were in January 1970, and our teachers, the pioneers were supposed to attend such as Faiq Hassan and of the art movement, the only way to make our others. I thought that was the young artists, heard voice, the voice of and the manifesto This is why I wrote to go there. with what friends if they agreed asked some of my supposed to were they signed it. We and I wrote, unfortunately but the manifesto there go and read already had was cancelled. We the conference it among printed the manifesto, so we distributed we had our friends, in anticipation of an exhibition distribute planned to hold. The idea had been to and then have an the manifesto at the conference beginning it became the exhibition. However from to the text but they obvious that the signees agreed For example, each other. to work with did not agree with Hashim Samarchi to work Ismail Fattah refused al-Din also in the exhibition, and Mohammad Mehr know exhibition. I don’t to be a part of the refused accept to why they accepted the text but did not work together. here [at Frieze Masters]. Can you can tell us about tell us about Can you can [at Frieze Masters]. here the New Vision. in the context of ‘Crying Wolf’ 34 courtesy 37 site

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on And maybe this is part of his influence on the influence on the this is part of his And maybe 9 challenge to our generation that something can be be that something can to our generation challenge done. text [of the New Vision]; that we can’t just sit and just sit and New Vision];text [of the we can’t that in the creation without being involved do drawings as a more was considered which of a new society, in practical terms. than dream prison that was from So it was his escape New Vision?inspirational for the The poems the texts he wrote. It was not him but was nothing There underground. were he wrote in any magazine. The kind in the newspaper or to gave me a lot of inspiration of poems he wrote to my feelings about related do something either a person what was happening at that time or as for Gilgamesh in doing some illustrations interested it best to move more I thought or other old literature, in terms of what was at that time living. So the New Vision does have a lot to do with poetry. Al-Nawab’s Muzaffar not only that. At the same time I also it’s Well, example. was doing a lot of work on al-Hallaj, for like a lot of poetry and texts … it It was, in a way, time. Al- challenged what was going on at that [politics] and Hallaj is a symbol of very progressive because of at the same time he was like a martyr I did a lot what he was saying at that time. And was the same sort of work on al-Hallaj. Muzaffar paintings than the of influence. But I did more with his collection of drawings which was published Lil-rayl wa-Hamad, and the first collection of poetry, painting is not like the drawings. In the drawings I is used some of his text, while in the painting there and maybe nobody knows about it. nothing there, publishing This is the first time that I am saying that this [Crying ] is about Muzaffar. Wolf is one of several works you did al-Yaman’ ‘Waddah who al-Yaman on the eighth-century poet Waddah became famous not only for his poetry but also for the tale of his death, in which the caliph allegedly with his wife and suspected him of having an affair had him buried alive.

for The most important thing about Muzaffar Al- Muzaffar important thing about The most he is that the kind of poetry poetry Nawab’s absolutely time was something at that introduced have classical poetry Normally we would new to us. in presented of the vision that Muzaffar with none is very modern to which and has more his poetry, used he went to prison he do with painting. Before and maybe his vision as an to do a lot of drawings, find didn’t You writing of poetry. artist influenced his before [popular Iraqi] dialect anyone writing in sha’bi what Now you find a lot of people imitating Muzaffar. for me at that time, his poems he used to do. And challenge that it was an incredible popular, so were these poems which everyone to do work on them, loved so much. was significant Al-Nawab But in the sixties, Muzaffar in popular Iraqi for you not only because he wrote for the dialect but also because he was a model whole concept politics of art. In fact, it seems that the Visionof art outlined in the manifesto of the New is One might think that Al-Nawab. modelled on Muzaffar Al-Nawab. about Muzaffar the New Vision really was the manifesto of the for instance, No. If you read, the text talks about you find that Baghdad Group, Iraq and art in general, and about the history of and we about the history of art in Iraq. For us, was 1963; it generation in a way, a different were It history. 1963 was a very important point in our friends. They changed the attitudes of many of my two released went to prison, and then they were Palestinians in years later and went to work with the until now in Beirut. Beirut. Many of these names are Because of what happened to the Communist most Iraqi or to the leftists, which controlled Party, to what intellectuals, at that time, the reaction of the party to protect happened to it, to the failure its members, raised a lot of questions and forced [in some artists, and even some writers, to be freer the sense of operating outside the parameters of a political party] because of what happened to them, to the party and what they faced when their relation When Muzaffar Party came to power. the Ba’th and those with him managed to dig a tunnel the prison, it was a and escape from underground

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pdf. in mullah or sayyid gives to a woman or a man. Once or a man. Once sayyid gives to a woman mullah or and I told him street, a sayyid sitting in the I went to birth, who cannot give married to a woman that I am to or something a paper or a testament so I need me something. and he wrote pregnant, help her get ask a things you cannot buy; you have to These are to do that kind of work for you. sayyid or somebody wrapped you a piece of paper, Sometimes they give you have to put it in your in a lot of fabric, that the evil eye and you from pocket, and it will protect things like that. we see done two years later, In ‘Interconnection’, as in ‘Death Willthe same basic orientation Your Be him, and above stands a figure Bridal’: to the right lies suspended a bundle of shapes horizontally, consist of a be sure, that we think, though we can’t second figure. the For a period of time I was trying to develop sense, most composition of my painting. And in that I would of the time, or in a lot of work at that period. the shapes—unlike in have a lot of space around Visit, for instance, which is very busy to al-Kassim find a lot of with a lot of elements. In this one, you and the figure space, and the contrast between the the top, which in that way has shapes at different a man and a between to do with the relationship very clear that woman rather than just … for me it’s at the top, but the part of a body is a figure there the bottom rather than a full body like the shape at of the painting. Is this painting also based on a poem? No, but this is within the work I was doing at that Al-Nawab or time, under the influence of Muzaffar Most of this poetry has to do al-Yaman. Waddah between man and woman, and with the relationship it does not from the kind of work you can create one poem in that you work from necessarily require I Rather it is the general influence of what particular. at that time. was reading in the poetry of 1970 does your interest So around politics to love? Al-Nawab shift from Muzaffar

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For the Museum of Ethnography in Baghdad, what For the Museum of Ethnography in Baghdad, what from I did was to collect various objects of folklore parts of Iraq. For example, when I went to different Karbala, I tried to find the sort of testaments that the Can you say more about that work? Can you say more I don’t know how I came to use writing. Maybe use writing. Maybe know how I came to I don’t to my knowledge of Islamic more this is related the ancient manuscripts than to my knowledge of cylinder civilizations, despite the fact that we have like the seals, mostly Sumerian, which function consist of a kind reality of a person but in signature elements with text. constructed of different of story, in this painting, is an Most likely the writing here, the cylinder seals. But unconscious influence from objects with writing, in folklore some are also there dies, he particular for the Shi’a: when somebody is wrapped in a fabric printed with text and various decorative elements. For a while I did work going Iraq to collect objects like this for a museum around I worked with during the late sixties and early seventies. You were one of a number of artists at that time, in time, in one of a number of artists at that were You the use of writing in art, re-thinking 1970, who were works, though you had used writing in the earlier inspired particularly in paintings with compositions stories from by manuscript illustration, namely with in the series ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ and How did you of drawings, ‘The Blood of Husayn’. come to this use of writing? For myself, it creates more of a relationship with the with the of a relationship more For myself, it creates you like in any dialogue with a painting, painting. It’s the shapes and the around need to go a little bit or words writing and the colours. Obscure figures this behind to see what’s make people anxious in dealing with the interest more painting. It creates way. the painting in a different painting, and to see If the words are not meant to be read, then how are then how are to be read, not meant are If the words them? you using Those are words from the poem but they are not not they are the poem but from words Those are legible. 36 courtesy 39 site

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And the war was not reported in the newspapers in newspapers in in the was not reported And the war Baghdad. an officer, guy, was this one not. There No, of course close to the government,who was so he was and going could follow what was put in a position where that guy. he was a writer, on in the north—and a what was going on to He would always report journalist, friend of mine. But who was a very close that journalist because at that time could not write, were that the Kurds the reality you had to accept and you had to be with the fighting the Iraqi army Iraqi army. the manifesto of the New Vision not long wrote You any Was there after your first deployment in 1966. in the north and between your experience relation the practice of art in that of your reconceptualization statement? The war against Kurdistan Definitely but indirectly. went to was not popular in Iraq. A lot of people with the prison because they objected to this war went to prison, and there Many of my friends Kurds. But you could not state many demonstrations. were unless you your opposition to the war at that time for it. to pay ready were you did If we look at ‘Memories’, this is a painting in 1973. Can Kurdistan after you came back from you tell us about this painting? it was a is that All I remember remember. I don’t easy to live as an officer experience. It was not hard in you are at that time. Especially in the north, where Nobody the middle of a very unwelcoming society. have no You speaks Arabic. They speak Kurdish. They know a little bit of to the people there. relation publishing speak the language. the Qur’an, yes, but they don’t Most of the time, what would happen is that I would go sit on the top of a mountain, with thirty soldiers me. I can only come down after a period of around that much, because it’s forty days. I cannot read I have no relationship suspicious if I start reading. very simple people, most with the soldiers, who are

for without putting a title on it. It is not one painting but but is not one painting a title on it. It without putting of Memories I did under the title of works a group at that time. to my experience related us about that experience? Can you tell I my first exhibition at Al-Wasiti, In 1966, shortly after In Iraq after you finished university went into the army. service. I had six months of you had to do military me They sent became an officer. training, and then I was the north at that time there to the north, and in It Iraqi army and the Kurds. fighting between the living in a job to suddenly be there, was a very hard soldiers and to the bad in relation bad atmosphere, to the officers. I was one of a number bad in relation which of people who had been involved in politics, in the north, meant that when I got to my new post who I was and that I had knew all the officers already for a year and been involved in something. I was there and a half. Again I went to the army in the seventies, Iraq, because it was after that that I decided to leave I had very of the bad experiences I had. For example We side. close friends of mine fighting on the other Some of the fighting each other. like brothers were related specifically I left Iraq was work I did before writing to the war in the north—with writing names, the from events, with some information. It is different I just put Memories as a title, it, where work before it. That work which I did in 1975, some of and that’s all a oil, were them in gouaches and some of them in cry against the war in the north. That was ‘Human States’ [‘Halaat Insaniyya’]. For example, to tell you a story of how much Yes. [of a cry it was], I was sitting with Rafa al-Nasiri and Ismail Fattah, and somebody came up and asked us who the artist is. I said that I am, and he asked, what kind of work is this? Why do you have these So I told writing that is not readable? names here, the fighting where him I was in the north, in the area was going on. Suddenly his eyes of the Kurds started blinking, and I thought he was about to cry, ’ [God and he said ‘Allah yuhafdhak, ma’salaama you, goodbye], which gave me a hint that protect in the war. this guy had lost his son or his brother

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pdf. in him in a box and buried him in the ground. Is he Is he in the ground. and buried him him in a box knows. or not? Nobody there the drawings between mentioned this relation You you first produced where and the paintings, the drawings the text, and then from drawings from paintings that deal with you developed these a method that you employed in aspects of life. Is this during this period? most of your work a lot a lot, and I read I read Not all of the time. poetry very much. I think the kind I like of poetry. and the kind of symbol of writing that is poetry, you a lot of the text gives from which you create ways. No describe in different ideas which you can It message. No way. poem gives you a very direct have to build gives you something, which then you what is going on, to your knowledge of up from the relation have the message out of this. And it is between these that I like very much. in your So the suspicious element that you create work, this is an influence of poetry? if you look at one of these drawings, you see Yes, then a set of motifs at of a woman and the figure the top with the letter nun. It is easy to ask, who is a man? nun? The name of a woman? The name of between the text This is the richness of the relation dialogue. This was more it creates and the figure: a to create my intention at the time. I do my best painting, rather dialogue between the viewer and the as part of than for the viewer to just see the painting the wall. saying, it seems that this what you are From an dialogue actually seems to emerge through We see something, and we difficulty. interpretative at. This looking what exactly we are sure aren’t which binds us to the painting in a incomprehension, aiming for. is the dialogue you are way, is ‘Memories’. there Finally, With these paintings I call ‘Memories’, most of the to topics which I tried to do related time they are

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Yes, it is the whole concept of the relationship it is the whole concept of the relationship Yes, between a man and a woman, of the poet and his between the man not only the relationship life. It’s and the woman but his fate. Nobody knows whether he died or not. But the story is that the caliph put So what we are looking at in this painting is a man looking at in this painting is a man So what we are and a woman? I was in Amman two months ago. I went to a studio to a studio I was in Amman two months ago. I went collect, and I found this I had some work to where painting. I felt there believe this painting. I couldn’t the whole thing. When with was something wrong said yes I know the person said, this is my painting, I something this is my painting, but I felt as if this is I go and see which I forgot, because normally when the work. So old paintings I immediately remember at the back I bought the painting and then looked that this is my work. If you look sure of it to be more completely at the drawings, you will find they are than the secretive This painting is more different. between a man the relationship drawings, where and a woman is clear. But in this work we don’t see any letters. see But in this work we don’t I did a lot of work on Waddah al-Yaman, and in fact in fact and al-Yaman, of work on Waddah I did a lot al- just on Waddah show in Beirut I had a one-man the story for me was What was fascinating Yaman. about some a lot of poems who wrote of this poet, had the courage he loved but also of the women and he paid for it. It is a beautiful to go further, When I did the drawings, and I story in that sense. and some of the paintings are have a lot drawings, drawings, they were the from completely different illustration of the text while the paintings an more way. with aspects of life in an indirect dealt more in very contemporary were But even the drawings the with the elements surrounding their composition, the letter nun [‘n’] than a letter, often no more figures to one person, whose relates for example, which in some of the name starts with nun. In this way, a I tried to create al-Yaman work I did on Waddah in contrast to suspicious sort of element in the work, very clearly about which is very obvious, the figure, and woman. between man the relationship 38 courtesy 41 site

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for Mulhamat Mulhamat In 1963 Al-Nawab fled to Iran. The SAVAK returned returned In 1963 Al-Nawab fled to Iran. The SAVAK The first generation of modern artists in Iraq, those who of modern The first generation those who artists in Iraq, the Martyr [ to The Epic of referring Azzawi is Selim in 1951, the Baghdad Established by Jewad Muhammed, Husayn was Prophet The grandson of the Mythology, formulated when The English title of Folklore at the National That exhibition was finally held in 1972, fact the victory when in The Egyptian media proclaimed had come In February 1963, Abdel Karim Qasim, who him to Iraq, where he was held at al-Hala prison until he until he he was held at al-Hala prison him to Iraq, where in 1968. escaped with a number of other Communists began working in the thirties and forties, are referred to to referred forties, are in the thirties and began working [al-Ru’ad].as the ‘Pioneers’ on that drew of thirty-five paintings al-Shahid], a series martyrdom celebration of the the ritual imagery from of the Prophet Husayn. The grandson of the Imam Husayn was killed in 680 CE, in Muhammed, the Imam in what is now called Karbala, a battle that took place loyalty to the allegedly to pledge an oath of refusing who claimed inheritance Yezid, corrupt Umayyad Caliph paintings The Muslim community. of leadership over the Museum of Modern exhibited at the National Art in were Baghdad in April 1965. of Modern sought to establish a modernGroup Art art in conversation with its distinctive particular to Iraq and history of art. of the Prophet’s the entirety killed along with almost is now called family in 680 CE, in a battle located in what the right of the to recognize Karbala. Husayn had refused the Muslim community. to rule Umayyad Caliph Yezid is misleading. the work was first exhibited in Baghdad, of It was fairly common for the English translations the Arabic, as is perhaps the titles to veer away from Mask; in the English, obvious in the case of Pretender to al-Jouf is completely omitted. The Arabic the reference in accurately rendered Mythology is more title of Folklore Popular Legends’. English as ‘From Museum of Modern title Four Artists. Art, under the Egyptian military had been destroyed. by was overthrown to power in the 1958 revolution, in the Iraqi military. Party working with officers Ba’th Partisans, the Many Communists, members of the Peace militia, fought in his defence, and they continued party’s to fight even after he had surrendered. 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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pdf. in Part of it, yes. Most poets and writers felt very writers felt very yes. Most poets and Part of it, to do what us, artists, of our freedom jealous of is can do work that Because in art, you we want. what you want which you can say through abstract, nobody can know while politically to your friends, Even for example, as I remember, what is there. exhibition on The Epic of the when Kadhim did his to what happened Martyr, it was a hidden protest say that. Only those who in 1963, but he didn’t why he used Husayn in that knew him well knew knows about it, and they don’t exhibition. Nobody At the same time, it is a know what he is saying. out involved in finding more way to make the viewer complex composition. what is behind the Which however they can never know. explain this When you see a landscape, anyone can like Crying landscape. When you have something or another painting al-Yaman or Waddah Wolf then everyone will you find a sort of hint, where to his own try to explain or understand according in what’s knowledge, to how much he is involved novels or poetry, going on, or how much he reads, wall. If there because no painting can be just like a like when is nothing within the painting, it will be and it you have a landscape—you see it once It nothing there. becomes part of the wall. There’s and make you ask take your attention again won’t and that why the artist uses this composition here part of questions are etc. All these element there, the dialogue.

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the of , from 1975, that is very much that is very much 1975, Human States, from

Throughout our conversation you have emphasized our conversation you have emphasized Throughout the importance of staging a dialogue with the viewer, whether compositionally (as you just described) or by leaving hints (the triangular motif in ‘Crying Wolf’) al- suspicion (the letter ‘nun’ in ‘Waddah or creating what extent did this notion of viewing art To Yaman’). is something – of making the viewer think that there behind the work, but telling them what it is there, that – have to do with the political circumstances followed 1963, in the sense that the scope for direct speech had become quite limited? Even up until now. It has to do with the composition It has to do with the composition Even up until now. to the it is related In a way, I was trying to create. gives you topic of killing, but at the same time it think about something to think about, makes you going on in that work. what’s I want to ask you about your method of figuration of figuration I want to ask you about your method up into these is broken The human figure here. of the fragments that almost float in the middle in your canvas. It was a common thing you did it in ‘Interconnection’ see paintings at this time. We (1972) for example. [‘Tawasal’] These stand for the names of soldiers killed, or to killed, or to These stand for the names of soldiers Many things whom something happened there. not easy to happened at that time which are remember. Then there are these ‘suspicious’ letters. these are Then there In an indirect way. I have one painting, from the the I have one painting, from way. In an indirect series my portrait. So could we say that this painting is a kind self- So could we say that north? portrait of you in the of them from Diwaniyya. I used to talk with one of with one of I used to talk Diwaniyya. of them from the Palestinian groups. had worked with them who At that time the politically. difficult there It was very they of everything, and control Party was in Ba’th with other any officers meeting suspicious of were think something is going on officers. They would there. 40 courtesy 43 site

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, Cité du Livre, Aix-en- Prints and Books, Cité du Livre, Drawings, Provence 2004 Lemand, Paris , Galerie Claude Recent Paintings Galerie Claude Lemand, Art Fair, St’Art - Strasbourg Strasbourg 2006 Amman Gallery, , 4 Walls Prints and Sculptures Aleppo New Prints, Kalemmat Gallery, Kuwait New Paintings, Dar Al-Funoon Gallery, Paris New Prints, Galerie Claude Lemand, 2009 Sixth Abu Dhabi Music and , ADMAF, Retrospective Arts Festival, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi Dubai Recent Paintings, Meem Gallery, 1979 to from Works Collection: A Retrospective 2007, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris 2011 City, Abu Dhabi Art, Meem My Trapped Elegy To Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi Gallery, 2012 Golub, Tate Facing History: Dia al-Azzawi and Leon Modern, London Dubai City, Meem Gallery, My Trapped Elegy To Recent Paintings, Dia Al-Azzawi, Oriental Gardens, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris 2013 , Art Paris, Grand Bilad al-Sawad and Other Works Palais, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris Re:Orient, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah 2014 the Collection of from Sky Over the East: Works publishing Barjeel Art Foundation, International Museum Day, Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation, Abu Dhabi London Frieze Masters, Meem Gallery, SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1967 New Delhi First International Triennial,

for 1981 Galerie Faris, Paris Art Basel, Faris, Paris FIAC, Galerie 1982 Hall, Abu Dhabi Intercontinental 1983 Art and Sabra and Shatila, National Council for Kuwait Gallery, Culture 1984 DC Washington, Alif Gallery, 1986 Amman Royal Cultural Centre, 1988 Galerie Claudine Planque, Lausanne 1990 DC Washington, Alif Gallery, Galleri Nakita, Stockholm Gothenburg Gallery, Vanazff Galerie des Art, Tunis Galerie 50x70, Beirut 1992 Tangier Flandria Gallery, 1994 Casablanca Al-Manar Gallery, Amman Ab’aad Gallery, Galerie 50x70, Beirut Damascus Al-Sayed Gallery, 1995 Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris 1996 Bahrain Art Centre, 2002 , Institut du Monde Arabe, Azzawi Retrospective Paris 2003 Palestine and Mahmoud Darwish: Large Polyptychs,

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Born in Baghdad, 1939 EDUCATION 1962 the Baghdad Baghdad University, BA in Archaeology, 1964 Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad Diploma in Fine Arts, SOLO EXHIBITIONS 1965 Baghdad Gallery, Al-Wasiti 1966 Dhia Al-Azzawi, Gallery One, Beirut 1967 , & Sculpture Dhia Al Azzawi: Exhibition of Paintings Iraqi Artist Society Hall, Baghdad 1968 , National Exhibition of Painting By Dhia Al Azzawi Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad Gallery One, Beirut 1969 Kuwait Sultan Gallery, 1973 Lebanon Gallery Raslan, Tripoli, 1975 National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad 1976 Casablanca Gallery Nadhar, 1977 Kuwait Sultan Gallery, 1978 London Patrick Seale Gallery, 1980 Galerie Faris, Paris Galerie Centrale, Geneva

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Exhibitions & Collections & Exhibitions 42 courtesy 45 site

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2014 in of Salam ya Seghar of Gaza (in benefit Children Meem Gallery, with Save the Children), partnership Dubai Reactions , Museu Contemporary Post-Picasso: Picasso, Barcelona Arab Modernities Paris , Galerie Claude Lemand, Galerie Claude Lemand, Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris COLLECTIONS SELECTED PUBLIC Abu Dhabi Arab Monetary Fund, Sharjah Barjeel Art Foundation, de France, Paris Bibliothèque Nationale British Museum, London Development Fund, Kuwait Fondation Colas, Paris Gulbenkian Collection, Lisbon Harba Collection, Iraq and Italy Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris Jeddah International Airport Arts, Amman National Gallery of Fine Jordan Kinda Foundation, Saudi Arabia DC Washington, Library of Congress, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad Museum of Modern Art, Damascus Museum of Modern Art, Tunis Saudi Bank, London Modern, London Tate Una Foundation, Casablanca United Bank of Kuwait, London Victoria Museum, London & Albert DC Bank, Washington, World publishing

for 2008 Modern Art: Artists of the into East, Middle Word Dubai InternationalBritish Museum, Centre Financial (DIFC), Dubai , British Museum, to the Present Past Speaks Iraq’s London , Station Museum of Iraqi Artists in Exile Houston, Texas Contemporary Art, Iraqi Book Art, Denison Contemporary Dafatir. Ohio Granville, University, 2009 Wallach Modernism and Iraq, Columbia University, York New Art Gallery, 2010 , Abu Dhabi Art, Dia Al-Azzawi and Parviz Tanavoli Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi Meem Gallery, My Home Land, Art Sawa, Dubai Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha ModernInterventions: A Dialogue Between the and the Contemporary, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha 2011 Dubai Part IV, Meem Gallery, Art in Iraq Today: Beirut Art Conclusion, Solidere, Art in Iraq Today: Dubai Beirut and Meem Gallery, Center, and Prints, Paintings, Sculptures Maghreb: Mashreq Kuwait CAP, 2012 1: Letters in Art. Part 2012. Part Meem Projects Abu Dhabi Art, 2: Modern Arab Art, Meem Gallery, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi 2013 2013. Part 1: Modern Meem Projects Arab Art. Part Sleep At 2: Contemporary Arab Art – How Do You Abu Dhabi Art, Manarat Al Night?, Meem Gallery, Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi Dubai Modern Art: A Collection, Meem Gallery, Iraqi (Abstract Arab Art), Contemporary Art Tajreed Kuwait Platform CAP, , Mathaf: Garden and Projects Painting, Sculptures Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha

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pdf. in 1997 Dubai Art Gallery, , Green Five Visual Interpretations 1998 Paris Teinturerie, Nasiri, Galerie La Azzawi & 2001 , Galerie Paintings and Books - Maghreb: Machreq Claude Lemand, Paris 2002 Collection, Institut du Monde The Kinda Foundation Arabe, Paris 2003 Paris Fondation Colas, Boulogne-Billancourt, Arab Contemporary Art from Letter, Broken Countries, Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Darmstadt 2004 Art Books and Painting, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris 2005 Homage to Shafic Abboud, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, University of Dafatir. Denton, Texas Art Gallery, North Texas , Bissan Gallery, Seven Iraqi Artists Improvisation: Manama, and 4 Doha, Al-Riwaq Gallery, Amman Gallery, 2006 , Festival of Arts, Bastia, Corsica Portraits of the Bird of the Modern into Art: Artists Middle East, Word British Museum, London Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, Carleton Dafatir. College, Northfield, Minnesota; Minnesota Centre for Book Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota; University Lynchburg Daura Gallery, El Paso, Texas; of Texas, Virginia College, Lynchburg, 2007 Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, The Center Dafatir. Minneapolis Athenaeum, for Book Arts, New York; Minneapolis, Minnesota; NIU Art Museum, DeKalb, Center for Book Arts, Boca Raton, Illinois; The Jaffe Florida

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1989 , Barbican the Islamic World Contemporary Art from London Centre, Arab Graphic Art, NCCL, Kuwait 1988 Olympiad of Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul London Azzawi, Jumaie, Nasiri, Kufa Gallery, 1987 International Third Biennial Exhibition, Taiwan 1986 Salon Comparaisons, Grand Palais, Paris Cambridge, University, Semitic Museum, Harvard Massachusetts London Contemporary Arab Art, The Mall Gallery, 1985 Musée Hubert d’Uckerman, Grenoble 1984 British International Print Biennial, Bradford , Museum of First Arab Contemporary Art Exhibition Modern Art, Tunis 1981 Triennial, Frechen Seventh International Grafik 1980 Salon de Mat, Paris FIAC, Galerie Faris, Paris Paris Salon d’Automne, Espace Cardin, 1976 São Paulo Second Arab Art Biennial, 1975 Seventh International Festival, Cagnes-sur-Mer Painting Salzburg International Summer Academy, 1972 Museum of Modern, National Four Artists Art, Baghdad 1971 Museum, Nicosia Arab Art, National Contemporary 44 courtesy 47 site

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on . Milan and Dubai: Skira and . Milan and Dubai: Skira and Art in Iraq Today The Influence of Calligraphy on Contemporary The Influence of Calligraphy on Contemporary al-Basar: Nusus wa Hiwarat fi al-Fan Lawn Yajm‘

Authman, Khalid Mohamed. ‘Tanweat Muthela Muthela ‘Tanweat Khalid Mohamed. Authman, on the Variations (Amazing Lieqa’a al-Nathabeh’ 17 (Kuwait, Al-Waten Massacres). Rhythm of 1983): 11. November of the to the Exhibition Al-Azzawi, Dia. ‘Introduction Catalogue. Baghdad, Exhibition New Vision Group.’ October 1969. fi Hudud al-Lawha’ al-Tajruba —.‘Al-Fanan Amam within the Boundaries (The Artist Facing Experience Magazine of a Painting). Al-Muthaqaf al-Arabi 53-58. (Baghdad), no. 4 (1971): a New Vision.’ In Al-Bayanat —.‘Manifesto: Toward al-Fanniyah fi al-Iraq (Art Manifestos in Iraq), edited n.p., 1973. by Shakir Hassan Al-Said. Baghdad: Alfikr wa Alinjaz Alfani’ (The —. ‘Tanaqth Achievement). Contradiction of Thought and Artistic 12. 1975): Al-Jamhuria (Baghdad, 20 March —. ‘Istintajat min Mafahim Gher Wadiha’ Unclear Concepts). Alf (Conclusions Derived from Ba’a Magazine (Baghdad, 11 June 1975): 40-41. —. ‘Arab Graphic Art.’ Ur Magazine (London), no. 2 December 1978): 47-55. (November- —. 1980. Arab Art. London: Iraqi Cultural Centre, .’ to Homage to Jawad Salim —. ‘Introduction 1989. Portfolio of Complete Set of Prints. London, (London), no. 72 Mawakif a Visual Text.’ —. ‘Poetry, (Summer 1992): 134-37. publishing—. (Colour Motivates Vision: Articles and al-Tashkeely Edition, Dialogues in the Visual Arts). London: Touch 2001. Al-Azzawi, Dia, Charles Pocock, and Samar Faruqi, eds. Meem Editions, 2011.

for (London, 31 August 31 August Magazine (London, Ad-Dastour Art Absolument (May–June 2013). Modern and Continuity. Islamic Art: Development Arab Poets, Illustrated by a Contemporary Iraqi Iraqi Illustrated by a Contemporary Arab Poets, Painter). 1981): 72-73. Ali, Wijdan, the Islamic Art from ed. Contemporary Publications and the Royal . London: Scorpion World Amman, 1989. Society of Fine Arts, —. of Florida, 1997. Florida: University Press 6 March-7 . Exhibition Catalogue. Azzawi Alif Gallery. Arab American D.C.: Alif Gallery, April. Washington, 1984. Cultural Foundation, Alzeebawi, Mahmoud. ‘The East of Modernism.’ . London: Dia Al-Azzawi: Paintings, 2009–2011 2011. Touch@rt, des Amel, Pascal. ‘Dia Al-Azzawi ou la Révolution forms.’ Rmouze’ Al-Ameri, Mohamed. ‘Alshier lyesa Mujard Rather (Dia Al-Azzawi: Poetry is Imaginative Power Addustour (Amman, Use of Symbols). than the Mere 17 December 1998): 30. Ali Abd. ‘Dia al-Azzawi fi Hanin Khass le Al-Amir, to Tribute Jawad Salim (Dia Al-Azzawi: A Special El-Sabia Magazine (Paris, 12 Jawad Salim). Al-Youm 1990): 37. February. al-Fanan Dia Al-Azzawi Arrajol Magazine. ‘Tajrobit West). Experience in the fi al-Gharib’ (Azzawi’s 2007): 54–58. (London), no.167 (March Artists in Britain Since 1945. London: Art Dictionaries Ltd, 1998: 1: 64. Assayad Magazine. (London), issue 2272 (May 1988): 50-1. Al-Asswad, Jack. ‘Shariat al-Khafah’ (Dia Al-Azzawi: The Law of Lightness). Al-Nahar (Beirut, 22 January 1994): 18.

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presented September - 14 October. Galerie D’Art Galerie D’Art - 14 October. September

(Baghdad, 26 December El-Sha’ab (Baghdad, 26 December Tariq (Manama, 12 March 1996): 6. (Manama, 12 March Al-Ayam (London), no. 511 (London), no. 511 Ad-Dastour Magazine artist . Exhibition . Exhibition Dia Al-Azzawi: Retrospective . Exhibition Catalogue. Catalogue. . Exhibition Azzawi Ab’aad Gallery. Amman, 27 50 x 70, Beirut, 6 - 30 October. Al-Sayed Gallery, Gallery, Al-Sayed 6 - 30 October. 50 x 70, Beirut, 1994. 10 - 20 October, Damascus, the ‘Paintings and Poems about Tal Abdl Rahim, Kamel. Al-Za’ter.’ (April 1981): 56-59. ‘Al-Azzawi ben al-Jassad Abdulhamid, Abdulaziz. Between the Body and wa al-Jnoun’ (Dia Al-Azzawi: Madness). ‘Halat Dia Al-Azzawi Abdul Kadim, Abbas. El-Sha’ab Human States). Tariq Elinsaniya’ (On Dia’s 10. 1975): (Baghdad, 19 March Graphic —. ‘Marath Mushtarak Llkrafik’ (Joint Exhibition). 1975): 10. and Barjeel Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation the from Art Foundation. Sky Over the East: Works Collection of Barjeel Art Foundation. International Museum Day 2014. Exhibition Catalogue. Abu 2014. Dhabi: ADMAF, and Meem Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation Gallery. Festival, Abu Catalogue. Abu Dhabi Music and Arts 2009. Dhabi: ADMAF, April. Abu Dhabi, 21 March–2 ‘Limatha Alma’arid Almushtarika’ (Why Adnan, Tariq. El-Sha’ab (Baghdad, 19 Joint Exhibitions?). Tariq December 1975): 11. Al-Alam. ‘Hewar Sakhin ma’a Dia Al-Azzawi’ (Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi). (Rabat, 31 January 1976): 10. Gilgamesh: A ‘Painting and Poetry.’ Ali, Maureen. JournalModern of Iraqi Arts (Baghdad), no.4 (1998): 15. Al-Ali, Salah. ‘Almualqat al-Saba’a Katbha Aljahlioun,’ (The Seven Golden Odes by Pre-Islamic

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for (London), no. 67 (Spring 1992): Mawakif (London), no. 67 (Spring 1992): (London, 12 August 1996): 12. 12 August 1996): Al-Hayat (London, (Cyprus), issue 191 (April Al-Ufaq Magazine (Cyprus), issue 191 (April —. ‘Akhbar Majnun Layla (Tales of Majnun and Majnun and of Majnun Layla (Tales —. ‘Akhbar Layla). the Sky of Art.’ Meem Stars in ‘Distant Glimmering 1: Modern 2012. Part Arab Art. Part 2: Projects Pocock, Samar Letters in Art. Edited by Charles Haggag. Exhibition Catalogue. Faruqi, and Noura Abu Dhabi, 7–10 Gallery, Abu Dhabi Art, Meem Meem Editions, 2012, 2–7. Dubai: November. Meem Projects of Being.’ of Art, The World ‘The World 2013. Part 1: Modern Part 2: Contemporary Arab Art. Pocock, Samar Faruqi,Arab Art. Edited by Charles Exhibition Catalogue. Abu Dhabiand Noura Haggag. 1–8. Abu Dhabi, 20–23 November, Art, Meem Gallery, for Dallul, Ziyyat, ‘Hurufun ‘la Alwan’ (Letters Colours). 151-53. an Alhawiya’ Elawiad, Aqel. ‘Dia Al-Azzawi Yethadith Al-Attahad (Dia Al-Azzawi Discusses Arab Identity). (Casablanca, 9 July 1988): 12. Al- Lebierut’ (Salutation to Beirut). Asharq —. ‘Tahyh (London, 24 December 1991): 18. Awsat Al-Thaqafa Al- El-Esboua Al-Arabi Magazine. ‘Tatwer (Paris, Basaria Muhama’ (Developing Visual Culture). 5 February 1996): 43-45. qbil Kol Faik, Salah. ‘Al-Kalimah al-Arabia Sorrh is Essentially a Picture). Shai’a’ (The Arabic Word Ad-Dastour Magazine (London), no. 391 (March 1985): 70-1. Farah, Basim. ‘Almualqat Alsabia Madi Jamil’(The Seven Mu‘allaqats: A Beautiful Past). Al-Majalla Magazine (London), no. 16 (May 1980): 53-58. of Genius: Faraj, Maysaloun, ed. Strokes Contemporary Iraqi Art. London: Saqi Books, 2001. al-Tten’(Return Farhan, Said. ‘Aodah libia’t to the Mire). 1988): 47-50.

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pdf. in . Exhibition Catalogue. 17-22 June. Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. 17-22 June. Al-Hayat (London, 15 October 1994): 16. (Arab Al-Hurufiyah al-Arabiyah: Fan wa Hawiyah (Arab (Jeddah), vol.6, issue 4 (1982): 24-25. (Jeddah), vol.6, issue 4 (1982): 24-25. Artists,’ Ur Magazine —. ‘Arab Styles of Ten (London), no. 3 (1984): 48-50. , —. ‘Contemporary Arab Art.’ Sheraton Magazine no. 5 (1985): 2: 22–28. Corneille. Paris, 1981. Galerie Faris, Basel Art Fair, Charbel. ‘Dia Al-Azzawi: Art Does Not Dagher, to Official Statements.’ Kul al-Arab Correspond (Paris), no. 4 (April 1994): 50-53. —. Letterism, Art and Identity). Beirut: Sharikat al- 1990. wa al-Nashir, Matbu’ al Lil Tawzi’ fi al-Nadir Ela al-Mujodat wal Hayat’ Ayn —. ‘Siret Biography: Viewing Existing Objects and (An Eye’s Forms). Bin Boshti, El-Zuber. ‘Al Thakira al-Jamuiya fi fi Thakira al-Jamuiya ‘Al El-Zuber. Bin Boshti, of Memory in a Form (Collective Thiyab Muassara’ 13 (London, Al-Hayat Presentation). Contemporary 1991): 20. December ‘Seven Iraqi Artists.’ Arts Blackeston, Oswell. May 1978) vol. 3. Review (London), no. 10 (26 with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Beirut El-Burji, Nabih. ‘Interview 50. Newspaper (12 December 1976): Burnham, Arab Perspectives Anne Mullin. ‘Azzawi,’ D.C., 1 April 1984): 23-27. Magazine (Washington, Century. Frances. Collecting the 20th Carey, 1991. London: British Museum Press, Contemporary Arab Art. Exhibition Caroline. Collier, Catalogue. 23-25 August. London: Blackman 1982. Harvey Gallery, Magazine —. ‘Arab Artists.’ Ahlan Wasahlan

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the of . Exhibition Catalogue. 27 May-21 July. Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. 27 May-21 July. Al-fann al-Hadith fi’ Bilad al-‘Arabiyah (ModernAl-fann al-Hadith fi’ fi l-bilad al-‘Arabiyah Ruwwad al-fann al-Hadith

—. Mudi. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi: Bietar, of the Visualisation Extends Beyond the Border Painting to the Book and Furniture.’ Al-Wasat Magazine (London), no.43 (November 1992): 54-6. . Exhibition Catalogue. Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. Ben Jalloun, Taher. Galerie D’Art Gallery Nadhar, 29 April – 22 May. Moderne,Casablanca, 1976. Galerie Faris, Paris, 1980. Al-Wasat Al-Wasat —. ‘Layl Uhaiqo Fiena’ (Faced by the Night). 54-55. 1995): Magazine (London), no.162 (March Bazoun, Ahmed. ‘Nashied Loani Tawiel’ (Dia Al- Bazoun, Ahmed. ‘Nashied Loani Tawiel’ (Beirut, 18 Azzawi: Long Song of Colour). Al-Safir October 1994): 12. Baydoun, Abbas. ‘Ashkal Min al-khat wa wahat wa wahat Baydoun, Abbas. ‘Ashkal Min al-khat and min Alwan Gier Kamila’ (Forms of Calligraphy Incomplete Colour Oases). Al-Hayat (London, 16 December 1991): 16. Bahrani, Zainab and Nada Shabout. Modernism Art Gallery, and Iraq. Exhibition catalogue. Wallach 28 January–28 New York, Columbia University, 2009. March (Pioneers of Modern Art in the Arab World). Beirut: Beirut: (Pioneers of Modern Art in the Arab World). Dar al-Ra’id al-Arabi, 1985. —. Art in the Arab World). Tunis: UNEXCO/Dar al-Janub al-Janub UNEXCO/Dar Tunis: Art in the Arab World). 1980. li’l-Nashr, —. (Aesthetics (Aesthetics Bahnassi, Afif. Jamaliat al-Fann al-Arabi ‘lam al-M’rifa, 1979. of Arab Art). Kuwait: Meem Projects Azzawi.’ Meem Projects Saleem. ‘Dia Al-Bahloly, 1: Modern2012. Part Letters in Art. Arab Art. Part 2: Noura Faruqi, and Charles Pocock, Samar Edited by Meem Abu Dhabi Art, Catalogue. Haggag. Exhibition Editions, Dubai: Meem 7–10 November. Gallery, 2012, 8-13. 48 courtesy 51

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Khurie, Edriss. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Al- ‘Interview with Khurie, Edriss. 10. September 1975): Alam (Rabat, 9 Visual Jadd’ (A Crucial Presence). Tashkili —. ‘Hudor May 1976): 11. Al-Alam (Rabat, 2 Perspective on Contemporary Kinda Foundation. Arabe, 2002. Art. Paris: Institut du Monde Azzawi, Jumaie, Nasiri. Exhibition Kufa Gallery. London, 1988. May. Catalogue. 28 April–13 Contemporary Letter. Broken Kunsthalle Darmstadt. Arab Countries. Hausser: Media Arab Art from 2003. Verlag, Paul. ‘Interview [with Dia Al-Azzawi].’ Dia Al- Laster, . London: Touch@rt, 1974–2011 Azzawi: Sculptures, 2011. ‘Bahthan ‘n Ru’yya Jadidah’ (In Li’abi, Shakir. of a New Vision). Mawakif (London), no. 67 Search (Spring 1992): 161-75. of a New —. ‘Bahthan ‘n Ru’yya Jadidah’ (In Search Vision). 190-193. Ekhtira’a’ Mandlawi, Ali. ‘Al-Rasim Liysa Amaliet Al- Invention). Asharq of (Drawing is not a Process (London, 12 February 2003): 10. Awsat Mawaqif —. ‘Dafatir Afkar’ (Artist Book of Thoughts). (Beirut), no.2 (1969): 197-199. Alfin Alarabi Almuasser’ Makhlouf, Orace. ‘Taiyarat in Contemporary Arab Art). Al- (Modern Trends publishing Azmina Magazine (Paris), no. 1 (December 1986): 101-5. ‘Alwan 274 Laylah’ (Colours: 274 Mansi, May. Nights). Iraq on Campus,’ David H. ‘Art from McCaffrey, Sagebrush Newspaper (Reno, 20 September 1991): 7.

for (Beirut, 8 October 1994): 14. Al-Nahar (Beirut, 8 October 1994): 14. (A Nation in Exile). Ummah fi al-Manfa (A Nation in Exile). (Contemporary Arab Contemporain Arabe (Contemporary Arab L’art Iraq: The Sixties Period). Baghdad: Dar Al-Huriyah Dar Al-Huriyah Sixties Period). Baghdad: Iraq: The Lil Tiba’a, 1986. fi ‘Altashkil AbdulRahman Jafer. Al-Kanani, Composition of Being), al-Fial’ (Art in the Mukwanat June 1991): 7. 11 Al-Sahafa (Tunisia, Art in Iraq: Patrick Kane Kane, Patrick. ‘Revisiting Re: Orient (English and Interview Dia Al Azzawi.’ Merzaban and Ismail Arabic). Edited by Daliah Barjeel Art Foundation, Rifai. Exhibition Catalogue. Art London: November. Sharjah, 11 March–22 Ltd., 2013. Advisory Associates ‘Arab Artists in Paris.’ Arts and the Shirley. Kay, (London), no. 3 (Summer/Autumn Islamic World 1983): 37-44. Naziah. ‘Dia al-Azzawi: Adwat wa Assiela Khater, Techniques (Dia Al-Azzawi: Tools, Muharda’ Al-Nahar (Beirut, 5 Questions). and Provocative December 1991): 15. Allown’ —. ‘Dia al-Azzawi Halat Alwazin, Alassab, Spirit and (Dia Al-Azzawi: The State of Balance, Colour). Laho Beirut wa Tarrid —. Dia Al-Azzawi. ‘Taftaqdho Paris’ (Beirut Misses It, and Paris Returns Al- to It), Nahar (Beirut, 26 October 2001): 15. Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. Khatibi, Abdelkebir. Gallery, Claudine Planque November. 1 October-3 Lausanne, 1988. —ed. Amman: Darat Al-Funan, Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation, 1997. —. Paris: Institut du Monde Art). Editions Al Manar. Arabe, 2001. Mohammed ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Bu Khazar, Al-Muharr (Casablanca, 1 December 1975): 10.

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pdf. in (Amman, 10 Al-Hassad Magazine (Amman, 10 . London: Iraqi Review of Contemporary Arab Art. London: Iraqi Contemporary Arab Artists. London: Iraqi Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. 15-21 March. Juthour al-Fen al-Iraqi (Grass Roots of Iraqi Art). Quatre Peintres Arabes Peintres Monde Arabe. Quatre Institut du Institut du Painters). Paris: (Four Arab (Première) 1988. Monde Arabe, Arab Museum of Monde Arabe and Institut du Modern . Exhibition Catalogue. Art, Doha. Dia Azzawi January 2002. Paris: Institut du 30 October 2001-13 Monde Arabe, 2001. (December Integral Magazine (Casablanca), no.9 1974): 37. Contemporary Arab Gallery. Iraqi Cultural Centre 1978. Centre, Graphics. London: Iraqi Cultural —. 1980. Cultural Centre, —. 1983. Cultural Centre, . Exhibition Jabra, Jabra Ibrahim. Four Iraqi Artists of Modern Museum Art, Catalogue. March. Baghdad, 1972. —. Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, 1975. —. Baghdad: Al-Dar al-Arrabiyah, 1986. Dia Al- Al-Jalous, Mohammed. ‘Interview with Azzawi’. December 1986): 51. Al-Jazaeri, Mohammed. ‘Marid al-Noua al- Masggkwal wa al-Mutamize’ (A Distinguished Exhibition of High Quality). Al-Reiwq Magazine (Baghdad), no. 9 (February 1980): 22–25. Alain. Dia Al-Azzawi: A Positive Modernity. Jouffroy, Exhibition Catalogue. Paris: Galerie Claude Lemand, 2005. fi al-Iraq: al-Mu ‘assir Kamil, Adel. Al-fann al-Tashkili Marhalat al-Sitinat (Contemporary Plastic Arts in

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artist

the of (Baghdad, 8 May Alf Ba’a Magazine (Baghdad, 8 May (Paris), no. 148 Al-Arabi Magazine (Paris), no. 148 Al-Watan , Halat Insania, (Baghdad, 19 Alf Ba’a Magazine, Halat Insania, (Baghdad, 19

—. 1975): 22 March Hayder, Jalil. ‘Seven Artists: Hail Hunak Amel Jalil. ‘Seven Artists: Hail Hunak Amel Hayder, Min Al-Utarr’ (Seven Artists: Is There Bielkhroj the Frames of from in the Departure a Future Paintings?). 1974): 40. Hayder, Hadya. ‘Hathih al-Sarkha al-Mualqa’ (That Hadya. ‘Hathih al-Sarkha al-Mualqa’ (That Hayder, the Surface of a White Wall). Cry Resonating from 1975): 16. Al-Jamhuria (Baghdad, 15 March . Damascus: The Book of Iraq. Damascus: Hassoun, Amer Bader. 1995. Press, Al-Ekha’s Hasan, Shakir. ‘Nashait al-Fan al-Iraqi al-Muasser ‘Nashait al-Fan al-Iraqi al-Muasser Hasan, Shakir. of Modern (The Growth Iraqi Art and wa Tatwareh’ (Baghdad, its Development). Afaq Arabia Magazine September 1981): 120–125. La Gazette Al-Azzawi’. La Gazette ‘Dia Harambourg, Lydia. (Paris, 2014). Drouot Al-Haidari, Buland. ‘Malameh min Ather al-Turath ‘Malameh min Ather al-Turath Al-Haidari, Buland. from Arab of Influence al-Arabi fi Fananina’ (Traces on our Artists). Afaq Arabia Magazine Culture on Contemporary —. ‘The Influence of Arab Culture Arab Artists.’ Ur Magazine, Special Issue on 10-27. Contemporary Arab Art (London, 1988): Al-Hag, Badr. ‘Tal Al-Za’ter fi Thakrat al-Khat wa al- Al-Za’ter ‘Tal Al-Hag, Badr. Calligraphy and In Memory of Al-Za’ter: Loun’ (Tal Colour). 62-3. (December 1979): 56–69. 1977): (Baghdad), no.7 (March Hadi, Sa’ad. ‘Hirat al-Rassam Amam Rmozeh al- ‘Hirat al-Rassam Hadi, Sa’ad. of his of the Artist in Front Athirah’ (The Wonder and Broadcasting Television Favourite Symbols). (29 May 1978): 37-39. Magazine (Baghdad), issue 270 . Exhibition Catalogue. Catalogue. . Exhibition Husain. Azzawi Haddawy, 4 April. 10 March- D.C., Alif Gallery, Washington, 1992. - 28 March Gallery Hittite, 5 Toronto, 50 courtesy 53 site

the

on (Paris, 15 June 1980): 62. . ‘Kainat Tahit ala Alarid’ (Creations Alarid’ (Creations ala . ‘Kainat Tahit Al-Rassad to Hiding their Earth as Opposed Landing on 5. 27 May 1978): Defeat). (Baghdad, al-Amilun’ ‘Al-Faris wa al-Dahia, Al-Rawi, Nuri. Victim).(The Night and the Fi Al-Nafit Magazine (Baghdad), no. 66 (September 1966): 10-14. (Baghdad), no. 66 an Al- . ‘Art Review Tathadith Al-Rewaq Magazine on Al-Azzawi). (Baghdad), no. 4 Azzawi’ (Art Review (April 1978): 27. Alarabi’ Akmouroth Tahdith Ridh, Ali. ‘Dia Al-Azzawi (Dia Al-Azzawi: Modernisation of Arabic Heritage). April 1993): 14. 28 Al-Rai al-Aam (Tunisia, Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. Al-Riwaq Gallery. Baghdad, 1978. 15–30 March. (Al-Azzawi R.S. ‘Al-Azzawi wa-Asalah ala Gharbia’ and Western Heritage). Al-Nahar Al-Arabi wa Al Dowli al-Mu ‘assir fi Al-Rubiai, Shawket. Al-fann al-Tashkili Ministry al-Iraq (Contemporary Art in Iraq). Baghdad: of Information, 1972. Jiel Al- Safia, Khalil, ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Thwara Magazine (Damascus), no. 99 (July 1975): 42–43. ‘Al-Khamsa Almutafiqun fi Marrid Al-Sa’gh, Yousif. Exhibition). al-Khamsa’ (The Five in a Five Group Al-Jamhuria, Afaq section (Baghdad, 25 December 1972): 8. El-Sahaf, Hasan. ‘Wjoh Mutsa’ala wa Ayad Mumtada’ (Quizzical Faces and Extended Hands). publishing 1996): 12. (Manama, 10 March Al-Ayam al- Al Said, Shakir Hassan. Fussel min Tarikh the (Chapters from fi al-Iraq Haraka al-Tashkiliah History of the Plastic Arts Movement in Iraq), part and Information, 1. Baghdad: Ministry of Culture 1983.

for . Dubai: Meem . Dubai: Meem Retrospective Dia Al-Azzawi: . Exhibition . Exhibition Parviz Tanavoli Dia Al-Azzawi and Part IV. Exhibition Catalogue. Art in Iraq Today: City. My Trapped Dia Al-Azzawi: Elegy To Modern Iraqi Art: A Collection. Exhibition of the Modern into Art: Artists Middle East. Word (London), no.426 no.426 (London), Magazine ). Al-Wasat Creations 2000): 56-7. (March Noura Haggag, Samar Faruqi, Pocock, Charles, eds. Editions, 2010. —. Abu Art, Meem Gallery, Catalogue. Abu Dhabi Dubai: Meem Editions, 2010. Dhabi, 4–7 November. —. Dubai: April. Dubai, 13 March–11 Meem Gallery, Meem Editions, 2011. —. Meem Gallery, Exhibition Catalogue. Abu Dhabi Art, Dubai: Meem Abu Dhabi, 16–19 November. Editions, 2011. —. Dubai, 13 May–27 June. Catalogue. Meem Gallery, Dubai: Meem Editions, 2013. Century ‘Collecting Twentieth Venetia. Porter, Middle Eastern Art in the British Museum.’ Arts and (London), no. 21 (Spring 1992): the Islamic World 25-27. —. 2006. London: British Museum Press, Obelisk.’ Al-Qassab, Saad. ‘Dia Azzawi: Coloured 1: Modern 2013. Part Arab Art. Meem Projects Part 2: Contemporary Arab Art. Edited by Charles Pocock, Samar Faruqi, and Noura Haggag. Dubai: Exhibition Catalogue, 20–23 November. Meem Editions, 2013. wa Hafawat al- Al-Quds Al-Arabi. ‘Mutat al-Ayn of the Eye and a Celebration of Thakera’ (Pleasures Fond Memories). (London, 17 December 1992): 11. Al-Rasid Magazine. ‘Arbaiat Fananin Arab’ (Four Arab Artists). (London), no. 12 (April 1988): 28-29.

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pdf. in Al-Youm El-Sabia (Paris, 4 June 1990): 36- Al-Youm Al-Nimr, Ayad. ‘Laysa min Alsohola an Takouna an Takouna ‘Laysa min Alsohola Ayad. Al-Nimr, Excellence as a (Achieving Fanan Mutamyzin’ Visual 22 Ad-Dastour (Amman, Artist is Not Easy). 1985): 16. December Art Contemporary Iraqi. Lausanne: Selim. Nizar, Sartec, 1977. ‘Hakatha Ateamel ma Alturath’ (This Nouri, Shakir. Al-Arabi Al-Watten is How I Handle Heritage). 60–63. Magazine (Paris, 28 June 1980): Al-Qima al-Ibda’iyah lil Khatt’ (Dia —. ‘Dia al-Azzawi: of Script). Interview Value Al-Azzawi: the Creative Afaq Arabia Magazine (Baghdad, with Dia Al-Azzawi. 1986): 74–78. fi Hadik Al-thoua’ —. ‘Dia al-Azzawi: Tamulat of Light). Al-Quds Al- (Contemplation in the Gardens Arabi (London), no. 1899 (June 1995): 11. 1’. Al-Quds —. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi: Part Al-Arabi (London, 29 October 2001): 11. 2’. Al-Quds —. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi: Part 2001): 11. Al-Arabi (London, 30 October. wa Alwaqia Orabi, As’ad. ‘Bien Althakira Almathafia Living Alhay’ (Between Museum Memory and Reality). 37. (The Modern —. ‘Al-Mustahdith wa al-Mawrouth’ and the Inherited). Mawakif (London), no. 67 (Spring 1992): 141-48. —. Exhibition Catalogue. 20 November-15 1992. Tangier, Flandria Gallery, December. Waqtun ba[ay]da ’n al-Hurufiyah —. ‘Takhallah After a Long (Abandoning Freedom Taweel’ Experience). Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi. Al-Hayat (London), no.11783 (1995). Ka’enat Hayah’ (Dia Tasknho —. ‘Barzikh Mitafiziqi Al-Azzawi: Metaphysical Isthmus Inhabited by Secret

presented

artist

the of (Baghdad, 22 March Al-Jamhuria (Baghdad, 22 March Al-Rai (Amman, 21 December 1985): 16.

Thaqafat —. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Thaqafat Magazine (Manama), no.1 (2002):157-167. (Baghdad), no. 1 (1987): 13-18. Al-Nasiri, Rafa. ‘Modern Iraqi Graphic Arts.’ Gilgamesh: A Journal of Modern Iraqi Arts Rhythm and Form: Nashashibi, Salwa Mikdadi. Rhythm and Form: Visual Reflections on Arabic Poetry. Lafayette, Calif: International in the Arts, 1997. Council for Women Nader, Sami. ‘El-Tajroba wa Elthaqafa wa Hryat wa Elthaqafa wa Hryat Sami. ‘El-Tajroba Nader, of and Freedom Altabir’ (Experience, Culture, Expression). ‘Alloaha Mshwar Min Alfiker wa Naim, Khedir. Alamel’ (Painting: A Journey of Contemplation and Creation). Contemporary Art from the Islamic Islamic the —. ‘Iraq.’ In Contemporary Art from , edited by Wijdan World Scorpion Ali. London: Society of Publishing Ltd, on behalf of The Royal Fine Arts, Amman, 1989. 1975): 6. Muzaffar, May. ‘Modern Iraqi Artists and Poetry.’ ‘Modern Iraqi Artists and Poetry.’ May. Muzaffar, Gilgamesh: A Journal of Modern Iraqi Arts —. ‘Calligraphy in Modern Iraqi Art.’ Gilgamesh: A Journal of Modern Iraqi Arts (Baghdad), no. 1 (1988): 7-11. Mudhir, Hani. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Al- Hani. Mudhir, Magazine (London), no.408 (November Wasat 1999): 54-7. (Baghdad), no. 1 (1988): 13-17. Mukhtaraat and Information. Mukhtaraat Culture Ministry of of (Selected Works min al-fen al-Iraqi al-Mu’aasr Art). Baghdad: Mahfoud, Hafid, Contemporary Iraqi 1998. Metallidis, Effie-Michelle. ‘Pushing Boundaries.’ Boundaries.’ Effie-Michelle. ‘Pushing Metallidis, March Life (Abu Dhabi, 30 , Arts and The National 2009): 5. 52 courtesy 55 site

the

on

publishing

for

Al-Zahrah, Zabrawi. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi,’ with Dia Al-Azzawi,’ Zabrawi. ‘Interview Al-Zahrah, 6. 1991): March Al-Alam (Rabat, 7 Distant fi al-Baid’ (From ‘Al-Azzawi Zghieb, Henry. Beginnings of Beirut). to the Complete Exhibitions 1992): 12. Al-Nahar (Beirut, 25 November al- ‘Al-Lughah al-Tashkiliyah Al-Zibawi, Mahmoud. Arabiyah: Al-That, Al-Akhar, of Arab Plastic Arts: Al-Hawiyah’ (The Language Mawakif (London), no. 64 Identity). Self, Other, (Summer 1991): 74-88. al-Hadatha’ (The East of Modernity). —.‘Sharq Mawakif (London), no. 67 (Spring 1992): 154-60. Painting: An Al-Zin, Mustafa. ‘Al-Lowha Hurih’ (The Al-Majalla Magazine (London), Freedom). Artist’s 1982): 70-72. no.109 (March al-Nass el-Shari Al-Zkari, Shafiq. ‘Hawal Elelaqa byn (On the Relationship Between wel fan al-Tashkili’ and Visual Art). Al-Quds Al-Arabi Poetic Text 11. (London), no. 1668 (September 1994):

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pdf. in (Bonn), no. Fikrun wa Fann Magazine (Bonn), no. (Manama, 14 July 2002): 17. (Manama, 14 July 2002): 17. Al-Ayam (Masks of Painting). Amman: Aqni ‘at al-Rasm (Masks of Painting). Amman: (London), no. 697 (August 1991): 6. Dia Espace D’Art et de Culture. Gallery, Al-Wasiti Casablanca, Azzawi. Exhibition Catalogue. 2-28 July. 1993. The Antique Collector Whitet, George Sorley. (London, September 1989): 53-57. Arts and the Islamic of Memory.’ —. ‘Azzawi Mirrors (London), no. 21 (Spring 1992): 59-61. World Eradat al- Bin Wnas, Kamal. ‘Al-Azzawi Yarsim Poem ‘Will Hayat’ (Al-Azzawi: Drawing Al-Chaabi’s for Life’). Al-Hayat (London, 6 August 1991): 16. Abbas. ‘Marid Istiadi’ (Retrospective Yousif, Exhibition). ‘Modern Farouq. Painting in Iraq: Three Yousif, Experiments.’ 4 (1986): 61. Dedication to Painting.’ —. ‘Dia al-Azzawi: Total Gilgamesh: A Journal of Modern Iraqi Arts (Baghdad), no. 4 (1988): 7-14. —. 1996. Dar al-Faris Lil Nashir wa Al-Tawzi‘, Dia Al-Azzawi Ybtdia Fadain Basrin Basrin Ybtdia Fadain Dia Al-Azzawi Swyalih, Khalil. a Visual for Space Creates Llshir (Dia Al-Azzawi April 2006): 16. (London, 12 Poetry). Al-Hayat (Iraqi Tahdiyat’ al-Iraqi Wajha ‘Al-Fin Swylim, Yahya. Challenge). Al-Arabi Magazine Art has Faced a Great 68-77. (Kuwait, January 2007): Multimedia Dictionary of The Thames and Hudson Thames and Hudson, 1998. Modern Art. New York: Abdulrhman. ‘Madi al-Loha’ (A Al-Tohmazi, El-Sha’ab Past). Tariq Painting’s 1975): 12. (Baghdad, 24 March Rashida ‘Iradat al-Hayat Bialown Harra’ Al-Turki, (A Zest for Life in Vivid Colours). Al-Quds Al-Arabi

presented

artist

the of Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art. Exhibition . Texas: Iraqi Book Art. Texas: Contemporary Dafatir. Al-fann al-Tashkili al-Iraqi al-Mu ‘assir Al-fann al-Tashkili

Sultan, Maha. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi. ’ Al- Hayat (London, 13 December 1991): 16. Al-Safir Sultan, Faisel. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Al-Safir (Beirut, 28 November 1991): 12. Shrieh, Mahmud. ‘Interview with Dia Al-Azzawi.’ Al- Nahar (Beirut, 29 November 1984): 15. . Dubai, Sheraton Hotel. The Arabian Canvas. Dubai, September 2003. Shahatah, Abd Al-Mabud . ‘Al-Dower wa al- Shahatah, Abd Al-Mabud . ‘Al-Dower Art). Al-Arabi Rsalah’ (The Role and the Message in 1984): 112-129. Magazine (Kuwait, March Catalogue. Mataf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Milan: Skira, 2010. Doha, 30 December. Shabout, Nada, Wassan Al-Khudari and Deena Al-Khudari and Deena Shabout, Nada, Wassan Chalabi. Interventions: A Dialogue Shabout, Nada, ed. Interventions: A Dialogue Between the Modern and Contemporary. Exhibition Mathaf: Arab Museum of catalogue. 30 December, Modern Art, Doha. Milan: Skira, 2010. —. ‘To Keep the Dream Alive…’ Modern Keep the Dream Iraqi Art: A —. ‘To Dubai, Collection. Exhibition Catalogue. Meem Gallery, 2013, 8–11.13 May–27 June. Dubai: Meem Editions, University of North Texas, 2006. University of North Texas, —. Shabout, Nada. Modern of Arab Arab Art: Formation of Florida, 2007. Press Aesthetics. Florida: University . Exhibition Catalogue. 26 26 . Exhibition Catalogue. Seale, Patrick. Azzawi 1978. London, Patrick Seale Gallery, April-10 May. Saleh, Fakhri. ‘Elhaq Alrasim Bilsha’er Yintej Bilsha’er Yintej ‘Elhaq Alrasim Saleh, Fakhri. a Produces Poetry to Painting Alsathia’ (Joining Shallow Vision). Al-Ufaq Magazine (Cyprus), issue 10 (February 1986): 51–55. (Contemporary Iraqi Art). Tunis: UNEXCO, 1992. UNEXCO, Iraqi Art). Tunis: (Contemporary —. 54 courtesy courtesy courtesy

Frieze Paintings

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58

Private Collection 95 *83cm Oil oncanvas Ancient Symbols(1964)

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60

Private Collection, London 100 *71cm Oil oncanvas Folkloric Mythology(1966)

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in in

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62

Sharjah 85 *65cm Oil oncanvas Pretender Mask(1966)

of of

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in in

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64

Private Collection 99 *83cm Oil oncanvas Visit toal-Kassim(1968)

of of

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in in

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66 London Collection, Private 84 *104cm Oil oncanvas (1968) Crying Wolf

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68

Artist Collection 85 *65cm Oil oncanvas Bride(1969) Southern

of of

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artist artist

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in in

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70

Private Collection, London 135 *cm Oil oncanvas Death WillBeYour Bridal(1970)

of of

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in in

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72

Private Collection Oil oncanvas 90 *cm Waddah al-Yaman (1972)

of of

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artist artist

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in in

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74

Tala Al-Azzawi Collection,London 89 *cm Oil oncanvas Interconnection [Tawasal] (1972)

of of

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artist artist

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in in

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76 Tala Al-Azzawi Collection,London 89 *cm Oil oncanvas Memories

(1973)

of of

the the

artist artist

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in in

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Drawings

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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80

Tala Azzawi collection 49 *32cm Gouache andChina inkonpaper Gilgamesh I(1966)

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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82

Tala Azzawi collection 70 *52cm Watercolour onpaper Arabian NightI(1967)

of of

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artist artist

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in in

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84

Private collection 19 *18.5cm China inkonpaper Untitled I(1970)

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artist artist

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in in

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86

Private collection 19 *18.5cm China inkonpaper Untitled II(1970)

of of

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artist artist

presented presented

in in

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88

Tala Azzawi collection 26 *cm Gouache andChina inkonpaper Waddah al-Yaman I(1972)

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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90

Tala Azzawi collection 50 *35cm Gouache andChina inkonpaper Waddah al-Yaman IV(1972)

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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92

Tala Azzawi collection 50 *35cm Gouache andchina inkonpaper Waddah al-Yaman V(1972)

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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94

Tala Azzawi collection 34 *32cm Gouache andChina inkonpaper Waddah al-Yaman II(1973)

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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96

Tala Azzawi collection 50 *33cm Gouache onpaper Waddah al-Yaman III(1973)

of of

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artist artist

presented presented

in in

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98

Tala Azzawi collection 66 *50cm Gouache onpaper Untitled VI(1973)

of of

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artist artist

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in in

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100

Tala Azzawi collection 66 *50cm Gouache onpaper Untitled VI(1973)

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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102

Tala Azzawi collection 43 *38cm Gouache onpaper Untitled VI(1974)

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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104

67 *50cm China inkonpaper Untitled I(1974)

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in in

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Appendix

Photographs

Catalogues of

the the Posters

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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108

Dia AzzawiArchive Dia Azzawi,Baghdad, 1970

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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110

Dia AzzawiArchive art,Baghdad,1970 At theNational Museum ofModern

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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112

Dia AzzawiArchive Baghdad, 1971

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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114

Dia AzzawiArchive Baghdad, 1972

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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116

Dia AzzawiArchive Karbala, 1972

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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118

Dia AzzawiArchive Baghdad, 1972

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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120

Dia AzzawiArchive 1976 Art,Baghdad,National Museum ofModern Dia Azzawi,IsmailFatthaandRafa al-Nasiri,

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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122

of of

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artist artist

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in in

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Dia AzzawiArchive Baghdad, 1965 first soloshowatAl-Wasiti Gallery, Exhibition catalogueforAzzawi’s

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124

Dia AzzawiArchive 1965 Art,Baghdad,exhibition atthe NationalMuseumofModern Exhibition cataloguefortheImpressionist Group’s first

of of

the the

artist artist

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in in

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126

Dia AzzawiArchive Azzawi soloexhibition catalogue,GalleryOne, Beirut,1966

of of

the the

artist artist

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in in

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128

of of

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in in

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Dia AzzawiArchive Baghdad, 1967 catalogue, Iraqi ArtistSocietyHall, Impressionist Group exhibition

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130

Dia AzzawiArchive Baghdad, 1967 Mask, IraqiArtistSociety Hall, featuring animageofPretender Azzawi soloexhibitioncatalogue

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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132

of of

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in in

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Dia AzzawiArchive Art),Baghdad, 1968 Modern Art(National MuseumofGallery ofModern Azzawi’s soloexhibitioncatalogue,National

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134

Archive Dia Azzawi 1969 , New Vision Towards A manifesto, and catalogue group New Vision

of of

the the

artist artist

presented presented

in in

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136

Dia AzzawiArchive Image ofCryingWolf inAzzawi’s GalleryOne,Beirut

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140

Dia AzzawiArchive Art,Baghdad, 1972 Modern Four Artistsexhibitioncatalogue, NationalMuseumof

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142

Dia AzzawiArchive 100 *70cm Silkscreen Illustration byDiaAzzawi,1969 Poster fortheplayAl-Muftah

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144

Dia AzzawiArchive 94 *57.5cm Silkscreen Art,Baghdad Solo exhibition,NationalMuseum ofModern Dia AzzawiExhibitionPoster, 1971

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146

Dia AzzawiArchive 100 *70cm Silkscreen Solo exhibition,SultanGallery, Kuwait Dia AzzawiExhibitionPoster, 1971

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148

Dia AzzawiArchive Limited Edition Silkscreen (with Yousif Al-Sa’eghpoem) Dia Azzawi,Al-MarbidPoetryFestival Poster, Basra, 1971

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