A CENTURY OF IRAQI ART PART II Wednesday 7 October 2015 FRONT ENDPAPER A CENTURY OF IRAQI ART PART II Wednesday 7 October 2015, at 14:00 101 New Bond Street, London VIEWING BIDS ENQUIRIES CUSTOMER SERVICES Friday 2 October 2015 +44 (0) 20 7447 7447 Nima Sagharchi Monday to Friday 8:30 to 18:00 9:00 - 16:30 +44 (0) 20 7447 7401 fax +44 (0) 20 7468 8342 +44 (0) 20 7447 7447 Saturday 3 October 2015 To bid via the internet please [email protected] 11:00 - 15:00 visit bonhams.com As a courtesy to intending Sunday 4 October 2015 Claire Penhallurick bidders, Bonhams will provide a 11:00 - 15:00 Please note that bids should be +44 (0) 20 7468 8249 written Indication of the physical Monday 5 October 2015 submitted no later than 16:00 [email protected] condition of lots in this sale if a 9:00-16:30 on the day prior to the sale. request is received up to 24 Tuesday 6 October 2015 New bidders must also provide Jonathan Horwich hours before the auction starts. 9:00-16:30 proof of identity when submitting Global Director, Picture Sales This written Indication is issued Wednesday 7 October 2015 bids. Failure to do this may result +44 (0) 20 7468 8280 subject to Clause 3 of the Notice 9:00 - 12:00 in your bid not being processed. [email protected] to Bidders. Telephone bidding can only be ILLUSTRATIONS SALE NUMBER PRESS ENQUIRIES accepted on lots with a Front cover: lot 26 23219 low-estimate in excess of £1000. [email protected] Back cover: lot 20 Inside front cover: lot 21 CATALOGUE Live online bidding is available Opposite: lot 25 £30.00 for this sale Please email [email protected] IMPORTANT INFORMATION with ‘live bidding’ in the subject The United States Government line 48 hours before the auction has banned the import of ivory to register for this service into the USA. Lots containing ivory are indicated by the symbol Ф printed beside the lot number in this catalogue. Bonhams 1793 Limited Bonhams 1793 Ltd Directors Bonhams UK Ltd Directors Registered No. 4326560 Robert Brooks Co-Chairman, Colin Sheaf Chairman, Jonathan Baddeley, Andrew McKenzie, Simon Mitchell, Jeff Muse, Registered Office: Montpelier Galleries Malcolm Barber Co-Chairman, Antony Bennett, Matthew Bradbury, Mike Neill, Charlie O’Brien, Giles Peppiatt, Montpelier Street, London SW7 1HH Colin Sheaf Deputy Chairman, Lucinda Bredin, Harvey Cammell, Simon Cottle, Peter Rees, Iain Rushbrook, John Sandon, Matthew Girling Global CEO, Andrew Currie, Paul Davidson, Jean Ghika, Tim Schofield, Veronique Scorer, +44 (0) 20 7393 3900 Patrick Meade Global CEO, Charles Graham-Campbell, Miranda Grant, James Stratton, Roger Tappin, Ralph Taylor, +44 (0) 20 7393 3905 fax Geoffrey Davies, Jonathan Horwich, Richard Harvey, Robin Hereford, Asaph Hyman, Shahin Virani, David Williams, James Knight, Caroline Oliphant, Charles Lanning, Gordon McFarlan, Michael Wynell-Mayow, Suzannah Yip. Hugh Watchorn. Central Middlesex Hospital SALE Park Royal INFORMATION Coronation Road W Bonhams, e d s P t Park Royal a e a rn r o A k R v e R e s A4 o 0 a y Park a h l C Royal Western Ave A40 R o 0 Station a 0 d Acton 0 4 Cemetery North A Acton d Station a o R a i r o t c i V Bids Collection and Storage Handling and storage Important Notice +44 (0) 20 7447 7447 after sale West Acton charges HornA Lanesurcharge of 2% is applicable +44 (0) 20 7447 7401 fax All sold lots will remain in Station Transfer and storage charges when using Mastercard, Visa [email protected] Bonhams New Bond Street for all sold lots will commence and overseas debit cards. www.bonhams.com Collections department until on Friday 23rd October 2015. 17:30 Wednesday 21st October and will be applicable for each The following symbol is used to Payments 2015. Lots not collected by then working day. denote that VAT is due on the Buyers will be removed to Bonhams hammer price and buyer’s +44 (0) 20 7447 7447 warehouse & will be available The charges levied by Bonhams premium +44 (0) 20 7447 7401 fax for collection from 9:30 are as follows: Friday 23rd October 2015 † VAT 20% on hammer price Sellers These lots will be subject to All lots marked with W and buyer’s premium Payment of sale proceeds transfer and storage charges. +44 (0) 20 7447 7447 Transfer per lot £35.00 * VAT on imported items at a +44 (0) 20 7447 7401 fax Address: Daily storage per lot £3.60 preferential rate of 5% on Unit 1, Sovereign Park hammer price and the prevailing Valuations, taxation and Coronation Road All other objects rate on buyer’s premium heritage Park Royal +44 (0) 20 7468 8340 London NW10 7QP Transfer per lot £20.00 VAT refunds on exports from +44 (0) 20 7468 5860 fax Tel: +44 (0) 87 0811 3867 Daily storage per lot £1.90 the EU [email protected] Hours of opening 9:30 to 16:30 To submit a claim for refund of Monday to Friday All the above charges are VAT HMRC require lots to be Catalogue subscriptions exclusive of VAT. exported from the EU within To obtain any Bonhams Lots may be released from strict deadlines. catalogue or Bonhams warehouse on Payment in advance to take out an annual production of the Collection Tel: +44 (0) 20 7447 7447 to For lots on which Import VAT subscription: Order obtained from cashiers ascertain amount due by: has been charged; marked in Subscriptions Department office at Bonhams, Knightsbridge cash, cheque with the catalogue with a * or Ω, lots +44 (0) 1666 502200 or New Bond Street and a form banker’s card, credit card, must be exported within 30 +44 (0) 1666 505107 fax of photographic ID. If a third party or traveller’s cheque. days of Bonhams’ receipt of [email protected] is collecting on behalf of the payment and within 3 months of client, the client must provide Payment at time of collection the sale date. For all other lots Shipping Bonhams with written authority By credit card / debit card export must take place within 3 For information and estimates prior to collection. The third party months of the sale date. on domestic and international must present a photographic shipping as well as export form of ID when collecting. For further VAT information licenses please contact Bonhams please contact: Shipping Department on: [email protected] +44 (0) 20 8963 2849 +44 (0) 20 8963 2850 +44 (0) 20 7629 9673 fax [email protected] CURATOR’S STATEMENT: NIMA SAGHARCHI “A new trend in painting will solve the identity crisis in our contemporary awakening; we will follow in the footsteps of the great Iraqi artists of the thirteenth century. We will find our guiding light in the legacy of our forefathers”. Jewad Selim Part One of “A Century of Iraqi Art”, held at Bonhams in April of this It is important to note that at the turn of the century, when artists like year, was the first dedicated auction of Iraqi Modernism anywhere in Matisse, Braque and the pre-cubists were challenging the cultural the world. Commercially, the sale set several records and made a total status-quo and beginning to take the first steps in the Modernist of over £1.2 million pounds, the majority of the artists in the sale saw experiment, Iraq as a country did not yet exist. The circumstances new records established for their work and the total was the highest surrounding the formation of Iraq and indeed the modern borders of the for any group of Iraqi paintings offered in any auction. wider Arab world present us with an almost unique phenomena, that of a country and its modern artistic landscape taking shape simultaneously. The true measure of this milestone auction, however, can not be expressed in mere figures; Iraq has historically been one of the No figure is more important in understanding this progression than the most creatively fertile areas in the world, and it is important for the critic Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, to whom we owe an immense posthumous international market to recognise the achievements that Iraqi art has debt, whose writings have informed a great deal of the text in this made, despite the difficult circumstances the country has faced. catalogue, and a number of works from whose extraordinary collection It is hoped that our auction, in bringing together some of the most we are proud to present for sale in the present auction. Jabra was the important works from this period, has lead to the emergence of a new first to recognise that one of key motivators of Iraqi Modernism, was an perspective on the contemporary cultural history in Iraq attempt to fill the cultural void which had emerged from the dark days of Ottoman rule and Imperial colonialism, an attempt that sought to The present sales have come about in part, as a response to the combine indigenous culture with the aesthetic and stylistic innovations growing interest in this unique and prolific century of Iraqi art, and in imparted by the European post-war avant-garde, but to do so whilst part, out of a desire to annunciate, and firmly establish modern Iraqi maintaining a deep sense of connection and continuity with Iraq’s grand art in its rightful place within the wider International art market. With artistic heritage. the rise of the Middle Eastern Art market over the past decade and the advent of institutions and museums promoting art from the region, The body of work in the present sale consists of seminal examples from Modern Iraqi art has seen its profile significantly raised, a welcome the full gamut of movements prevalent in Iraq during the century, the departure from the dark years of war and cultural desecration which majority of the works are of incredible rarity and come to market for the saw national museums and libraries comprehensively destroyed and first time, and many are critical examples within the artists respective private collections ransacked.