20th century Art: Middle East

Colourful exhibition at Sotheby’s, the preview for a sale of 20th century Middle Eastern art.

This was the first time I’d been to a sale preview and I have to admit I was only brave enough to go in as I’d spotted a rather nice coffee shop at the back of the building. I share that with you as a top tip! A great cup of coffee in a nice space and pictures from a forthcoming sale, Scottish artists, around the walls!

The Middle Eastern art was a revelation to me and there were some lovely pictures although most of it you could like to a Western art movement and I didn’t feel I was seeing a unique Middle Eastern view of the world. There was a lovely seated life study of a naked woman sitting on a rock by Georges Hanna Sabbagh from 1928 which felt like a Slade school work. I loved her rounded thighs and the lovely flesh tones.

I loved two still lives by Manoucher Yektai both featuring a vase of flowers and a bowl. I also liked a city on a hill by Abdulhalim Radwi with blue patchwork buildings winding up to skyscrapers on the top.

My favourite was a small picture by Mahmoud Said called “Le Retour de Peche” of fishermen returning with their catch which was full of the wonderful blues and greens of the sea with other fishing boats floating on it and the boat on its side diagonally across the picture with figures supporting it creating other diagonal lines.

Closed on 20 October 2016

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my
Read more

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was
Read more

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was
Read more