Overview

Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents offers an unprecedented resource for the study of modernism: a compendium of critical art writings by twentieth-century Arab intellectuals and artists. The selection of texts-many of which appear here for the first time in English-includes manifestos, essays, transcripts of roundtable discussions, diary entries, exhibition guest-book comments, letters, and more. Traversing empires and nation-states, diasporas and speculative cultural and political federations, these documents bring light to the formation of a global modernism, through debates on originality, public space, spiritualism and art, postcolonial exhibition politics, and Arab nationalism, among many other topics. The collection is framed chronologically, and includes contextualizing commentaries to assist readers in navigating its broad geographic and historical scope. Interspersed throughout the volume are sixteen contemporary essays: writings by scholars on key terms and events as well as personal reflections by modern artists who were themselves active in the histories under consideration. A newly commissioned essay by historian and Arab-studies scholar Ussama Makdisi provides a historical overview of the region's intertwined political and cultural developments during the twentieth century. Modern Art in the Arab World is an essential addition to the investigation of modernism and its global manifestations. Publication of the Museum of Modern Art Distributed by Duke University Press

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9781633450387

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Reviews

The translation and publication of these documents is particularly important for scholars. A problem with studying 20th-century Arab art has been lack of access to primary materials. Many of them are still in the hands of artists or their families, and have not been well-catalogued nor digitised - or are in Arabic and inaccessible to an English-dominated field. As study of Arab modernisms grows, projects like this allow artists' voices to be heard, rather than others speaking for them. -- Melissa Gronlund * The National * This is a book to relish and dig into time and time again. Each article takes on a different meaning on further reading. . . . This book inspires a love for Arabic art history and should encourage further historical and contextual illustration that will illustrate the subject and render it more accessible. -- Omar Kholeif * Critical Inquiry * The constant awareness of both the possibilities and difficulties of speaking or writing about art and its potentially revolutionary mission makes this fascinating anthology a worthwhile contribution to the global conversation about art. -- Raphael Cormack * Apollo * A unique reference for students of modern Arab art and a fascinating window into cultural debates in the region. -- Ursula Lindsey * Al Fanar Media * The compelling format of Modern Art in the Arab World allows us to understand not only the various genres and histories, but also the multiple roles Arab artists often occupy in the context of the world at large. . . . I found myself wanting to converse with the texts, because they feel alive, contextualized, yet un-homogenized. The advancement of the arts, aligned to faceted histories of war and peace, conquests, manifestos, economic development, and technological advances, makes reading this book feel unburdened by issues of who did what first. Like a map, this work allows you to connect points of inception and departure, to gather parallel and random threads that reveal new intersections. -- Doris Bittar * Al Jadid * An unprecedented anthology of source material on modern art in the Arab world. . . . Modern Art in The Arab World provides not only a substantial archive, but also a liminal space of textual fluidity to revisit modernity outside of its North Atlantic core. -- Golnar Yarmohammad Touski * Contemporaneity *

The translation and publication of these documents is particularly important for scholars. A problem with studying 20th-century Arab art has been lack of access to primary materials. Many of them are still in the hands of artists or their families, and have not been well-catalogued nor digitised - or are in Arabic and inaccessible to an English-dominated field. As study of Arab modernisms grows, projects like this allow artists' voices to be heard, rather than others speaking for them. -- Melissa Gronlund * The National *

The constant awareness of both the possibilities and difficulties of speaking or writing about art and its potentially revolutionary mission makes this fascinating anthology a worthwhile contribution to the global conversation about art. -- Raphael Cormack * Apollo * This is a book to relish and dig into time and time again. Each article takes on a different meaning on further reading. . . . This book inspires a love for Arabic art history and should encourage further historical and contextual illustration that will illustrate the subject and render it more accessible. -- Omar Kholeif * Critical Inquiry * The translation and publication of these documents is particularly important for scholars. A problem with studying 20th-century Arab art has been lack of access to primary materials. Many of them are still in the hands of artists or their families, and have not been well-catalogued nor digitised - or are in Arabic and inaccessible to an English-dominated field. As study of Arab modernisms grows, projects like this allow artists' voices to be heard, rather than others speaking for them. -- Melissa Gronlund * The National *

Author Information

Anneka Lenssen is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley. Sarah Rogers is an independent scholar. Nada Shabout is Professor of Art History at the University of North Texas.

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