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Modern Art in the Arab World, Primary Documents: A Review Essay
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2021
Extract
The study of modern and contemporary art from Islamic lands, and particularly the Arab world, is a developing field. Over the past few decades, a variety of publications on modern and contemporary art from the Arab world and its diasporas has appeared in art magazines, journals, and exhibition and auction catalogues. There is, however, still a lack of scholarly literature and reliable resources on the subject. Many such existing sources have focused on productions that are largely in line with certain interests or agendas pursued by the particular magazine/journal, exhibition, or art market in question. Therefore, although recent scholarly output has played a crucial role in introducing modern art in the Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa, these publications have not sufficiently filled the gap of discussion regarding certain aspects of the subject. Modern Art in the Arab World, a collection of critical writings by Arab intellectuals and artists, offers an unparalleled source for the study of modernism in the Arab world. Mapping the primary documents with additional entries written by the editors and other scholars, this book addresses the major historical, conceptual, theoretical, and aesthetic issues that inform the modern art paradigm in the Arab world. Arranged largely in a chronological order, it explores the art of the Arab world by tracing the main discourses that have shaped artistic practices and transformations in the region from the mid-nineteenth century until the late 1980s.
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- Book Review Essay
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc.
References
1 Lowry, Glenn D., “Foreword,” 13 in Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents, eds. Lenssen, Anneka, Shabout, Nada, and Rogers, Sarah (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2018)Google Scholar. As of April 2020, the volume is available online as a free, downloadable PDF: https://mo.ma/2V3pfUy .
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Anneka Lenssen, Sarah Rogers, Neda Shabout, “Introduction: About this Book,” 18.
5 Lowry, “Foreword,” 13.
6 Ibid.
7 Lenssen, “Introduction,” 18.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Shabout, Nada, Modern Arab Art, Formation of Arab Aesthetics (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2007)Google Scholar.
13 Lenssen, “Introduction,” 21.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid., 23
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., 21.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., 22.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid., 24.
23 Ibid., 24.
24 Ussama Makdisi, “The Marking and Unmarking of the Arab Wold,” 28.
25 Ibid., 18, 19.
26 Butrus al-Bustani, “Taswir, Peinture, Painting,” 36.
27 Cheikh Ben Dhine, Mohamed Dahou, Ismail Ali Djafer, “Manifesto,” 163.
28 Lenssen, “Introduction,” 20.
29 See pages 229–40.
30 Muhammad Abduh, “Images and Status, Their Benefits and Legality,” 42.
31 Lenssen, “Introduction,” 23, 24
32 Nasser Rabbat, “The Nakba and Arab Culture,” 161.
33 Lenssen, “Introduction,” 18.
34 Dina Ramadan, “Cairo's School of Fine Arts and the Pedagogical Imperative,” 72–73.
35 Lenssen, “Introduction,” 23.
36 McDonough, Tom, “Contemporary Art History. Field of Inquiry,” October 130 (Fall 2009): 124Google Scholar.