FEATURES ARCHIVE

What did you set out to accomplish with your new book, Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran?
In a world filled with misunderstanding, there can be nothing more fulfilling than to engage in dispelling some of the stereotypes and prejudices that cloud people’s judgment. I would hope that the book might in a very small way help this process. The book is intended as a tribute to the region’s art and artists. I find that Culture makes a wonderful bridge for crossing divides: irrespective of how turbulent the waters may be, bridges must be built, and art provides some of the bricks with which to build them.

One might aptly describe you as a “child of the Middle East,” having lived in Cairo, Beirut and for a short while in the Gulf, all before the age of 12. What is your earliest significant memory of art?
During my childhood, the Arab world-particularly in the capital cities of Beirut, Cairo and Baghdad-was experiencing an exciting engagement with the arts, infused with a dose of pan-Arab nationalism. From my childhood I recall many paintings (my parents were collectors), but one in particular made a lasting impression. It is a small canvas, still hanging in my mother’s study, by Mustafa Farroukh, one of Lebanon’s great artists of the 20th century, depicting a moonlit scene in which a musaharati, the man who walks the streets before morning prayers during Ramadan, beats his drum and calls people to wake up have their Sohour (the meal before sunrise, after which they can no longer eat or drink until sunset), one of many of the region’s traditions that is alas dying.

What was the most exciting discovery you made while researching the 200 artists in this book?
There were a number of discoveries on my book journey--both artists that I did not know as well as some fascinating works that have never been seen before. I recall showing a major early piece of art (1960s) to one of the region’s masterly modern artists which brought back a flood of emotions and memories; he had not seen it since he painted it and did not know of its whereabouts. I hope that readers will make new discoveries and that artists may be reunited with some long lost friends.

You served as a senior adviser for the British Museum’s seminal 2006 exhibition, Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, which centered on the use of Arabic script in artistic expression. What was the significance of this exhibition in the greater context of Middle Eastern art?
It was a milestone as the UK’s first major institutional entry into the field of modern Middle Eastern art.

When the exhibition toured to Dubai, was the artwork received any differently than it had been in London? 
When the wide ranging London display was expanded and taken back to the region from which it came (i.e. the Middle East), for many residents of the region this was their first visit to a major museum exhibition and for this to be of artists of their own region was an important point. I would like to believe that such exhibitions raise awareness and make the case for working with experienced institutions and individuals, and that it was a positive exporting message for the British Museum and the West-the exhibition was very well received.

The longest chapter in your book is titled, 'Politics, Conflict and War.' In a region of such political unrest, what role has art played - especially in the last 50 years?
Yes, the region has alas suffered from conflict and political turmoil for much of the last one hundred years. Artists have responded to this complicated and unhappy history by representing fighters, oppressors, victims in a range of idioms, and with varying degrees of directness. It goes without saying that these times have had a great influence on many of the artists. Art is not produced in a vacuum.

You seem to have gained access to many collections from the region and indeed the world.
I have been most fortunate and feel embarrassed by the generosity and warmth of many institutions and collectors in the UK, France, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, the Maghreb and Iran, and beyond, they have all wanted the story told…

I read that you keep an art diary wherein you note the best work you have seen each month. Can I ask what your most recent entry recorded?
The Real Van Gogh the artist and his letters at the Royal Academy, a must-see exhibition. I would have liked to say that I went to an exhibition of Middle Eastern modern art, but alas that part of the art market is not there yet, although well on its way-the train of Middle East art has left the station.