Lots are subject to 5% import Duty on the importat… Read more
Laila Shawa (Palestinian, b. 1940)

An Endangered Species (from the series Women and the Veil)

Details
Laila Shawa (Palestinian, b. 1940)
An Endangered Species (from the series Women and the Veil)
signed and dated 'LRS 88.' (lower left); signed, dated and titled (on label on the reverse); signed on the stretcher
oil on canvas
40 x 30in. (101.5 x 76cm.)
Painted in 1988
Exhibited
London, The Mayfair Gallery, London 1992
Amman, The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, 1990
Baghdad, Baghdad Biennial, 1988
Special notice

Lots are subject to 5% import Duty on the importation value (low estimate) levied at the time of collection shipment within UAE. For UAE buyers, please note that duty is paid at origin (Dubai) and not in the importing country. As such, duty paid in Dubai is treated as final duty payment. It is the buyer's responsibility to ascertain and pay all taxes due.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

Sign in
View condition report

Lot Essay

'An Endangered Species is the first in a substantial body of paintings divided into three well-known series - Women and the Veil, Hands of Fatima and Women and Magic - characteristic of Laila Shawas mid-career signature style. It exemplifies Shawas creative preoccupation since the 1960s: reduction of form to fields of colour and the communication of a socio-political message.

The impetus for An Endangered Species was furnished by the re-emergence of the veil in Gaza during the First Intifada, a phenomenon which Shawa has consistently utilized for the exploration of themes round the concepts of individual responsibility as the basis for a stable society. Formally, the composition has been reduced to a decorative play of vibrant colours and pattern contrasted by the stylised, black shapes of the womens eyes. Despite the riot of uniquely designed veils, mask-like and empty, the figures are inherently devoid of individuality.' (Christa Paula, art historian, 2009)

Another work from this series entitled The Impossible Dream is a highlight of the collection of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, published in Widjan Ali, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, 2005, p.150.
;

More from International Modern and Contemporary Art

View All
View All