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Lot Essay
An unparalleled dignitary of modern Arab arts and culture in which he intensely participated for its influence all around the world, Dia Al-Azzawi still preserves an extraordinary style proper to his identity. Born in Baghdad in 1939, the Iraqi artist completed his studies at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad while he obtained a degree in archaeology in 1962. He is one of the main figures of several movements such as the New Vision group (Al-Ru’yya Al- Jadidah) that he founded in 1969 with his contemporaries, among the others, Rafa Nasiri (1940-2013) and Ismael Fattah (1934-2004) and later, he joined Shaker Hassan Al Saïd (1925-2004) in the One Dimension group (‘Al-Bu’d Al-Wahid’) created in 1971. Through his prolific career which started in 1964, he showed a remarkably versatile profile mastering art as well as poetry and he has created a narrative where his strong knowledge of the two is clearly visible in his entire oeuvre.
He effectively reused a variety of themes notably from the popular folk literature (al-adaab al-sha'biyyah) including the tales of One Thousand and One Nights or the ancient episode relating the adventure of the semi-god Gilgamesh from the Mesopotamian mythology. Besides, he is above all an artist of his time and he always managed to reflect the hopes and fears of Arabs especially during politically disturbing times such as the first coup of Ba’ath party which rattled the region of Middle-East in 1963. From 1968 to 1976, in parallel of practicing art, and he also enrolled in its preservation as a director of the Iraqi Antiquities Department in Baghdad, as well as working as an editor of the magazines Ur (1978 - 1984) and Funoon Arabiyyah (1981- 1982). Incredibly creative, he has worked with a multitude of means, through a unique style, with his own sensibility.
Dia Al-Azzawi rapidly presented a fascination for the work of the illustrious Jewad Selim (1919-1961) who encouraged him to take a path in line of Iraq’s modern art movement, the Baghdad Group of Modern Art, founded in 1951. These exceptional compositions, created in the late 1980’s, Diary #3 and Standing Figure, purely demonstrate his talent for blending the past and the present. Diary #3, painted between 1985 and 1986, is an intriguing piece that displays geometric elements from abstract art that the artist experimented with as an aesthetic referring to the arts of ancient Mesopotamia. As a real archaeologist, he conscientiously observed the footprints of the history of the region, such as clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform. Here, each geometric element seems to interlock into one piece as a veritable construction. The representation perfectly embodies the style of the artist insofar as he uses visual elements combining them and thus he succeeds in making them appeared to be engraved, such as archaeological pieces, in a dark background.
Standing Figure, which he painted in 1989, merges abstraction and figuration flawlessly. By combining elements of the two, Azzawi attempts to create a space for the viewer to delve into a link drawn by Azzawi between interpretation and his reality. The figure is seemingly hugging himself while a flow of abstract shapes unravels from between his arms. These abstract shapes emanate from the figure, while at the same time the figure is attempting to keep them close to him, could symbolize that the figure is losing a part of himself while trying to hold on the rest.
As an heir to an ancient civilization to which he is firmly attached, Azzawi is undeniably a pioneering artist of his time. His works define his undeniable talent with which he constructed a bridge between tradition and modernity, expressing his pride to belonging to a creative people.
He effectively reused a variety of themes notably from the popular folk literature (al-adaab al-sha'biyyah) including the tales of One Thousand and One Nights or the ancient episode relating the adventure of the semi-god Gilgamesh from the Mesopotamian mythology. Besides, he is above all an artist of his time and he always managed to reflect the hopes and fears of Arabs especially during politically disturbing times such as the first coup of Ba’ath party which rattled the region of Middle-East in 1963. From 1968 to 1976, in parallel of practicing art, and he also enrolled in its preservation as a director of the Iraqi Antiquities Department in Baghdad, as well as working as an editor of the magazines Ur (1978 - 1984) and Funoon Arabiyyah (1981- 1982). Incredibly creative, he has worked with a multitude of means, through a unique style, with his own sensibility.
Dia Al-Azzawi rapidly presented a fascination for the work of the illustrious Jewad Selim (1919-1961) who encouraged him to take a path in line of Iraq’s modern art movement, the Baghdad Group of Modern Art, founded in 1951. These exceptional compositions, created in the late 1980’s, Diary #3 and Standing Figure, purely demonstrate his talent for blending the past and the present. Diary #3, painted between 1985 and 1986, is an intriguing piece that displays geometric elements from abstract art that the artist experimented with as an aesthetic referring to the arts of ancient Mesopotamia. As a real archaeologist, he conscientiously observed the footprints of the history of the region, such as clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform. Here, each geometric element seems to interlock into one piece as a veritable construction. The representation perfectly embodies the style of the artist insofar as he uses visual elements combining them and thus he succeeds in making them appeared to be engraved, such as archaeological pieces, in a dark background.
Standing Figure, which he painted in 1989, merges abstraction and figuration flawlessly. By combining elements of the two, Azzawi attempts to create a space for the viewer to delve into a link drawn by Azzawi between interpretation and his reality. The figure is seemingly hugging himself while a flow of abstract shapes unravels from between his arms. These abstract shapes emanate from the figure, while at the same time the figure is attempting to keep them close to him, could symbolize that the figure is losing a part of himself while trying to hold on the rest.
As an heir to an ancient civilization to which he is firmly attached, Azzawi is undeniably a pioneering artist of his time. His works define his undeniable talent with which he constructed a bridge between tradition and modernity, expressing his pride to belonging to a creative people.