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Lot Essay
Unfolding in a soft, flowing form, Winter Icons reflects Vera Tamari’s meditation on the rhythms of nature, translating the changing seasons into an abstract and tactile form. Crafted from earthenware clay and finished with coloured slips, the sculpture derives its distinctive visual and material quality from the interplay between its undulating forms, layered surface and subtle variations in colour and texture. Tamari’s sensitive treatment of clay allows her to communicate the movement and vitality of the natural world. In Winter Icons, the gently undulating surface encapsulates the stirring of the earth beneath its winter sleep, while the sweeping striations and softened, irregular edges recall the rippling movement of water, suggesting the gradual awakening of the earth as it prepares for the season ahead. Tamari’s ability to distil these cyclical processes of nature into an abstract, tactile form is particularly compelling.
The choice of clay is central to this dialogue between material and land. Shaped by hand and transformed through firing, the once-malleable earth is rendered solid and enduring, making the physical transformation an integral part of the work’s meaning. This process lies at the heart of Tamari’s practice, in which material, land, memory and identity are closely interconnected and engage with the shifting political, social and geographical landscapes of Palestine. For Tamari, clay functions not simply as an artistic medium but as an extension of the earth itself. Its capacity to be shaped, altered and preserved mirrors the ways in which landscapes and identities are continually formed through time and experience, while its transformation from earth into a lasting object provides a material framework through which to consider displacement, adaptation and continuity. Winter Icons speaks to the inevitability of change, yet also the enduring cycles of renewal and continuity; like the land, identity is shaped by time, transformation and hardship, yet always carries the potential for regeneration.
Tamari’s engagement with landscape is also closely connected to her wider artistic and political practice. As the only female co-founder of the New Visions Movement, a collective formed in 1987 following the First Intifada, she played a critical role in reshaping Palestinian art. Alongside Sliman Mansour, Nabil Anani and Tayseer Barakat, she sought to move beyond established forms of nationalist imagery, integrating contemporary approaches while remaining closely connected to Palestinian heritage. Materials such as clay, wood and natural pigments became particularly significant within this context, allowing the artists to engage with the physicality of the land through their practice. For Tamari, landscape was not simply a backdrop or subject to be represented, but an evolving presence shaped by memory, place and lived experience. She translated its rhythms and processes into texture and form, allowing the material qualities of her works to carry associations with the land itself.
Winter Icons originates from the prestigious Dalloul Collection, Beirut, founded by Dr Ramzi and Saeda Al Husseini Dalloul and now led by their son, Dr Basel Dalloul. With its roots in Palestine, the Dalloul family has maintained a particularly strong commitment to Palestinian art, reflected in the collection’s significant holdings of works by Palestinian artists. Spanning five decades, the collection reflects the artistic, political and cultural shifts of the Arab world and the family’s longstanding dedication to preserving and promoting Arab creativity.
Born in Jerusalem in 1945, Tamari has developed a multidisciplinary practice spanning ceramics, conceptual art, art history, education and curatorial work. She received her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts in Beirut in 1966 before specialising in ceramics at the Istituto Statale d’Arte per la Ceramica in Florence in 1974. In 1984, she obtained an MPhil in Islamic Art and Architecture from the University of Oxford.
Tamari has exhibited widely, and her work is held in major public and private collections, including Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Jordan National Museum, Amman; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Darat Al Funun, Amman; The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit; and the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), Beirut.
The choice of clay is central to this dialogue between material and land. Shaped by hand and transformed through firing, the once-malleable earth is rendered solid and enduring, making the physical transformation an integral part of the work’s meaning. This process lies at the heart of Tamari’s practice, in which material, land, memory and identity are closely interconnected and engage with the shifting political, social and geographical landscapes of Palestine. For Tamari, clay functions not simply as an artistic medium but as an extension of the earth itself. Its capacity to be shaped, altered and preserved mirrors the ways in which landscapes and identities are continually formed through time and experience, while its transformation from earth into a lasting object provides a material framework through which to consider displacement, adaptation and continuity. Winter Icons speaks to the inevitability of change, yet also the enduring cycles of renewal and continuity; like the land, identity is shaped by time, transformation and hardship, yet always carries the potential for regeneration.
Tamari’s engagement with landscape is also closely connected to her wider artistic and political practice. As the only female co-founder of the New Visions Movement, a collective formed in 1987 following the First Intifada, she played a critical role in reshaping Palestinian art. Alongside Sliman Mansour, Nabil Anani and Tayseer Barakat, she sought to move beyond established forms of nationalist imagery, integrating contemporary approaches while remaining closely connected to Palestinian heritage. Materials such as clay, wood and natural pigments became particularly significant within this context, allowing the artists to engage with the physicality of the land through their practice. For Tamari, landscape was not simply a backdrop or subject to be represented, but an evolving presence shaped by memory, place and lived experience. She translated its rhythms and processes into texture and form, allowing the material qualities of her works to carry associations with the land itself.
Winter Icons originates from the prestigious Dalloul Collection, Beirut, founded by Dr Ramzi and Saeda Al Husseini Dalloul and now led by their son, Dr Basel Dalloul. With its roots in Palestine, the Dalloul family has maintained a particularly strong commitment to Palestinian art, reflected in the collection’s significant holdings of works by Palestinian artists. Spanning five decades, the collection reflects the artistic, political and cultural shifts of the Arab world and the family’s longstanding dedication to preserving and promoting Arab creativity.
Born in Jerusalem in 1945, Tamari has developed a multidisciplinary practice spanning ceramics, conceptual art, art history, education and curatorial work. She received her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts in Beirut in 1966 before specialising in ceramics at the Istituto Statale d’Arte per la Ceramica in Florence in 1974. In 1984, she obtained an MPhil in Islamic Art and Architecture from the University of Oxford.
Tamari has exhibited widely, and her work is held in major public and private collections, including Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Jordan National Museum, Amman; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Darat Al Funun, Amman; The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit; and the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), Beirut.