Repository of original source documents | AMCA | Association for Modern + Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Iran + Turkey

Repository of original source documents

for Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents

Edited by Anneka Lenssen, Sarah Rogers, and Nada Shabout

AMCA is pleased to make available a number of primary documents of modern art writing, in Arabic and French, that have recently been published in translation in the anthology, Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents, published by the Museum of Modern Art, 2018 (https://www.dukeupress.edu/modern-art-in-the-arab-world).

The anthology Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents is meant to offer a compendium of critical art writings by twentieth-century Arab intellectuals and artists as a resource for the study of modernism. The selection of texts includes manifestos, essays, transcripts of roundtable discussions, diary entries, letters and the guest-book comments. Traversing empires and nation-states, diasporas and speculative cultural and political federations, the book’s documents bring light to the formation of a global modernism, through debates on originality, public space, spiritualism and art, postcolonial exhibition politics, and Arab nationalism, among many other topics. The collection is framed chronologically, and includes contextualizing commentaries to assist readers in navigating its broad geographic and historical scope. Interspersed throughout the volume are sixteen contemporary essays: writings by scholars on key terms and events as well as personal reflections by modern artists who were themselves active in the histories under consideration. A newly commissioned essay by historian and Arab-studies scholar Ussama Makdisi provides a historical overview of the region’s intertwined political and cultural developments during the twentieth century.

So as to make it possible for researchers to locate and consult the original texts in full and in their original Arabic or French, the Editors have compiled below an annotated version of the Table of Contents containing links to all those selected texts available in digital archives. In addition, for those selected texts in the public domain, .pdf versions have been provided.

Table of Contents


 DEFINING PAINTING

Taswir, Peinture, Painting (c. 1882) Butrus al-Bustani

ON THE BENEFITS OF ART

The Fine Arts (1887) Ahmed Fahmi Images and Statues, Their Benefits and Legality (1904) Muhammad Abduh

ARAB ROMANTICS

Something about Art (1912) May Ziadeh Letter to May Ziadeh (1920) Amin Rihani Letter to May Ziadeh (1920) Kahlil Gibran Draft essay (1920s) Kahlil Gibran Renewal (1927) Amin Rihani

LETTER FROM ALGIERS TO PARIS

Letter to the Director of the Exhibition of Indigenous Art from the French Colonies (1923) Omar Racim

SCULPTURE AND THE PUBLIC IN EGYPT

The Sphinx and Mokhtar’s Statue (1928) Ibrahim Abd al-Qadir al-Mazini The Response of Sculptor Mokhtar to Mr. al-Mazini (1928) Mahmoud Mokhtar

IN DEFENSE OF EGYPTIAN POPULAR ART

The Popular Arts in Egypt (1928) Mohamed Naghi

LETTER FROM MARRAKESH TO ALGIERS

Letter to Jean Alazard, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Algiers (1929) Azouaou Mammeri

ON THE FORMATION OF A MODERN SPIRIT

Modernism or Tradition? (1929) Irène Kéramé

VIEWING THE EXHIBITION

Guest book entries for Zulfa al-Sa‘di (1933) Guest book entries for Moustafa Farroukh (1933)

QUERYING ART AND RELIGION

Art and Religion (1936) Moustafa Farroukh The Greatest Art (1938) Mikhail Naimy

THE NEO-ORIENTALISTS/Cairo

Manifesto of the Neo-Orientalists (1937) Kamel Telmisany

EGYPTIAN ART AND FREEDOM DEBATES

The Objective of the Contemporary Artist (1938) Ramsès Younan Long Live Degenerate Art! (1938) The Art and Liberty Group (1939) Anwar Kamel (text begins page 1520) Studies in Art: Art and Freedom (1939) Aziz Ahmad Fahmi On Degenerate Art: A Last Word (1939) Nasri Atallah Susa On Degenerate Art (1939) Kamel Telmisany Art and Dictatorship (1940) Mohamed Naghi  (text begins page 163)

SHAPING THE FATE OF THE NATION

The Painter (1943) César Gemayel

IRAQ’S WARTIME TRANSFORMATION

Diary entry (1944) Jewad Selim

ON AGONY AND BEAUTY

Thoughts on Art (1944) Hatem el Mekki Thoughts on Art (1945) Aly Ben Salem Thoughts on Art (1945) Omar Racim Thoughts on Art: Man and His Agony (1945) Mahmoud Messadi

CONTEMPORARY ART GROUP/Cairo

Contemporary Art Group, First Declaration (1946) (text begins page 79) Contemporary Art Group, Second Declaration (1948) (text begins page 82)

SURREALIST SENSITIVITIES

From an Old Diary (1947) Khaldun Sati al-Husry Notes from Surreal (1947) Urkhan Muyassar

PETITION FOR THE 1 PERCENT LAW/Tunis

Letter to the Resident General in Tunis (1948) Pierre Boucherle and Yahia Turki

AN EARLY DECLARATION OF HUROUFIYAH

Arabic Calligraphy: An Inspiring Element in Abstract Art (1949–50) Madiha Umar

IMAGINING AN IMMORTAL ARAB ART

Speech delivered at Damascus’s Maydan High School (1951) Adham Ismail

TOWARD A MATERIAL MODERNISM

How the Arab Understood Visual Art (1951) Saloua Raouda Choucair

BAGHDAD GROUP FOR MODERN ART

Manifesto (1951) Baghdad Group for Modern Art The Renewal of Art (1951) Jewad Selim

THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF EXHIBITIONS

Letter to the Department of the Interior and Fine Arts (1952) Yahia Bahmed On the Presentation of a Collective Exhibition (1953) Jean Sénac Exhibition of a Palestinian Artist (1953) Harun Hashim Rashid (text begins page 72) About the Third Exhibition at the British Cultural Council (1953) Shakir Hassan Al Said

ALGERIAN GROUP OF THE LETTRIST INTERNATIONAL/Algiers

Manifesto (1953) Mohamed Dahou, Cheikh Ben Dhine, Ismail Ait Djafer

A CALL TO HUMAN HERITAGE

The Meaning of Painting (1953) Adonis

CONSIDERING ARAB ART AND ARTISTS

Artists’ Questionnaire: “Art and Arab Life” (1956) The Question of Form: Between National Realism and the Psychological Moment (1956) Zakariya al-Hijjawi

REVIEWING THE IRAQ REVOLUTION

At The Exhibition of the Revolution (1958) Jaleel Kamal al-Din

PROCLAIMING ARAB UNITY

The Freedom of Art (1958) Hamed Said Text for the United Arab Republic Pavilion, Venice Biennale (1960) Salah Kamel

CAIRO: LIMITS ON FREEDOM

Recollections of Imprisonment (1959–63) Inji Efflatoun

MATERIALS FOR A NEW ALGERIAN ART

Painting (1960) M’hamed Issiakhem

PLASTIC ARTS MOVEMENT/Damascus

Manifesto of the Plastic Arts Movement in Syria (1962) Fateh al-Moudarres, Abdul Aziz Alloun, Mahmoud Daadouch Letter to Salman Qataya (1962) Abdul Aziz Alloun You’re Entitled to Your Opinion (1962) Adnan Ibn Dhurayl

MAKING SPACES IN BEIRUT

Opening of Gallery One: A First Art Institution of its Kind (1963) Remarks on the Autumn Exhibition: I Am Uncultured! (1964) Jalal Khoury Toward a New Space: The Perspective of the Abstract (1964) Stélio Scamanga

ART AFTER THE ALGERIAN REVOLUTION

Painting and the People (1963) Presentation of Gallery 54 (1964) Jean Sénac Elements for a New Art (1964) Mohamed Khadda Elements for a New Art (1964) Choukri Mesli Elements for a New Art (1964) Abdallah Benanteur Art and the Algerian Revolution (1964) Henri Kréa

EXPLORATORY ABSTRACTION

Meaninglessness Within and Without (1964) Fouad Kamel

THE CHALLENGE OF ART

A Trailing Zero: Damascus Letter (1965) Muhammad al-Maghout Letter to Farouq al-Buqayli (1966) Mahmoud Hammad

CONTEMPLATIVE ART/Baghdad

Manifesto (1966) Shakir Hassan Al Said (abridged version of text begins page 49)

PRESENTING NEW TUNISIAN PAINTING

A True Language of Forms: Interview with Nja Mahdaoui (1966) Moncef S. Badday A Language in His Land’s Dimensions: Interview with Naceur Ben Cheikh (1966) Moncef S. Badday Against Neocolonialism in Painting: Interview with Najib Belkhodja (1966) Ferid Boughedir

MOROCCO’S CASABLANCA SCHOOL DIALOGUES

On the Concept of Painting and the Plastic Language (1966) Mohammed Chebaa The Situation of the Moroccan Painter (1967) Toni Maraini (text begins page 15) Responses to Souffle’s Artists’ Questionnaire (1967) Farid Belkahia, Mohammed Chebaa, Mohammed Hamidi, Jilali Gharbaoui, Mohammed Melehi (texts begin page 22. This is the full set of questions and responses)

DEBATING NORTH AFRICAN ART AT HOME AND AWAY

Six North African Painters Speak Out: Painting in North Africa, an Alarming Situation (1967) Abdallah Benanteur, Ahmed Cherkaoui, André Elbaz, Abdel Kader Guermaz, Edgard Nacchache, Mahmoud Sehili Internationalism Passes through Nationalism (1967) Zubeir Turki Art Must Reach the Universal and Must Not Become a National Crafts Industry: Interview with André Elbaz (1967) Zakya Daoud (text begins page 34)

AOUCHEM GROUP/Algiers, Blida

Manifesto (1967) Choukri Mesli, Mustafa Adane, Said Saidani, Denis Martinez, Baya (Fatma Haddad-Mahiedine), Mohamed Ben Baghdad, Arezi Zerarti, Mahfoud Dahmani, Hamid Abdoun: Original French typescript reproduced in Critical Interventions

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19301944.2009.10781371 (note: subscription required to view French original)

CIRCULISM AND KINETICS IN KUWAIT

Kinetic Art: A Movement that Represents the New Man (1966) Interview with the Artist Khalifa Qattan (1967) Sulayman al-Shatti

ACCOUNTING FOR THE JUNE 1967 WAR

(….) (1968) Hasan Soliman

Manifesto: Towards a New Vision (1969) Hashem Samarji, Muhammad Mahr al-Din, Rafa al-Nasiri, Dia al-Azzawi, Saleh al-Jumaie, Ismail Fattah You, the Arab Artist Who Rejects the West, What Is Your East?: Interview with Stélio Scamanga, Adel Saghir, and Mounir Najm (1969) Samir Sayegh Al-Tali‘a Symposium Roundtable (1969)

EXHIBITION AT DJEMA AL FNA/Marrakesh

Statement (1969) Mohammed Ataallah, Farid Belkahia, Mohammed Chebaa, Mustapha Hafid, Mohammed Hamidi, Mohammed Melehi (French text begins page 45; Arabic on page 54) 

TRANSFORMING THE ARTS OF THE REVOLUTION

On Art and Combat (1970) Tahar Ben Jelloun (text begins page 46) Art in the Time of the Palestinian Revolution (1971) Kamal Boullata Drawing in Three Dimensions (1971) Vladimir Tamari

ARAB ART IN FEDERATION

Statement of the Founding Committee of the Union of Arab Plastic Artists (1971) Arab Art . . . and Its Position in Relation to the World’s Art (1971) Mahmoud Hammad The Arab Artist’s Rights and his Obligations (1971) Fateh al-Moudarres

EXHIBITION ARTICULATIONS IN IRAQ

Presence in the Object and the Object’s Presence in Transformation, the Becoming of Consciousness (1971) Yahya al-Sheikh (text begins page 59) Circulism: Why Circulism? What Is Circulism? (1971) Qutaiba al-Sheikh Nouri (text begins page 63) Quantum Realism—An Art of Processes (1971) Mahmoud Sabri

A TRANSREGIONAL CRITICAL TERRAIN

A Note on the Calligraphic Sign (1973) Abdelkebir Khatibi Light: The Ultimate Material for Art (1973) Etel Adnan

ART AND THE LETTER

The Philosophical, Technical, and Expressive Aspects of the One Dimension (1973) Shakir Hassan Al Said The Civilizational Quality of the One Dimension (1973) Qutaiba al-Sheikh Nouri About the Letter . . . A Response (1973) Jamil Hamoudi

THE DIASPORIC DIVIDE

An Arab Artist between Damascus and Berlin (1973) Na‘im Isma‘il

NEW REALISM/Baghdad

Manifesto of New Realism (1973) Shams al-Din Faris, Abdal-Razzaq Ali Jawdat, Muhammad Arif, Ibrahim al-Kamali (text begins page 41)

RESPONSE TO THE OCTOBER 1973 WAR

Letter to the Editor of Monday Morning (1973) Aref El Rayess

ARAB BIENNIAL INITIATIVES AND CRITIQUES

Art Inspired by the People, the Struggle, and Liberation in the Trilogy of Heritage, the Present, and Contemporaneity (1973) Discussion Forum from the First Arab Biennial (1974) Manifesto of the Moroccan Association of Plastic Arts (1974) Exploding Artistic and Cultural Handicaps (1974) Dia al-Azzawi

LIFE AS A PALESTINIAN ARTIST

The Palestinian People’s Consciousness and Aesthetic Expression (1975) Mustafa al-Hallaj

KHARTOUM DIALOGUES

The Crystalist Manifesto (1976) Kamala Ibrahim Shaq, Hashim Ibrahim, Muhammad Hamid Shaddad, Hassan Abdallah, Naiyla Al Tayib Commentary (1976) Abdallah Bola Commentary (1976) Mohamed Abusabib Exhibition Statement (1980) Muhammad Hamid Shaddad

SECOND ARAB BIENNIAL IN RABAT

Manifesto of the Association of Moroccan Visual Artists (1976) Interview with Fouad Bellamine (1978)

ON THE DESERT STYLE IN SAUDI ARABIA

A Word for the Sake of Art (1976) Mohammed Al-Saleem Exhibition Statement (1976) Mohammed Al-Saleem

THINKING THROUGH CULTURE DURING THE LEBANESE CIVIL WARS

Proposal for a Cultural Policy (1977) Janine Rubeiz

ENVIRONMENTAL ART AT ASILAH

Statements from participant from the first International Cultural Moussem (1978)

 THE CLOSURE OF GALLERY 79/Ramallah

Statement (1980)

DEBATING COMMITMENT IN A NEW EGYPT

From The Artist’s Freedom (1980) Hasan Soliman The Axis Continues (1982) The Axis Group: Farghali Abdel Hafiz, Abd al-Rahman al-Nashar, Ahmed Nawar, Mustafa El Razzaz Statement against “Artistic Racism” (1984) Abbas Shohdi, Kamal al-Juweili, Subhi al-Sharuni, Mahmoud Baqshish, Saad El-Mansouri, Mokhtar El Attar, Inji Efflatoun, Salah Abdel Krim, Ezzedine Naguib Spotlight on a Spotlight (1984) Mostafa El Razzaz

 CONTEMPORARY MODES IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

To Contemplate Is to Lay a Foundation (1985) al-Tashkeel Cultural Committee: Abdul Jalil Jawad, Hassan Sharif, Abdulraheem Salim, Abdul Latif Al Smoudi On Wooden Columns (1986) Ahmed Rashid