The impressively large exhibition features nearly 120 works by Arab artists, including 78 that have never before been exhibited in Sharjah. The exhibition includes works by leading artists such as Inji Efflatoun, Dia Al Azzawi and Kadhim Hayder. Each of these works, as well as others previously exhibited, has a historical and artistic value that exemplifies the trajectory of Arab modernism.
One of the key works is Nazek Hamdy's 'Lotus Girl', a painting of an Indian woman created by the Egyptian artist in 1955. The work bears witness to Hamdy's time as a student in India, with mural paintings of Bengal and, perhaps most strikingly, a lotus flower - an important symbol in both Indian and Egyptian cultures.
Two works by the Palestinian artist Zulfa Al Saadi also constitute a second 'hot spot'. These include "Man with a Goat", painted in the 1940s, and "Pharaoh's Hat" (Tomb of Absalom), from the same period. "Al Saadi challenges the idea that women didn't exhibit [at the time]," says Sultan Al Qassemi. "She had a solo exhibition 90 years ago, in 1933 in Jerusalem."
The works echo the current situation and the massacre of Gazans, with Palestinian artist Abdul Hay Mosallam Zarara's 1987 untitled ceramic, which employs fantastical figures in its homage to Palestinian culture; Saudi artist Abdulhalim Radwi's "Palestine", a 1997 work dedicated to the resilience of the country's population; and Emirati artist Abdul Qader Al Rais's "Waiting", a 1970 canvas that evokes the melancholy and struggle of Palestinian children.
Photo: The Lotus Girl by Nazek Hamdy (1955). Pawan Singh / Le National.