L’exposition est organisée par la NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, et se tiendra du 6 septembre au 11 décembre 2022. Intitulée « Khaleej Modern: Pioneers and Collective in the Arabian peninsula, 1941 – 2008 », l’événement documente les mouvements d’art moderne du XXe siècle dans le Golfe. Elle réunit pour la première des oeuvres d’artistes des Émirats arabes unis, d’Arabie saoudite, de Bahreïn, du Koweït, du Qatar et d’Oman. Ainsi :
- Artistic pioneers and collectives of the 20th and 21st centuries will be studied, starting with the first exhibition of the Al Mubarakiya School of Kuwait in 1941.
- The modern Saudi art scene dates back to 1938, and to explore it, works by Mounirah Mosly, Safeya Binzagr, Abdulhalim Radwi and Abdullah Al Shaikh will be unveiled. Pieces by Mohammed Al Saleem and Abdulrahman AlSoliman are also displayed thanks to the Saudi House of Fine Arts in Riyadh.
- For the Kingdom of Bahrain, Stoby takes us back to the 1950s, when the Manama group was formed, with Abdul Karim Al-Orrayed, Nasser Al Yousif and Ahmed Qassim Al Sunni.
- Au cours des 20 années suivantes, l’action du collectif The Three Friends a été déterminante au Qatar, avec notamment Youssef Ahmed, Hassan Al Mulla et Mohammed Ali Abdullah.
- In the United Arab Emirates, early pioneers are Abdul Qader Al Rais and The Group of Five, consisting of Hassan Sharif, Abdullah Al Saadi, Mohammed Kazem, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim and Ebtisam Abdulaziz.
- Important personalities from Oman will also be shown, such as Anwar Sonya, Rabha Mahmoud and the group The Circle, which is led by Hassan Meer.
Photo : « Worshippers Leaving the Mosque », 1981, huile sur toile, Abdulrahman Alsoliman. Copyrights Abdulrahman Alsoliman / Barjeel Art Foundation.