Barjeel Art Foundation’s touring exhibition to challenge how we think about modern abstract art
The National, October 16, 2019
By Alexandra Chaves
From the 1950s, significant changes swept through the Arab world – the disintegration of colonial powers, industrialisation, war and the mass exodus of people. In this period until the 1980s, various modes of abstract art also began to spring up in the region.
The artistic movements produced in these decades is the focus of the exhibition Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s to 1980s, which opens on January 14, 2020 at New York University’s Grey Art Gallery in Manhattan.
The show will feature nearly 90 works – paintings, sculptures and works on paper – all drawn from the collection of the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, and will present a diverse list of artists such as Ahmed Cherkaoui, Huguette Caland, Hassan Sharif, Etel Adnan, Samia Halaby, Mohamed Melehi, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Dia Azzawi and Kamal Boullata.