拍品专文
Born in Baghdad in1939, Dia al-Azzawi is widely regarded as a pioneer of modern Arab art. Trained as an archaeologist at the University of Baghdad and former Director of the Iraqi Antiquities Department at the National Museum of Iraq, Al-Azzawi amassed immense knowledge of Iraq’s ancient civilisations and cultural legacies. The artefacts, sculptures, and historical relics he encountered would later become an important source of inspiration for his artistic vision, which fuses contemporary materials and techniques with elements referencing Iraq’s rich Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian heritage, thus bridging tradition and modernity.
Politically engaged, Al-Azzawi co-founded the “New Vision” group in 1969, during a period of liberal openness in Iraq’s political landscape, which spurred social and cultural transformation. Together with notable figures like Rafa al-Nasiri, Mohammed Muhriddin, Ismail Fattah, Hachem Samarchi and Saleh al-Jumaie, the group sought to redefine art practice in Iraq and the broader Arab world as the region grappled with issues of identity amid the rise of Pan-Arabism. The group’s manifesto advocated for an art that would encompass Arab culture in all its diversity, encouraging the return to tradition as a form of inspiration whilst simultaneously exploring modern artistic expressions.
In this context of cultural revival in modern Iraqi art, Al-Azzawi reintroduced the essence of Arab and Islamic poetry. His paintings explore the convergence of visual representations and the written word, immersing viewers in the imaginative realm of poetry on his canvases. For Al-Azzawi, poetry would eventually become an inherent part of his artistic practice, serving as both a creative impetus and a source of metaphorical exploration. Such visualisation of poetry transformed his art into a multi-layered form of expression, where literary references and cultural symbols intertwine harmoniously to create evocative artworks that speak to both tradition and modernity.
The present work, titled Waddah al-Yaman, perfectly exemplifies Al-Azzawi’s deep engagement with poetry. Painted in 1972, the piece is part of a series dedicated to the legendary Yemeni poet Waddah al-Yaman, in which the artist visually explores the mystery surrounding the poet’s disappearance. The work was painted at a moment when Al-Azzawi’s “New Vision” was gaining momentum in reshaping Iraq’s artistic landscape, also coinciding with the first Yemenite war, adding further symbolic resonance to its subject matter.
The composition of the painting alludes to themes of loss and uncertainty, with a figure of Waddah Al-Yaman, that remains shrouded in ambiguity, not fully revealed. His distorted figure is composed of organic, undefined shapes that echo motifs of ancient Sumerian art. Layered onto a monochromatic background, this composition accentuates the artist’s emphasis on line and shape, as the empty space dominating the background draws the viewer’s eye to the interplay of abstraction and form. Azzawi’s choice of a subdued, earthy palette, references Sumerian sculpture. The brown tones may also allude to the wooden trunk in which the poet was allegedly buried. Interspersed with bursts of orange and red, the colours speak to the contrast between life and death, presence and absence, imbuing Al-Azzawi’s oeuvre with emotional resonance and offering layers of interpretation.
The bodily distortion in this figurative representation of Waddah al-Yaman is also evocative of the artist’s personal experiences. Having served as a reservist in the army between 1966 and 1973 during the Iraq-Kurdish war, Al-Azzawi was witness to the atrocities, which prompted him to delve further into themes of suffering, loss, and death. In this present work, the poet’s fate becomes a metaphorical reflection on the fragility of life and the weight of history, inviting viewers into the deeply reflective contemplation of the complexities of existence.
Politically engaged, Al-Azzawi co-founded the “New Vision” group in 1969, during a period of liberal openness in Iraq’s political landscape, which spurred social and cultural transformation. Together with notable figures like Rafa al-Nasiri, Mohammed Muhriddin, Ismail Fattah, Hachem Samarchi and Saleh al-Jumaie, the group sought to redefine art practice in Iraq and the broader Arab world as the region grappled with issues of identity amid the rise of Pan-Arabism. The group’s manifesto advocated for an art that would encompass Arab culture in all its diversity, encouraging the return to tradition as a form of inspiration whilst simultaneously exploring modern artistic expressions.
In this context of cultural revival in modern Iraqi art, Al-Azzawi reintroduced the essence of Arab and Islamic poetry. His paintings explore the convergence of visual representations and the written word, immersing viewers in the imaginative realm of poetry on his canvases. For Al-Azzawi, poetry would eventually become an inherent part of his artistic practice, serving as both a creative impetus and a source of metaphorical exploration. Such visualisation of poetry transformed his art into a multi-layered form of expression, where literary references and cultural symbols intertwine harmoniously to create evocative artworks that speak to both tradition and modernity.
The present work, titled Waddah al-Yaman, perfectly exemplifies Al-Azzawi’s deep engagement with poetry. Painted in 1972, the piece is part of a series dedicated to the legendary Yemeni poet Waddah al-Yaman, in which the artist visually explores the mystery surrounding the poet’s disappearance. The work was painted at a moment when Al-Azzawi’s “New Vision” was gaining momentum in reshaping Iraq’s artistic landscape, also coinciding with the first Yemenite war, adding further symbolic resonance to its subject matter.
The composition of the painting alludes to themes of loss and uncertainty, with a figure of Waddah Al-Yaman, that remains shrouded in ambiguity, not fully revealed. His distorted figure is composed of organic, undefined shapes that echo motifs of ancient Sumerian art. Layered onto a monochromatic background, this composition accentuates the artist’s emphasis on line and shape, as the empty space dominating the background draws the viewer’s eye to the interplay of abstraction and form. Azzawi’s choice of a subdued, earthy palette, references Sumerian sculpture. The brown tones may also allude to the wooden trunk in which the poet was allegedly buried. Interspersed with bursts of orange and red, the colours speak to the contrast between life and death, presence and absence, imbuing Al-Azzawi’s oeuvre with emotional resonance and offering layers of interpretation.
The bodily distortion in this figurative representation of Waddah al-Yaman is also evocative of the artist’s personal experiences. Having served as a reservist in the army between 1966 and 1973 during the Iraq-Kurdish war, Al-Azzawi was witness to the atrocities, which prompted him to delve further into themes of suffering, loss, and death. In this present work, the poet’s fate becomes a metaphorical reflection on the fragility of life and the weight of history, inviting viewers into the deeply reflective contemplation of the complexities of existence.