ARTISTS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

A rich artistic trove.

Eigner, a specialist in Arabic art and culture, grew up in Cairo, Beirut, and Kuwait, immersed in the abundant creative life of the Middle East. In a handsomely produced volume, featuring 572 striking color images of paintings, drawings, sculpture, photographs, installations, calligraphy, and stills from videos, he offers an authoritative survey of art encompassing a vast geographical area, from Morocco in the west to Iran in the east. Roughly 250 concise biographies and longer, insightful discussions of nearly 100 artists reveal more than a century of prolific artistic production in many media. Eigner examines recurring themes, such as calligraphy and folk art, nature and gardens, cityscapes and popular culture, as well as religious iconography, symbolism, mysticism, and spirituality. Some artists have drawn on historical and political allusions, including colonialism, uprisings, war, and massacres. Many artists studied abroad, where they were influenced by European modernist movements, art institutions, and artistic circles. The Lebanese artist Shafic Abboud, for example, attended the ateliers of Fernand Léger and André Lhote in Paris when he was 21, returning a few years later to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. He came back to Lebanon to work and teach, but when he was exiled by the Lebanese Civil War, he again made a home in France. Likewise, Hamed Abdalla had a successful career in his native Egypt before moving to Copenhagen and finally settling in Paris. Palestinian artist Ali Al Jabri studied architecture at Stanford and English literature in the U.K. Although shaped by international influences, the men and women whom Eigner profiles produced works infused with their Arabic heritage. It’s likely that most artists included here will be unfamiliar to Western readers; the volume serves, therefore, as an engaging introduction and informative resource.

A generous compendium of luminous art.