Research Catalog

Title

Reflections : contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa / Venetia Porter ; with Natasha Morris and Charles Tripp.

Author

Porter, Venetia,

Publication

• London : The British Museum Press, 2020.
• ©2020

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• British Museum, host institution.
• Morris, Natasha (Natasha Anne),
• Tripp, Charles,

Description

256 pages : illustrations (some color); 27 cm

Summary

"This book brings together for the first time an extraordinary collection of work from the British Museum. The contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa is rich and vibrant. Whether living in their countries of birth or in diaspora, the featured artists are part of the globalised world of art. Here we see artists responding to and making work about their present, histories, traditions and cultures, reflecting on a part of the world that has experienced extraordinary change in living memory. The British Museum has been acquiring the work of Middle Eastern and North African artists since the 1980s, and the collection principally works on paper is one of the most extensive in the public sphere. Collected within the context of a museum of history, the works offer insights into the nature of civil societies, the complex politics of the region, and cultural traditions in their broadest sense, from the relationship with Islamic art, to the deep engagement with literature. The introduction to the book by curator Venetia Porter explores the history of the collection and the works included. The essential framework for understanding the politics and context within which the artists are working is provided by Charles Tripp's essay. The works are grouped into seven chapters, each beginning with a short introduction. Here the authors explore themes that include figuration, abstraction, faith, politics and displacement."--Front cover flap.

Subject

• Art > London > Exhibitions
• Art, Middle Eastern > 20th century > Exhibitions
• Art, North African > 20th century > Exhibitions
• British Museum > Exhibitions
• British Museum
• England > London

Genre/Form

Exhibition catalogs.

Note

• "This publication accompanies the exhibition Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa at the British Museum from Feburary to August 2021."-- Title page verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

The figure and figuration - Abstraction, geometry and script - The past is present - Faith - A female gaze - Political struggle, revolution and war: Egypt ; Tunisia ; Palestine ; Iraq ; Lebanon ; Iran ; Syria - Where is home?

ISBN

• 9780714111957
• 0714111953

LCCN

99987380624

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries