Footnotes

TWO IMPORTANT 1960'S COMPOSITIONS BY DIA AZZAWI EXHIBITED AT THE IRAQI ARTISTS SOCIETY AND NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

Provenance:
Property from the collection of the renowned architects Nizar Jawdat (1920-2017) and Ellen Jawdat (1921-2020), acquired directly from the artist,
thence by descent to the present owners

Exhibited:
Exhibition of Paintings by Dhia Al Azzawi, The National Gallery of Modern Art, Baghdad, 1968

Published:
Exhibition Catalogue, Exhibition of Paintings by Dhia Al Azzawi, The National Gallery of Modern Art, Baghdad, 1968, No.16

"In [these] works, the topic is related to the south of Iraq rather than Baghdad... very much related to peasant life rather than everyday city life. [The South] is richer than the north.. if we take the intellectual side of things, many of the most important poets are from the South, as well as writers and artists. It is richer in culture in a sense" - Dia Azzawi

Compositionally, the two following lots are perhaps archetypal of the artistic milieu that Dia Azzawi was operating in during the mid to late 1960's, the works flawlessly expresses the aesthetic and conceptual agenda of the "Baghdad Group of Modern Art" which was founded by Jewad Selim and Shakir Hassan Al-Said. The Baghdad group was defined by an attempt to reconcile the grand visual legacy of the past within the contemporary cultural and nationalistic narrative of 20th century Iraq.

Mixing traditional Iraqi and Islamic motifs with a modernist visual language, Azzawi weaves a form of "folk modernism" which is both vernacular and universal. Focusing on recognisable ancient and local symbols, Azzawi's composition is stylised and simplified, almost creating an artistic caricature of Iraqi culture. Formative paintings within Azzawi's body of work, these would set the tone for his later contributions to the progress of Iraqi Modernism. Painted while the artist was still in his 20's, the works are stylistically sophisticated examples of a burgeoning modernist movement in Iraq.

In the present works the artist abstracts cultural iconography mixing Islamic and pre-Islamic motifs found in ancient rock reliefs, Islamic manuscripts, metalwork and creates a rich tapestry of varied meaning as a result. In "From the South: A Siesta", a heavily stylized figure with a rounded face and bulbous eyes reminiscent of ancient Mesopotamian totems reclines sympathetically on a carpet recalling the polychromatic brilliance of Bedouin textiles.

Azzawi's abiding love and respect for the tonal characteristics of the natural world and for ancient Iraqi imagery shines through in this important early work, which echoes the formal approach and inimitable style of the 'New Vision' school of painting he would come to found in 1969. Azzawi typically incorporates structures and visual symbolism harking back millennia in his paintings, which is evident here in the pseudo-figurative form depicted in the composition, which recalls ancient Mesopotamian bass-reliefs and their mythological imagery.

Azzawi started his artistic career in 1964, after graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad and completing a degree in archaeology from Baghdad University in 1962. His studies of ancient civilizations and Iraqi heritage had a profound impact on his art, and a key objective in the early formation of his artistic style was to link the visual culture of the past to the present.

In 1969, Azzawi formed the New Vision Group (al-Ru'yya al-Jadidah), uniting fellow artists ideologically and culturally as opposed to stylistically. The group's manifesto, Towards a New Vision, highlighted an association between art and revolution, and sought to transcend the notion of a 'local style'—coined by the Baghdad Modern Art Group—by broadening the parameters of local culture to include the entire Arab world.

With exhibitions of his work held worldwide, including a landmark retrospective in 2017 at Qatar's MATHAF, his art features in the collections of some of the world's most prestigious museums and institutions. He is also regarded, in the tumultuous post-conflict climate of 2000s Iraq, considered to be the ultimate authority on modernist and contemporary art from the region.