Renowned portrait artist Ismail Azzam and Dr Mohammed, son of late Qatari artist Jassim Zeni, at the opening of Azzam’s exhibition at the Qatar Museums Gallery in Katara. It features a selection of striking and emotive charcoal portraits, celebrating and honouring the work of 15 past masters.
A new exhibition from one of Iraq’s best-known artists, Ismail Azzam, opened at the Qatar Museums (QM) Gallery at Katara – the Cultural Village yesterday.
Running until August 31, the exhibition entitled ‘For Them’ is presented by QM under the leadership of its chairperson, HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
The exhibition showcases Azzam’s distinctive ‘reverse charcoal’ portraits of painters and sculptors who have made a significant contribution to the Arab art world, with the entire body of work created exclusively for this show.
The exhibition features a selection of striking and emotive charcoal portraits, celebrating and honouring the work of 15 past masters.
Azzam knew many of those featured in the exhibition personally and created the exhibition to celebrate their significant artistic and creative contributions.
He believed many did not receive the critical recognition or popular appreciation they deserved whilst they were alive.
The exhibition also features portraits of artists drawn from across the entire Middle East including Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen and Kuwait and Iraq.
A portrait of the late Qatari artist Jassim Zaini is also presented in the exhibition.
Throughout a five-decade long career, Zaini’s paintings captured key moments in Qatar’s recent history and documented the country’s development from humble beginnings, as well as its social and economic transformation during the fifties and the sixties after the discovery of oil.
By presenting the exhibition, Azzam’s intention is both to educate and inform the public about the artists’ major accomplishments as well as highlight the hardships that a number of them experienced during their lives.
“With this exhibition, I hope both to raise awareness of these great Arab artists and their stories, but also to continue to educate Qatar’s growing artistic community to understand the meaning behind the art,” said Azzam.
Though Azzam uses oil and watercolour in his artworks, he is particularly highly regarded for his mastery of the distinctive technique known as ‘reverse charcoal drawing’.
During this process, the whole canvas is first covered in charcoal, then slowly etched away using a rubber to accentuate contrasting shades of light and dark and create a range of dramatic effects.
The skilful manner in which he has captured the likenesses of these artistic and creative figures in his portraits helps to familiarise audiences with their individual stories and personal histories.
“Ismail is an incredible technically gifted artist who created these portraits exclusively for the show,” said Jean-Paul Engelen, QM director of Public Art. “His work engages onlookers in what is both an emotional and personal tribute to 15 late and great Arab painters and sculptors.”
Azzam, of Iraqi origin, moved to Doha in 1996 to work as a painter for the Arab Museum of Modern Art, the National Council of Culture, and most recently QM as curator at the Orientalist Museum collection.