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Curator's Comment Curator’s Comment

March 2010



With this column we introduce a new monthly feature called Curator’s Comment.  Each month I will introduce you to a book, an artist, an event or a thought about Palestinian or Islamic themed arts. This month, a review of the book Palestinian Art From 1850 to the Present, by Kamal Boullata.

John Berger’s preface, movingly illustrated with line drawings by Yves Berger, explores the role of visual arts in preserving the identity of a land and people that history seeks to obliviate.

Overcoming the immense difficulties of tracing the historical beginnings of Palestinian art before the destruction of Palestinian society in 1948 painter Kamal Bullata’s scholarly study begins in the mid-nineteenth century.  He traces the path from Arab church iconography during the Ottoman Empire to the beginnings of studio painting, with Jerusalem a major cultural center.  As early as the 1860’s photography began to play a role in Palestinian art as well, forming the basis for a new perspective, leading to easel painting of scenery and historical allegory. During the British Mandate, this tradition, morphed into political allegory, and helped to establish a Palestinian “nationalist iconography.”

Post 1948, Palestinian artists’ work , whether as refugees producing increasingly abstract art, or those living under occupation producing more figurative works,  see “place [as] an incessant factor that often predisposes the formation of art…”  The work of pioneering women artists is also discussed.

Later chapters focus on art and crafts produced in the West Bank and Gaza strip after 1967 and before the 1987 intifada, the making and exhibiting of art itself “under the inhuman conditions imposed by the military occupation turns [it] into an instrument of hope and resistance.”

Artists in exile, and art produced within Israel itself, are contrasted with art by Israeli artists.  Contemporary artists’ use of video and installation art, and the international art scene are touched upon. The author’s own “peregrinations” between writing and painting, which echo his movement through different places and cultures in his exile, complete the study.

Lavishly illustrated and sourced, this book is a must for anyone interested in the Palestinian struggle as well as in art as a powerful cultural signifier.

Dagmar Painter
 
The Jerusalem Fund
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