New book delves into lives of modern Arab artists

Lebanese art expert Myrna Ayad says that, in ‘Alcove,’ she wanted to ‘focus on the person,’ not their work

Lebanese author and art expert Myrna Ayad recently released “Alcove,” a book of 30 essays exploring the lives of celebrated and forgotten modern artists from the Arab world. Ayad based her essays on intimate interviews with the artists’ relatives, students, and close friends.

“I was not after describing their work,” Ayad, who lives in Dubai, tells Arab News. “My aim was to focus on the person — what moved them, what affected them, how they lived, how they survived and why they persevered.”

The artists hailed from the Gulf, the Levant and North Africa, and were working between the 1950s and 1980s — a time when the MENA art scene was far smaller than it is today.

“Despite geography, they all knew each other and were friends,” says Ayad. “They exhibited alongside each other and deliberated together. In those days, there were key cultural capitals like Baghdad, Beirut and Cairo, so they would all gather there. They were likeminded people.” What also united them was a sense of struggle — be it political, personal or professional. “It was not easy at all being an artist in those days,” says Ayad. They were also documenters of their time — depicting contemporary historical and political events. “They addressed topics full-on,” says Ayad. “They had enough liberty and confidence to do that, which is why you find a lot of answers in modern Arab art.”

The term “alcove” derives from the Arabic word “al-qubba”, meaning a vault or a chamber. And the interviews Ayad conducted for the book opened a vault of memories for her interviewees. “All of the conversations were emotional,” she recalls. “I was on Zoom calls watching grown men cry.”

Here are five noteworthy artists featured in “Alcove.”