Organization and museum for Fine Art in the United Arab Emirates
Barjeel Art Foundation is a non-profit arts organisation based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The foundation was established in 2010 by Emirati commentator Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi to manage and exhibit his personal art collection.[1] There are over 1,000 pieces of modern and contemporary art in the foundation's art collection.[2] The organisation primarily focuses on artwork produced by Arab artists worldwide and includes paintings, sculptures and installations.[3]
Between 2013 and 2018, the foundation mounted 23 exhibitions in countries including Egypt, UK, Jordan, United States, Kuwait, Singapore, and Iran.[4][5][6][7][8][9] In May 2018, a semi-permanent exhibition of the key artworks opened in the Sharjah Art Museum.[4] From 2018 through 2022, the exhibition Taking Shape: Abstraction From the Arab World, 1950s-1980 was hosted at museums and galleries in the states of New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois in the US.[10][11][12][13][14]
The etymology of Barjeel is derived from the Arabic word for wind tower.[15] Al-Qassemi started collecting art in 2002 and planned on eventually making the collection available to the public.[16] In 2010, the foundation began exhibiting its collection in an arts space in the Al Qasba district in central Sharjah. In May 2018, the collection moved to a 750 square meter dedicated wing at the Sharjah Art Museum, with the inaugural long-term exhibit A Century in Flux.[17][18]
The first external collaboration for the foundation was the 2013 exhibition 'Terms & Conditions' in Singapore.[22] The Singapore Art Museum borrowed half of the art pieces for the exhibition from Barjeel and the other half from the National Museum of the History of Immigration in Paris and the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha.[22] In 2015, Barjeel opened the first-ever showcase of political Arab art in North America at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. The exhibit, titled 'Home Ground', featured 24 works by 12 different Arab artists, including paintings, sculptures, and photographs.[23][24]
Since May 2018, the Barjeel Art Foundation collection has been in display at the Sharjah Art Museum through an agreement between the foundation and the Sharjah Museums Authority.[25] The long-term exhibition will last until May 2023 and hosts a selection of modernist paintings and sculptures from the foundation's collection, including works by Saloua Raouda Choucair, Kadhim Hayder, and Dia Azzawi.[25] The exhibition provides access to scholars and researchers to study the art pieces on display.[26]
The foundation's education initiatives include the Barjeel Global Fellowship with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.[30] The foundation has organised forums such as Abstraction Unframed: Fourth Annual Conference of the Association for Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Turkey, and Iran (AMCA).[31] Barjeel has released a series of publications on Arab art and its history.[25]
Exhibitions
Barjeel Art Foundation exhibition at the Sharjah Art MuseumBarjeel's installation at 'The Short Century' exhibition
In-house exhibitions
Mural in Baghdad by Iraqi artist Wijdan Al Majid based on Hafidh Droubi's The Watermelon Sellers (1969) from the Barjeel Art collection. Photo by Mayor Alaa Maan.
External exhibitions
Gallery
Jewad Selim's Mother and Child sculpture (1953) made from macassar ebony and metal wire in two figurines, on display at the Art Institute of Chicago in Gallery 393. Photo by Matthew S Witkovsky / ARTIC
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^"Sharjah's Barjeel Art Foundation will showcase work by Arab artists at Toronto's Aga Khan Museum". The National. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
^Mejcher-Atassi, Sonja; Schwartz, John (2016). Archives, Museums and Collecting Practices in the Modern Arab World. Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 9781317178842. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
^ a b"Sultan Al Qassemi: Taking a 'Warrior's Break'". The National. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
^"Barjeel Art Foundation opens a key exhibition in Alexandria". The National. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
^"Barjeel Art Foundation Collection". Whitechapel Gallery. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
^"Key exhibition from the Barjeel Art Foundation collection now open in Jordan". The National. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
^"Al Seef: Works from the Collection of Barjeel Art Foundation | My Art Guides". myartguides.com. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
^Kamali Dehghan, Saeed (2016-11-18). "Tehran museum hosts exhibition of modern Arab art". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
^ a b"Quest for the Essence: Arab Abstraction from the Barjeel Art Foundation, 1940s–1980sJanuary 14–April 4, 2020 - Grey Gallery". greyartgallery.nyu.edu. Archived from the original on 2018-09-28.
^ a b"McMullen Museum: Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
^ a b"Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s". Tampa Museum of Art. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
^ a bUniversity, Office of Web Communications, Cornell. "Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s". Cornell. Retrieved 2023-05-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ a b"Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s – 1980s: Block Museum - Northwestern University". www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
^de Villiers, Michael (2003-09-01). "Meteorological aspects of the wind towers of the United Arab Emirates". Weather. 58 (9): 319–324. Bibcode:2003Wthr...58..319D. doi:10.1256/wea.39.03. ISSN 0043-1656.
^"2019". The Rifat Chadirji Prize and Photographic Archive. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
^"Sharjah Art Museum: new exhibition sheds light on Arab Modernism". The National. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
^"A Century in Flux". Barjeel Art Foundation. 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
^"MORI ART MUSEUM [Arab Express: The Latest Art from the Arab World] 16 June - 28 October, 2012". MORI ART MUSEUM (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"Sharjah Museums Department - Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization". sharjahmuseums.ae. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^ a b c"Power trip: Barjeel Art Foundation goes to Singapore". The National. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^ a bHunt, Nigel (July 24, 2015). "Home Ground, Middle Eastern art show with a political edge, opens in Toronto | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^Schechter, Fran (2015-09-09). ">>> All hail Home's voices". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
^ a b c"A Century in Flux. Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation". universes.art. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
^"Sharjah Art Museum: 'A Century in Flux: Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation'". World Art Foundations. 2018-05-12. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
^ a b"Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980sJanuary 14–April 4, 2020". Grey Art Gallery. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
^"Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s | Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art". museum.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
^"Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s – 1980s: Block Museum - Northwestern University". www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
^"On the Move | News - Barjeel Global Fellowship (USA)". on-the-move.org. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^Dhabi, Abu. "Abstraction Unframed". New York University Abu Dhabi. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"Barjeel continues introducing Arab artists to international art scene". The National. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
^"Barjeel Art Foundation". Time Out Dubai. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
^"Caravan art exhibition looks back with heart". The National. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
^"Crossing barriers: Migrasophia and Alienation". The National. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
^"RE: Orient, Barjeel Art Foundation's Sixth Exhibition, Investigates Modernism In The Arab World From The 1950s -1970s". Forbes Middle East. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
^"Sharjah's Barjeel Art Foundation makes a dramatic debut in Kuwait". The National. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"The Short Century at Sharjah Art Museum highlights events that shaped the Arab world in the 20th century". The National. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (2016-11-18). "Tehran museum hosts exhibition of modern Arab art". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"Barjeel Art Foundation opens a key exhibition in Alexandria". The National. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"100 chefs-d'œuvre de l'art moderne et contemporain arabe". Institut du monde arabe (in French). 2016-12-08. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"Key exhibition from the Barjeel Art Foundation collection now open in Jordan". The National. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"Modern Art from the Middle East| Yale University Art Gallery". artgallery.yale.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^Cotter, Holland (2017-07-19). "High-Flying Art for a Wall-Building Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"Review | In an Arab art exhibition, land, signs and bodies are all contested turf". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
^"From Across the Distance: Select Video Works by the Barjeel Art Foundation | Burlington City Arts". www.burlingtoncityarts.org. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
^"A Century in Flux - Sharjah Art Museum | My Art Guides". myartguides.com. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
^"McMullen Museum: Landscape of Memory". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
^Rantala, Hanna (2023-07-21). "Arab art celebrated with largest London exhibition". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
^"Christie's to host the Largest Exhibition of Arab Art in London". Press Center Christie's. 5 July 2023.