Suad Al-Attar

Suad Al-Attar is an extensively illustrated monograph featuring original photography of more than 100 expressive and surrealistic paintings and drawings by one of Iraq’s most renowned artists.

Written by the artist’s granddaughter – writer and art historian Nesma Shubber – the book offers unique access to the career of a truly sensational artist and painter. In beautifully written prose, Shubber tells the story of her grandmother’s life and work. Beginning with the artist’s early formative years in Baghdad and her arrival in London in 1976, we discover the origins of Al-Attar’s international career up to the present day in a personal account of an extraordinary woman and artist.

For the first time, this book brings together treasured drawings and paintings carefully selected from the artist’s archive to form the most comprehensive published collection of work by Suad Al-Attar as well as a rare document of her remarkable life.

Al-Attar's other-worldly paintings transport the viewer to a peaceful, dreamlike world of united lovers, mythological creatures, idyllic visions of Iraq, and paradisiacal gardens.?--Rawaa Talass "Arab News"

Nesma Shubber is a writer and art historian born in London. She gained a first class BA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art before spending two years in New York studying at The New School. She also holds a masters degree in Literature and Arts from the University of Oxford. Suad Al-Attar (b. 1940, Baghdad) is a contemporary Iraqi painter whose work is rooted in the visual traditions of the Middle East. She received her undergraduate education at Baghdad University and studied at Wimbledon School of Art and London Central School of Art and Design during the mid-1970s. Her works are held in the British Museum, London, and the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Dohan, Qatar, though many of them once held in the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad have been lost.Venetia Porter is curator of Islamic and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art at the British Museum. She holds a BA in Arabic and Persian and an MPhil in Islamic Art from the University of Oxford and has curated two major exhibitions at the British Museum, Word into Art (2006) and Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam (2012).

The first comprehensive monograph of the Iraqi painter merging Islamic idioms with surrealistic mythologies London-based Iraqi painter and draftswoman Suad Al-Attar (born 1940) is famed for her expressive depictions of mythical creatures and landscapes. Rooted in the visual traditions of the Middle East, her oeuvre recalls Iraq's folkloric past, Islamic design and ancient Assyrian sculpture reliefs. In 1965, Al-Attar became the first woman to hold a solo exhibition in Baghdad, and her work is now showcased internationally. This exquisitely illustrated monograph features original photography of more than 100 of Al-Attar's surrealistic works--the most comprehensive published collection of work by the artist to date. Written by the Al-Attar's granddaughter, writer and art historian Nesma Shubber, the book tells the story of the artist's remarkable life and work, from her formative years in Baghdad to her arrival in London in 1976, up to the present day.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.