Written by MYSA KAFIL-HUSSAIN

Born in 1944 in Basra, Iraq, Ali Talib spent his entire childhood and adolescence in his home city before moving to Baghdad in the early 1960s, where he was part of the first batch of students joining the newly opened Academy of Fine Arts. Talib had come from a strict, traditional family, experiencing many restrictions during his early life.^[1] On the basement walls of his family home, he found drawing as a way to express his frustrated emotions, creating a connection between his internal world and his external expression. While still a student, his initial artistic experiments developed, with the artist exploring ways in which to manifest his inner thoughts and struggles on canvas, eventually finding solace in mysterious and cryptic signs and symbols as a form of communication, often inspired by the rich ancient and folkloric visual traditions found in Iraq.

The 1960s were an interesting time for young artists in Iraq. Rejuvenated by the achievements of the Pioneers generation and other art groups, alongside increasing international interactions with European professors at the Academy and local artists returning from their scholarships abroad, as well as rising Arab nationalist activism, artists were living through a period of creative upheaval.^[2] In 1965, he and other students formed a group called The Innovationists, a collective focused on progressive expression, not limiting themselves to any medium or topic. They held their first exhibition at Baghdad’s National Museum of Modern Art that year, and a second, in 1966, graduating the same year. Talib then moved back to Basra, continuing to paint his sensitive compositions, laced with a combination of darkness and dreamlike magic. 

Whilst in Basra, he formed The Shadow group with local artists, all united in the vision that “art is a reflection of reality; art is the shadow of reality”,^[3] holding their first exhibition in Basra in 1969. The group didn’t last long, but Talib took part in numerous other exhibitions and festivals, and became an instructor at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1975. In 1976 he had a solo exhibition in Baghdad,^[4] a turning point not just for his career but also for his artistic style. The dreamlike, mysterious world remained on his canvases, but Talib brought in a personal, human touch with dramatic – yet delicate – faces, masks, hands and other subtle features. Two artworks from 1976 in the DAF Collection clearly show this development, with striking figures at odds with the barren atmosphere surrounding them, simultaneously quietly introspective and boldly expressive. These cinematic portraits are just some of Talib’s many dark, theatrical compositions, all, exploring the intricacies and inner conflicts encased within the human form. 

“Heads, palms and fingers remain basic units of the artistic vision in Ali Talib’s logic…we cannot grasp his artistic concerns without this humanistic rooting, to the extent that in some of his paintings, he reduces the finger to a tip or the eye to a tear. This external point of departure at first glance, stems from the foundation of self expression; or that this vision, at its core, is a unique subjective one.” ^[5] Shakir Hassan Al Said, 1990

Following this period, Talib started a Masters program in Cairo’s Helwan University,^[6] graduating in 1980 and later returning to Iraq. Participating in many exhibitions throughout the 1980s at home and abroad, winning prizes and continuing to experiment with his work, Talib – like many Iraqi artists and intellectuals – soon felt the strain of authoritarianism and instability seeping into everyday life, leaving Iraq in 1991 for Jordan, and becoming Professor of Fine Arts at Yarmouk University from 1991-1997.^[7]

Talib had developed his own, unique artistic language over many years, but often shifted his chosen medium (experimenting with bronze amongst other materials) and colour palette. Whilst heads, hands and bodies still play a significant role in his work, Talib has explored environments other than the dark world of solitude his subjects formerly existed within. Colours were added, and brighter spaces – although often still bare and desolate – exude warmth not seen in his earlier work. In much of his recent paintings, such as 2009’s Perfume, 2010’s View 2, 2006’s Silver and two other untitled works from 2010 in the DAF Collection, there is an earthy quality to his compositions, abound with raw, rough textures and natural impressions. Additionally, as seen in his untitled 2012 triptych in the DAF collection, extremely bright, vivid tones and intriguing subjects and objects have also found their way into his work. Whilst it is clear that Talib’s oeuvre has developed in many ways, the simplicity and striking balance between object and space has largely remained the same. The cinematic scenes, the slight suggestion of human form, the heads and hearts almost bursting with unspoken emotion – they are all still found in Ali Talib’s work, but the environment has changed, and the mood has, for the most part, been lifted, as though the lost, lonely and suffering humans in his paintings finally found some form of peace.

Ali Talib continues to paint, and now lives between Jordan and the Netherlands.

Notes

[1] May Mudaffar, 1988. “A Turmoil under a Quiet Surface”, In Gilgamesh Magazine, No. 3: Page 7

[2] Ibid: Page 7

[3] Ibid: Page 8

[4] Ali Talib: Painting Exhibition, The National Gallery of Modern Art, Baghdad, 30-March – 4 April 1976 (exhibition catalogue)

[5] Shakir Hassan Al Said, 1990. “The Aesthetic of the Painting of Ali Talib”, In Ali Talib, 2009: Page 14

[6] Ali Talib Official Website: “About”: https://www.alitalib.com/about

[7] Bonhams: “Ali Talib – The Mask” (From A Century of Iraqi Art Part II and Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, 7 Oct 2015, London):  https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23219/lot/27/

Sources

Al Said, Shakir Hassan; al-Azzawi, Dia; Jabra, Jabra Ibrahim; Rollema, Ingrid; Mudaffar, May; Munif, Abdulrahman. Ali Talib. Touch Art, 2009

Haythani, Salah. “الفنان علي طالب : سيرة الكائن ومخلوقاته”. Ahewar.org. 2004. Accessed April 26, 2020. www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?aid=14677&r=0

Mudaffar, May. “A Turmoil under a Quiet Surface”, Gilgamesh Magazine, No. 3. Dar al-Ma’mun for Translation and Publishing, 1988

Yousif, Farouq. “Three Painters and Three Styles”, Gilgamesh Magazine, No. 3. Dar al-Ma’mun for Translation and Publishing, 1988

Ali Talib: Painting Exhibition, The National Gallery of Modern Art, Baghdad, 30-March – 4 April 1976 (exhibition catalogue). 1976. 

"تنويعات العراقي علي طالب في غرين آرت". Albayan.ae. 2008. Accessed April 26, 2020. https://www.albayan.ae/economy/2008-04-17-1.632095

Bonhams: “Ali Talib – The Mask” (From A Century of Iraqi Art Part II and Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, 7 Oct 2015, London). Accessed April 2020. https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23219/lot/27/

Christies: “Ali Talib – Qanber Agha” (From Middle Eastern, Modern and Contemporary Art, 24 October 2018, London). Accessed April 2020. https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/ali-talib-qanber-agha-6163330-details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=6163330

Ali Talib artist website, Accessed April 2020. https://www.alitalib.com/