Ismail Shammout’s Odyssey of a People to be sold for the first time - News, #Art, Christie’s, Ismail Shammout, Auction, Palestine - Harper’s BAZAAR Arabia
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Christie’s en attend un peu moins d’un million de dollars...
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The vast masterpiece depicting the history of Palestine from 1948 to 1980 will be auctioned at Christie’s in Dubai on 18 March, consigned directly from the artist’s family
At six metres long, Ismail Shammout’s (1930-2006) Odyssey of a People is truly gargantuan, a labour of love that took the Palestinian artist six months to complete, painting every day daily. Now it comes to the market for the first time in Christie’s sale of Modern and Contemporary Art on 18 March in Dubai, consigned directly from the artist’s family.
Painted in 1980, the ambitious work attempts to recall the history of Palestine in one scene. As with the Arabic language, the painting reads from right to left. It starts with the 1948 Nabka exodus of Palestinian Arabs during the war, and records the subsequent conflicts of the following decades and the establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). There’s a palpable sense of the people’s despair, the symbol of the Palestinian flag and kuffiyeh a glimmer of hope and unity.