This week, we’re turning our attentions to another Middle Eastern artist, Mahmoud Sabri. Sabri (1927-2012), was born in Iraq, studied social sciences in Loughborough, art in Moscow, moved to Prague and finally settled in London.

We’ve concentrated on his early political works which often depicted scenes of suffering, despair, defiance and hope. His style was influenced by Mesopotamian art, Iraqi folklore, Soviet propaganda posters and Orthodox Christian art. His later graphic, geometric style – which he dubbed Quantum Realism – isn’t as much to my taste.

The painting featured at the bottom of our montage above – Al Mawt Al-Tafl (The Death of a Child) – sold last month (April 2019) at Sotheby’s for a whopping £891,000.

Watch our round up of films below to find out more about the artists and his works. The final three are narrated in Arabic (sadly, no subtitles) but they’re informative all the same.

Image credits:

Artzf | Christie’s | Sotheby’s