Lot 332: Issam El-Said (Iraq, 1938-1988) City

signed and dated '66' lower left; sketch of the Amulet series on the reverse, oil, felt pen, heightened with gold on canvas, framed
75 x 62 cm.

Provenance:
Issam El-Said Foundation, London

Published:
Issam El-Said Foundation, Issam El-Said: Artist and Scholar, London, 1989, p.23, titled From the Quran, illustrated

Arthur Collins, an American art dealer who purchased a work by Issam El-Said during the first public viewing of his works at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, noted: '[T]he calligraphy used by this young painter, with its thick paint and dazzling colours, is not the Arabic writing normally seen in Arab Art. This small painting is an innovation. The abstract letters he has painted represent a fighting crowd, a battle, and there is no need for us to read the text or see human figures on it - it speaks for itself.' (Issam El-Said Foundation, Issam El-Said: Artist and Scholar, London, 1989, p. 22.)