Lot 61: Laila Shawa (Palestinian, b. 1940)

Laila Shawa (Palestinian, b. 1940)
An Endangered Species (from the series Women and the Veil)
signed and dated 'LRS 88.' (lower left); signed, dated and titled (on label on the reverse); signed on the stretcher
oil on canvas
40 x 30in. (101.5 x 76cm.)
Painted in 1988

London, The Mayfair Gallery, London 1992
Amman, The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, 1990
Baghdad, Baghdad Biennial, 1988

This lot offered for sale is subject to a 5% import duty on the importation value levied at the time of collection/shipment within the UAE.
'An Endangered Species is the first in a substantial body of paintings divided into three well-known series - Women and the Veil, Hands of Fatima and Women and Magic - characteristic of Laila Shawas mid-career signature style. It exemplifies Shawas creative preoccupation since the 1960s: reduction of form to fields of colour and the communication of a socio-political message.

The impetus for An Endangered Species was furnished by the re-emergence of the veil in Gaza during the First Intifada, a phenomenon which Shawa has consistently utilized for the exploration of themes round the concepts of individual responsibility as the basis for a stable society. Formally, the composition has been reduced to a decorative play of vibrant colours and pattern contrasted by the stylised, black shapes of the womens eyes. Despite the riot of uniquely designed veils, mask-like and empty, the figures are inherently devoid of individuality.' (Christa Paula, art historian, 2009)

Another work from this series entitled The Impossible Dream is a highlight of the collection of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, published in Widjan Ali, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, 2005, p.150.