Lot 32: MUSTAFA AL HALLAJ (PALESTINE, 1938-2002) Self-Portrait oil on paper,

MUSTAFA AL HALLAJ (PALESTINE, 1938-2002) Self-Portrait oil on paper, framed signed Al Hallaj dated 5/9 Sham (Syria) and inscribed age 45 in Arabic (lower right), executed in 1983 40 x 30cm (15 3/4 x 11 13/16in).

Provenance Property from the collection of Georges El-Zeenny Mustafa Al-Hallaj is one of the most renowned Palestinian artists of the twentieth century. In this intimate, transfixing Self-Portrait we are confronted with the artist in all his intensity; an almost aggressive, hostile gaze and rough hardened features articulate a portrait which is rumored was composed after the artist injured himself. As an activist and political revolutionary, the depiction perfectly captures the spirit of rebellion which characterized the Hallaj’s life. Al-Hallaj was born in Salame, Jaffa, in 1938. After the 1948 Nakba, he ended up with his family in Damascus, where he studied Sculpture at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo. He attended the Luxor Atelier for Postgraduate Studies. His repertoire includes paintings, graphics, murals, illustrations, cover designs and etchings. Al-Hallaj was specialized in graphic art and sculpture and was called by some critics an icon of contemporary Arab graphic arts. He lived in Beirut and Damascus, and contributed to define fan al-muqawama (the art of resistance). He lost 25,000 of his prints in the Israeli attacks on Beirut in 1982 but managed to save the wood and masonry cuts he used to make them. Al-Hallaj won several local and international awards and prizes. He died in Dec. 2002 in Damascus, while trying to rescue his works from a fire that destroyed his studio. He was buried in Al-Yarmouk Refugee Camp, Damascus. MODERN & CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EASTERN ART