Event Details
Date & Time:
Wed November 9, 2022
6:00 PM-7:30 PM
Location:
The Block Museum of Art
40 Arts Circle Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Audience:
Open to the public
Details:
Join Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s exhibition artist Samia Halaby for a talk exploring her groundbreaking artistic practice and career. The artist will be joined in conversation by Sarah Dwider, Block Museum 2021–22 Graduate Fellow and Northwestern PhD Student, Department of Art History.
The Block Museum of Art acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
About the Artist:
Samia A. Halaby (b. 1936, Jerusalem) is an artist, activist, and scholar living and working in New York. Halaby is recognized as a pioneer of abstract painting. Her work is housed in international private and public collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York and Abu Dhabi), the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), and the Chicago Art Institute.
Halaby received her education in the Midwest between 1954 and 1963. She was active as an educator at the university level for 17 years. She was the first woman to hold the position of Associate Professor at the Yale School of Art where she taught for 10 years. Throughout her years of teaching, she produced an incredible body of work, inspired by her understanding of shape and color, her travels, and her exposure to artists. She settled in New York in 1976 and by 1982, she began to devote her time entirely to painting and writing.
Based in New York since 1976, Halaby has long been active in the city’s art scene, mainly through independent and non-profit art spaces and artist-run initiatives.
Sarah Dwider is a doctoral student working on 20th century art from the Middle East with a focus on modern art in Egypt. Her research interests include Cold War-era cultural diplomacy and state cultural policy, social realism in the Arab world, and the role of Middle Eastern artists within transnational and transregional networks of exchange, particularly between Socialist states. Sarah received her BA in Art History and Middle Eastern Studies from Swarthmore College and her MA in Art History from the University of North Texas. She was the Block Museum 2021-22 Graduate Fellow.
Contact The Block Museum of Art for more information: (847) 491-4000 or email us at block-museum@northwestern.edu
