ABDULJABBAR AL YAHYA (B. 1931), UNTITLED

signed and dated AbdulJabbar Al Yahya 2000/10 in Arabic (lower right) 

acrylic on canvas

101 by 100.5 cm. 39 ¾ by 39 ½ in.

Framed: 106 by 105 ½ cm. 41 ¾ by 41 ½ in.

Executed in 2000.

Born in 1931, AbdulJabbar Al Yahya is considered a pioneering artist who helped to define the course of modern Saudi art; like his contemporaries Taha Al Sabban and Abdulhalim Radwi, Al Yahya was among the first aspiring artists to travel beyond the Kingdom to pursue an international career. While studying in Iraq, Al Yahya’s work carried the influences of Impressionist painters such as Cézanne and Manet. Returning to Jeddah in 1952, Al Yahya worked as an editor for the arts publication Al Mounara. He then moved to Riyadh in 1969, whereupon interest in his works by a German collector encouraged his sole focus on his artistic practice. His first exhibition at the US Mission in Riyadh in 1971 displayed works that demonstrated his forays into Renaissance paintings, though his stylistic tendencies would shortly thereafter transition into his recognisable oeuvre, characterised by its ability to convey the beauty and complexity of his country’s landscape, culture and people. Al Yahya passed away in 2014, aged 83. His work has been celebrated through exhibitions including Echoing the Land, Misk Art Institute (2023), which centred around works that capture Saudi Arabia’s evolving landscapes.

The early years of Al Yahya’s career grew synchronously with the importance of upholding a sense of national identity in the Kingdom; contemporary painting allowed the artist to visually contemplate his heritage and resurrect a local memory. In the present work, Al Yahya depicts a female figure against a kaleidoscopic form into which her figure merges, bordered by a golden background. Recalling the spirit and silt of Saudi Arabia’s landscape, Al Yahya’s canvases are habitats of earthy hues and architectural flatness, balanced against a figurative abstraction derived from his time in Europe. Ultimately foregrounding these explorations was Al Yahya’s focus on the notion of belonging, to both nature and humanity; for the artist, his work takes an ontological approach that simultaneously examines societal roles.

While Al Yahya’s contribution to the development of Saudi arts and culture through his painting practice has been considerable, his impact extends far beyond this facet. His book, ‘Fifty Years of Painting’ (1999) has contributed to the development of a written Saudi art history, and his 2003 translation of Hans Shwarz’s influential treatise ‘Colour of the Artist’ (1968) has shaped the Kingdom’s artistic landscape. Though the latter part of his career pivoted once more to incorporate more representational depictions of the local environment, specifically drawing inspiration from the desert landscape and the relationship between human and surroundings, what has unwaveringly underpinned all of Al Yahya’s works - across surrealism to cubism to abstraction - is his endless desire to explore representations of humanity.