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Palestinian Art
Turmoil and violence have defined the lives of Palestinian people over the last few decades, yet in the midst of the chaos artists live and thrive, creating little-seen work that is a powerful response to their situation. Gannit Ankori's Palestinian Art is the first in-depth English-language assessment of contemporary Palestinian art, and it offers an unprecedented and wholly original overview of this art in all its complexity.
Ankori comprehensively traces the full history and development of Palestinian art, from its roots in folk art and traditional Christian and Islamic painting to the predominance of nationalistic themes and diverse media used today. Drawing on over a decade of extensive research, studio visits, and interviews, Ankori explores the vast oeuvre of prominent contemporary Palestinian artists, navigating between the personal and biographical dimensions of specific artworks and the symbolic meanings embedded within them. She provides detailed interpretations of many works and considers the complex historical, geographical, political, and cultural contexts in which the art was created. Questions of gender, exile, colonialism, postcolonialism, and hybridity are integral to Ankori's investigation as she probes the influence and thematic dominance of issues such as rootedness and displacement in Palestinian art.
Palestinian Art is a fascinating introduction to a virtually unknown visual culture that has been subsumed under the torrent of current political turmoil. A groundbreaking and essential work of art scholarship, Palestinian Art illuminates new and unique facets of the Palestinian cultural identity.
Ankori comprehensively traces the full history and development of Palestinian art, from its roots in folk art and traditional Christian and Islamic painting to the predominance of nationalistic themes and diverse media used today. Drawing on over a decade of extensive research, studio visits, and interviews, Ankori explores the vast oeuvre of prominent contemporary Palestinian artists, navigating between the personal and biographical dimensions of specific artworks and the symbolic meanings embedded within them. She provides detailed interpretations of many works and considers the complex historical, geographical, political, and cultural contexts in which the art was created. Questions of gender, exile, colonialism, postcolonialism, and hybridity are integral to Ankori's investigation as she probes the influence and thematic dominance of issues such as rootedness and displacement in Palestinian art.
Palestinian Art is a fascinating introduction to a virtually unknown visual culture that has been subsumed under the torrent of current political turmoil. A groundbreaking and essential work of art scholarship, Palestinian Art illuminates new and unique facets of the Palestinian cultural identity.
- GenresArt
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 25, 2019
This is a remarkable book about PALESTINIAN art written by an ISRAELI Jew (and art historian, of course).
In it, she challenges assumptions, and like much of the art she chose for this book, the book itself "generates ambivalence and validates hybridity," as she discusses in the postscript.
In it, she challenges assumptions, and like much of the art she chose for this book, the book itself "generates ambivalence and validates hybridity," as she discusses in the postscript.
August 3, 2008
I have been lugging this big format art book on my trips to work meetings on airplanes. It's on Palestinian art written by an Israeli woman. Palestinian Art helps me understand the intersection of land, class, nationality, borders and how Indians, Immigrants and Palestinians all share the same fate as they lose or lost their lands to colonial settlers.
April 16, 2011
Mona Hatoum. 'Nuff said.
July 4, 2012
Written well when and full of art criticism. Unless you're into that you might not find it SOOO captivating.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews