DOha Diary
a contemporary Look at isLamic art
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By Sindhu Nair
atar’s culture scene has never looked as dazzling as it does now with Doha aiming to be the permanent Arab Cultural Capital. Calligraphy Expositions, Contemporary Art exhibitions, Photography exhibits and now Christie’s, with its office based in Dubai, is reaching out to patrons in Doha. As part of the series of events planned for the Arab Cultural Capital, Christie’s hosted a public art exhibition over three days from October 3-5, showing highlights of modern Middle Eastern art from the collection of Dr Mohammed Said Farsi, the first Lord Mayor of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and one of the region’s patrons of visual arts. Qatar Today spoke to Will Lawrie, Specialist of Modern and Contemporary Arab & Iranian Art about some basics of the auction and takes his expert opinion on the process of choosing fine modern art. Lawrie, with an early interest in the region initiated by his childhood memories of summers spent in his Egyptian friend’s house, and backed by his degree in the History of Art at Edinburgh University, specialising in Islamic Art, has been investigating the option of including Contemporary Arab and Iranian art in auction. After the inaugural auction held in Emirates Towers in Dubai, the category of Contemporary Arab and Iranian art has been included as a permanent feature on Christie’s auction calendar. “In classic Islamic art it must be the geographical scope – from Morocco to Indonesia – and the fact that you can find 90
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cultural and artistic links everywhere in between and going back many centuries,” he says of the one factor that fascinates him in Islamic Art.
Middle Eastern Art and Christie’s
The art market in the Middle East is still young and needs more time to develop fully, says Lawrie though, “Christie’s is very excited by the pace of development in the art market in the region.” He speaks of the wide interest garnered in the region after the inaugural auction in Dubai in 2006, “after which, the awareness and appetite for art in general and for Middle Eastern Art in Dubai has increased significantly.” “At Christie’s, we have now sold over $165 million worth of art since 2006 and sold over 1,000 works by Middle Eastern artists, so the demand is increasing at a rapid rate. This phenomenon can further
look out for...
"Just to name a few of my favourite artist and in no particular order: Dia Azzawi, Ahmed Moustafa, Paul Guiragossian, Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar, Hamed Nada, Mahmoud Said, Parviz Tanavoli, Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, Farhad Moshiri, Yousef Ahmed and Mohammed Ehsai. But there are so many more important artists active in the Middle Eastern art scene. "
Will Lawrie, Specialist of Modern and Contemporary Art and Iranian Art
be illustrated by the growing number of galleries in the region (over 60 in UAE today, from fewer than 10 just five years ago), art fairs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Lebanon; museum projects in Abu Dhabi and Doha...” Asked whether the interest garnered is more for contemporary art than for other forms of art, Lawrie says that is not the case. “Contemporary Middle Eastern art is close to people’s hearts, but there is also very strong interest in jewellery and watches, as we have seen from Christie’s auctions in Dubai. There is also strong interest in classical Islamic art and an increasing interest in contemporary art from the West.”
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DOha Diary
Art as an investment
the highlight
The highlights of the sale are works from the renowned private collection of Dr Mohammed Said Farsi, which is recognised as the most comprehensive group of modern Egyptian art in private hands. It includes paintings by many of Egypt’s most famous 20th Century artists such as Mahmoud Said, Ragheb Ayad, Abul Hadi ElGazzar, Hamed Nada, Seif and Adham Wanly and Adam Henein. The high-
The Doha interest
While Christie’s sees a very strong participation from clients in UAE, both local and expats, there is an equally strong interest from clients around Middle East, such as Saudi, Qatar and even in Egypt. “We are also seeing increasing international participation in the Dubai sales, with approximately 30% of the works in these sales now being bought by international collectors in Europe, US and elsewhere.” This, says Lawrie, is very important as it shows that the demand for Middle Eastern art is internationalising and the depth of buyers is increasing. So will Christie’s be looking at a Doha office for its operations? “Dubai, home to Christie’s Middle East operations, is a hub from which we can reach out to all our Middle Eastern cli-
light of this collection is The Whirling Dervishes, a spectacular early work by Mahmoud Said (1897-1964), painted in 1929. The work represents six Mawlawi dervishes, each identically clad and with similar features but subtly different postures, performing a Sema dance around the circular stage of an Ottoman-era Semahane (ritual hall). The estimate for this work is $300,000-400,000. ents. Christie’s has undertaken many initiatives to help increase the awareness of art, from our auctions in Dubai, to exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Lebanon; to education seminars in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Egypt; as well as charity auctions throughout the GCC.”
Christie’s sales in Dubai
“Christie’s April auction in Dubai”, says Lawrie, “was extremely successfull with combined sales of $23 million for our Contemporary Middle Eastern art, jewellery and watches auctions.” Highlights included the sale of a work for $2.4 million by the Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said, the world record price for any Arab artist at auction. The next round of auctions in Dubai in October, is on the awaited list for Christie’s, with a combined pre-sale estimates in excess of $20 million.
Art is a tangible asset that is viewed as good value. As a result, says Lawrie, the art market has attracted a lot of interest over the last 18 months as the global financial uncertainty has seen investors look for lucrative areas to put their capital. “It is fair to say that the Post-War and contemporary art market in general has attracted more interest as an alternative asset class over the last 10 years. However since 2008 and the global financial crisis, we have seen speculators exit the market and traditional collectors that were previously priced-out return.” This is as valid for the contemporary art market in the Middle East, as for the international market, feels Lawrie. But Christie’s advice, says Lawrie, is to buy for aesthetic reasons and to buy what they like, rather than for investment alone n
guide to buying the best modern art “Art is something you live with and not just an investment. First and foremost, buy something you can live with, that you can take pleasure in. When you find out more about the art and the artists, your greater knowledge will add to your enjoyment of collecting and will inform your buying habits.” Do your research – find out what you like. Try to find out about the trends in pricing over a number of years. Always buy the best that you can afford. It is always better to buy one painting you really value rather than two or three that mean less to you.
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