Here are a few thoughts on Ibrahim el-Salahi's painting The Mosque: - The painting merges Sudanese decorative elements and Arabic calligraphy with Western artistic traditions like abstraction, reflecting el-Salahi's diverse influences from studying in both Sudan and London. - Architectural elements like the minarets and elongated figure give a sense of the mosque setting, while calligraphic-like forms in motion imbue it with spiritual atmosphere. - By synthesizing Sudanese, Arabic, and Western styles, el-Salahi was pioneering a new vision of African modernism in 1964 that blended cultural heritages. - The artist drew from his background in calligraphy since childhood as well as formal

1. Seven
Nations
“Section 2: It is the policy of the United States to protect its
citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist
attacks in the United States; and to prevent the admission of
foreign nationals who intend to exploit United States
immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”

2. Seven
Nations
The fifth-floor additions rupture the museum’s traditional narrative
of Western modernism before 1945. Only very rarely has MoMA
interrupted its succession of art from Post-Impressionism to
Cubism, Dadaism, and after — which still reflects the modernist
vision of its first director, Alfred Barr — with works of postwar and
contemporary art. Further additions are planned for the weeks
ahead.

3. Parviz Tanavoli
IranThe Prophet
1964
Bronze on wood
base

4. Parviz Tanavoli
IranThe Prophet
1964
Bronze on wood
base

5. Parviz Tanavoli
Iran
The Prophet in Love
1975
Glazed ceramic (four
pieces)
Pariviz Tanavoli studied at the Tehran School of Fine Arts and Brera Academy.
He is best known for his work in Tehran in the early 1960s, where he forged a
new sculptural idiom. Much of his work contains imagery akin to drains,
faucets, padlocks, latticework, and tube-like sections first sculpted in wax or
clay, then cast in bronze. These comprise his sculpture from this period in the
middle 1900s.

6. Parviz Tanavoli
Iran
This additive use of commonplace motifs or popular imagery earned his
artistic circle the name Saqqakhaneh movement—a Farsi term that was
initially applied to the works of art which used already existing elements
from votive Shiʿite art and design in their own modern work. It is visually
noted by dense decoration and metal grill designs and other traditional
Persian decorative elements.

7. Parviz Tanavoli
Iran
Parviz Tanavoli’s key work is the calligraphic figure of Heech (Nothingness),
a recurring theme in his sculptural repertory which contains reference to
the human figure, evident both in the upright sculptural forms and their
titles. His work has been exhibited nationally in Iran and internationally as
well.

8. Parviz
Tanavoli
IranHeech

9. Parviz
Tanavoli
IranHeech (nothing) in a
Cage
2006
Bronze
In 2006, he created a small piece
of sculpture called Heech in a
Cage to protest the conditions of
the American-held prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay detainment
camp and in 2006 began work on
his piece to honour the victims
of the Israeli-Lebanon war.

10. Final ideas?
• Raian: What does it mean when “nothing” is locked up.
• Derricka: It’s as if the detainees are nothing.
They’re being portrayed as things rather than people.
• Khiri: By being placed in a cage, you lose your identity,
self worth, it crumbles and disappears into nothing.
• KT: He references the human figure through calligraphy.
His work also references drains and faucets, like these
people are trapped with the worlds problems.
• Heba: His work is nice to look at because there is
meaning behind it. But when you first see it, there are
more questions than answers.
• Jess: I like the work, it’s aesthetically pleasing due to he
use of metal. I also think his intentions are more clear
than other artists.

11. Final ideas?
Angel: Studied in Tehran, uses a repetitive motif in his
work (grid-latticework, heech)
Camila: He’s from Iran…he’s in the Saqqakhaneh
movement that uses old Persian decorative elements.
Sean: I like the materials he uses (bronze, wood) they seem
high quality
Rachel: They seem more rustic than high quality.
Steph: They feel more vintage than contemporary.
Jess: I like his work because it’s so simple. But I think I’m
assuming things because of what I know about Iran, with
the Shia majority in the country (though minority globally).
Tash: I like the way he takes simple things like calligraphy
and meshes it with sculpture. It’s nice to see that elaborated
into a bigger idea.

12. Zaha Hadid
Iraq
Lived in United Kingdom
1950-2016
The Peak Project,
Hong Kong, China
1991
Synthetic Polymer on
paper, mounted on
canvas
Although primarily known as an
architect, Hadid pursued
painting as a related practice,
deploying her ideas for buildings
for visionary ends. With this
work, Hadid revisited her Peak
Project, the winning design—
though never realized—for a
private health club in the hills of
Kowloon, overlooking Hong
Kong. Hadid proposed
transforming the site by
excavating the rocky hills in
order to build artificial cliffs.

13. Zaha Hadid
Iraq
Lived in United Kingdom
1950-2016
The Peak Project,
Hong Kong, China
1991
Synthetic Polymer on
paper, mounted on
canvas

14. Zaha Hadid
520 West 28th street
New York City, USA

15. Zaha Hadid
520 West 28th street
New York City, USA

16. Zaha Hadid
Iraq
Lived in United Kingdom
1950-2016
The Peak Project,
Hong Kong, China
1991
Synthetic Polymer on
paper, mounted on
canvas
Although primarily known as an
architect, Hadid pursued
painting as a related practice,
deploying her ideas for buildings
for visionary ends. With this
work, Hadid revisited her Peak
Project, the winning design—
though never realized—for a
private health club in the hills of
Kowloon, overlooking Hong
Kong. Hadid proposed
transforming the site by
excavating the rocky hills in
order to build artificial cliffs.

17. Zaha Hadid
Iraq
Lived in United Kingdom
1950-2016
The Peak Project,
Hong Kong, China
1991
Synthetic Polymer on
paper, mounted on
canvas
In her painting she reimagines
the topography by interjecting
cantilevered beams and shard-
like fragments that seem to
splinter the structure into its
myriad parts, as if it had been
subjected to some powerful
destabilizing force. This
demonstrates an approach
known as "deconstructivist
architecture." which Hadid
occasionally drew reference
from.
Obvi like cracked nail polish...

18. Zaha Hadid
Iraq
Lived in United Kingdom
1950-2016
Deconstructivist architecture
often resembles a structure that
is in various stages of
fragmentation. It challenges
traditional notions of
architectural and visual
aesthetics by rejecting
continuous or predictable
elements.
Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry
are two of the most well known
deconstructivist architects.
Guggenheim Bilbao (Spain) by Frank Gehry
Galaxy Soho (Beijing) by Zaha Hadid

19. Zaha Hadid
Iraq
Lived in United Kingdom
1950-2016
The Peak Project,
Hong Kong, China
1991
Synthetic Polymer on
paper, mounted on
canvas
In dissecting landscape and structure into
geometric forms and suggesting multiple
viewpoints at once, Hadid reveals her interest
in Russian
Constructivism
and Cubism in
this composition
of fractured
geometries.

20. Zaha Hadid
WHAT IS IT???
Vitra Fire Station
1991-93 Weil am Rhein, Germany

21. Zaha Hadid
“In architecture, you really
have to go at it full time.
You can’t afford to dip in
and out. And when women
do succeed at it, the press
spends far too much time
talking about how we dress,
what shoes we’re wearing,
who we’re seeing. That’s
pretty sad for women,
especially when it’s written
by other women who
should really know better.”

22. Zaha Hadid
Digital model of…
Liquid Glacial “Smoke” Coffee Table
“The world is not a rectangle”

23. Zaha Hadid
Liquid Glacial “Smoke” Coffee Table
2012

24. Zaha Hadid
Liquid Glacial “Smoke” Coffee
Table
2012
Polished plexiglass
Digitally modeled, CNC milled

25. Zaha Hadid

26. Zaha Hadid
Sheikh Zayed Bridge
2010
Abu Dhabi, UAE

27. Zaha Hadid
Sheikh Zayed Bridge
Abu Dhabi, UAE

28. Zaha Hadid
Sheikh Zayed Bridge
Abu Dhabi, UAE

29. Zaha Hadid – Final Thoughts…
• Chess: Her work is preemptively asking “why not?” We define
things that don’t define themselves. And she is questioning the
audience perception for how it’s ‘. always been.’
• Khiri: She also challenges gender roles. There aren’t a lot of
female architects (sadly). But her work isn’t as well known.
• Arielle: She breaks stereotypes through her profession…AND
visual stereotypes through her work.
• Gio: She often seeks an emotional reaction from her viewers.
• Heba: The people who are actually building her design are
statistically liklier to have a Y chromosome.
• Alex: I realize that Hadid is trying to challange the mundane. The
United Arab Emirates is an ideal place for her work.

30. • Jess: I LOVE IT ALL. She’s breaking conceptual and social
boundaries. She’s breaking stereotypes but also breaking
expectations of architecture too.
• Steph: I love her work so much. She’s transforming the ordinary
into new things.
• Angel: I like her concepts and all she’s about but I wanna know
more bout her intentions. Still a bit confused.
• Lina: She’s trying to break the norm of architecture with this
new futuristic constructions, without 90-degree angles
Zaha Hadid – Final Thoughts…

31. Tala Madani
IranChit Chat
2007
Video (color, silent)

32. Tala Madani
IranChit Chat
2007
Video (color, silent)
• Dolfo: What the fuuuuu….
• Raian: I noticed this is still paintings that are
pieced together. Seems like the friends were
talking to each other….but then they vomited and
other people appeared.
• Chess: It’s called Stop-Motion
• Gio: It seemed increasingly aggressive…to
the point where a person disappeared.
• Jess: There’s a narrative here, but it’s hard to
follow. It’s confusing about what Madani is trying
to communicate.
• Heba: Hands were being shoved into the mouths.
There’s some anger and laughter….
• Dolfo: it’s aesthetically difficult to keep up with.
So many subtle changes in the stop-motion. It’s
like their words were personified with this demon.
• Anna: Maybe there’s some
compassion for the peson
who disappeared? Like
what’s destroyed comes back
to you.
• Khiri: The lack of
voice….the two men got
aggressive...this isn’t chit-
chat.
• Rizzi: Were they choking
each other?? They seem mad
at each other.

33. Tala Madani
IranChit Chat
2007
Video (color, silent)
• Kristen: It seems like these people are
talking, but as each frame goes by the man
in the middle disappear…but the others age.
• Cailan: It’s similar to painting-
animation…Stop-Motion Animation.
• Anesia: Seems like in the beginning that the
two men on the side were ignoring the man
in the middle. And only noticed him after he
was gone.
• Lina: This artist may be expressing how
powerful talking to each other can be. It can
isolate someone or form a community.
There’s power in communication.
• Tash: The men were fighting...and escalated
to throwing up their hatred onto each other.
• CAMILA: I thought it was
more like having an argument
where it wasn’t only affecting
them…but others were
affected too.
• Fauvism? Unrealistic, 2D
(flat).
• Metaphysical.

34. Tala Madani
IranChit Chat
2007
Video (color, silent)
Madani's silent, stop-motion animation
videos, which consist of over two
thousand painted images per minute, are
contemporary parables illustrating a
repertoire of weakness and vice. The
male protagonists in her works are both
tragic and comical—primitive beings
propelled by hubris and ignorance,
rendered amorphously through a thick
application of paint. By placing these
figures in situations where they are
subject to humiliation or violence,
Madani performs a critique of patriarchal
structures of power, fundamentalism,
and sexism.

35. Tala Madani
IranChit Chat
2007
Video (color, silent)
Chit Chat depicts a flurry of fruitless dealings among an
anonymous group of men. Formless and easily malleable, it is
difficult to decipher where one figure ends and another begins. As
their futile exchanges grow increasingly violent, the work's
innocuous title takes on a more sinister connotation as a
euphemism for conflict, brutality, and war.
Khiri: Iran is kind of a patriarchal place…(like many
other places too.)
Erin: She’s trying to portray how patriarchal
societies can be violent because of how men can
be.
Chess: ((WORDSING)) When one group asserts
dominance above another group, there will be
people looking for a place in the power structure,
thus reinforcing it.
Raian: It’s serious, and has important impacts
Dolfo: It progressively became more aggressive.

36. Tala Madani
IranChit Chat
2007
Video (color, silent)
Chit Chat depicts a flurry of fruitless dealings among an
anonymous group of men. Formless and easily malleable, it is
difficult to decipher where one figure ends and another begins. As
their futile exchanges grow increasingly violent, the work's
innocuous title takes on a more sinister connotation as a
euphemism for conflict, brutality, and war.
Sarcasm
Some irony maybe?
Ambiguous meaning
Tash: This could be about violence between two
men or having a terrible argument. This is what
men “usually do.”
Rachel: When you start putting ideas out on the
table…peple may start to grab at the wrong ideas.
Anesia: Maybe you start to add on to what the
other person is arguing about.

37. Tala Madani
Iran
Video 0~3:20

38. What does Tala Madani
seem like as a person?
How does it feed into
her art?
Iran
• KT: Seems quite relaxed…and that her work is an extension of
what she thinks....the color is an important part of it.
• Erin: ANNA STOLE MY IDEAS
• Anna: She goes into detail about the choice of color and HOW she
paints. It’s very 2D and without perspective, this is not in the
Renaissance (western) tradition. She said the painting is very
“Light” but I think there’s a serious message to it.
• Chess: She’s a very conceptual (idea-based) human. She makes her
paintings in a ‘thought-space’ where everything has meaning.
• JJ: She moves the paintbrush like she moves the pencil.
• Khiri: Pencils are second nature, common, comfortable. Her
illustrations speak for themselves.

39. What does Tala Madani
seem like as a person?
How does it feed into
her art?
Iran
• Tash: I thought the art style had more to do with her backround,
but she said that she chose the 2D effect because it’s childlike and
welcoming.
• Jess: She puts a lot of emphasis on color. It’s more than just an
aesthetic choice, but it’s almost like the MOOD she’s trying to
create.
• Fauvism, Impressionism (texture/color), Post-Impressionism,
Expressionism, non-objective art.
• Cailan: Interesting that she doesn’t deal with perspective, and goes
against renaissance styles of rendering.
• She’s free-flowing. Very enthusiastic about her work, a lot of
thought went into this. Like she knows a lot about social issues.
#WOKE , and that she doesn’t give a damn about conforming.

40. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudanThe Mosque
1964
Oil on canvas

41. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudanThe Mosque
1964
Oil on canvas

42. Ibrahim el-Salahi Sudan
A writer, critic, politician, and foundational
figure of African modernism, El-Salahi
merges a range of influences in his work,
from Sudanese decorative elements and
Arabic calligraphy, which he has practiced
since childhood, to the Western formal
traditions he absorbed while studying at
London's Slade School of Art in the mid-
1950s. The Mosque, with its architectural
minarets, suggestion of calligraphic forms
in motion, and elongated, masklike figure,
attests to these various inspirations. In
1964, El-Salahi received a Rockefeller
Foundation grant to travel to New York,
where he befriended artists including
Romare Bearden, Richard Hunt, and
Jacob Lawrence, and met MoMA's then-
director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., who acquired

43. Ibrahim el-Salahi
SudanReborn Sounds
of Childhood
Dreams
1961-65
Oil on canvas

44. Ibrahim el-Salahi
SudanVision of the
Tomb
1961-65
Oil on canvas

45. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudanSelf Portrait of
Suffering
1961
Oil on canvas

46. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudanSelf Portrait of
Suffering
1961
Oil on canvas
Self-Portrait of Suffering (1961), one of his best-
known works from this time, is exemplary of
this pursuit. The distended face that becomes
almost equine, the dry brush marks and
muted palette are all redolent of Picasso, who
himself appropriated distorted facial features
from West African masks. The inability to
trace the visual language to a root source is an
articulate allegory for the artists’ sense of
creative displacement at this time. Other
works, such as Reborn Sound of Childhood
Dreams (1961-5), integrated the crescent, a
motif of Islamic art that recurred frequently
throughout his work.

47. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudan
In 1952, when the Modernist artist Ibrahim
El-Salahi was 22, he moved to London in
order to study at the Slade School of Fine
Art. It completely revolutionized both his
art and life.
Visiting the numerous museums and
galleries that London has to offer, El-Salahi
saw first-hand many of the leading
contemporary artists that were to influence
his work. The paintings he produced at this
time jumped through a number of styles,
from impressionist portraiture to cubist
landscape.

48. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudan
When El-Salahi returned to Khartoum to
teach at the Technical Institute in 1957, he
became one of the lead artists in a movement
known as the ‘Khartoum School.’ Having
gained its freedom from British colonial rule
only one year previously, Sudan was
undergoing a cultural paradigm shift. El-
Salahi, along with fellow like-minded creative
thinkers, sought to define a new artistic voice
and means of expression for the country.
Later, in the 1970s, El Salahi would become a
diplomat at the Sudanese Embassy in London.

49. Ibrahim el-Salahi Sudan
VIDEO…..
o .
o .
o .
o .
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats
-on/tate-
modern/exhibition/ibrahim-el-
salahi-visionary-modernist
:30~end

50. Ibrahim el-Salahi Sudan
VIDEO…..
o Jess: All those different occupations...he takes
things into account for how his work will be
received. He wants EVERYONE to get
satisfaction out of it.
o Lina: Similar to Tala Madani, inspired by
humans....
o Cailan:
o Camila:
o .
o .
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats
-on/tate-
modern/exhibition/ibrahim-el-
salahi-visionary-modernist
:30~end

51. Ibrahim el-Salahi
Ibrahim
El-Salahi
Reborn
Sounds
III, 2015
Vigo
Gallery
This work, which stretches to 121 inches, is the
capstone to a three-piece series begun in 1961, the first
of which was acquired by the Tate in 2013.

52. Ibrahim
El-Salahi
Reborn
Sounds
III, 2015
Vigo
Gallery
“Perhaps to me, the simplest and most indisputable
proof of how much the acquisition of Reborn Sounds of
Childhood Dreams (1961–65) changed forever art
history as we knew it, was the fact that one could no
longer visit Tate’s ‘Poetry and Dream’ display and
imagine those rooms without that work,” said Elvira
Dyangani Ose, curator of the museum’s section
devoted to 20th century art and the influence of
Surrealism. “There is no doubt that El-Salahi belongs to
that moment in art history as much as Pablo Picasso,

53. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudanThe Mosque
1964
Oil on canvas

54. Ibrahim el-SalahiSudanAl-Yazerli
1974
Materials
Installation view of “Ibrahim El-Salahi: Alhambra” at Salon 94, New York. Courtesy of Salon 94 and
the artist.

55. Final Thoughts on Ibrahim
el-Salahi
Sudan
o .
o .
o .
o .

56. Final Thoughts on Ibrahim
el-Salahi
Sudan
o .
o .
o .
o .

57. Charles
Hossein
Zenderoudi
IranK+L+32+H+4. Mon père
et moi (My Father and I)
1962
Felt-tip pen and colored ink
on paper on board

58. Charles
Hossein
Zenderoudi
Iran
K+L+32+H+4.
Mon père et moi
(My Father and I)
1962
Felt-tip pen and
colored ink on
paper on board
Zenderoudi
has described
this work as a
depiction of
"my father and
myself"; the
artist appears
at left, arms
raised and
head lowered,
while his father
appears as a
composite
figure at right

59. Charles
Hossein
Zenderoudi
Iran
K+L+32+H+4.
Mon père et moi
(My Father and I)
1962
Felt-tip pen and
colored ink on
paper on board
This work by Tehran-
born artist Charles
Hossein Zenderoudi,
executed a year after he
moved to Paris, embodies
the amalgam of national,
religious, and personal
mythologies that
characterizes his practice.
Its dense ornamentation
reflects the motifs of
vernacular prints and
astrological talismans
found in Tehran’s
bazaars, as well as Shiite
iconography and sacred
calligraphy.

60. Charles
Hossein
Zenderoudi
Iran
K+L+32+H+4.
Mon père et moi
(My Father and I)
1962
Felt-tip pen and
colored ink on
paper on board
Zenderoudi was one of a
group of artists dubbed
Saqqakhaneh, who
sought to develop a
uniquely Iranian language
of modernism in the
1960s. Though the artist’s
visual references are
culturally specific, his
aims are universal. "Men
the world over are identical
and can all read my work,"
Zenderoudi once said.
"What matters is to achieve a
harmony between the person
who created it and the
spectator."

61. Usama Muhammad
Syria
Exiled in Paris
Stars in Broad
Daylight
1988
Materials