Italian, Yemeni Painters Exhibit Their Art Work [Archives:1998/21/Culture]

Some Italian artists have painted Yemeni scenes exhibited at the Halaqa opening which began last week continuing to the end of May. Artists like Maria Lunghi depicted the Shehara bridge and Wadi Dhahr, Martin Dansky painted scenes of the city of Sanaa and surrounding villages. These artists have traveled throughout the country to take into perspective traditional customs and the variable landscape.

Maria uses water color and pastels to express her views. There are also human scenes such as that of a woman and her child tending to a goat in front of their house. Dansky is a naive artist, his views of Sanaa incorporate bright warm colors and the viewer is transported into the painting drawn by the strange three dimensional way he has of expressing his panorama.
Both artists plus the others, Sbaraglia, Ciotti and Vincenzo Franza have an identity of their own. Franza has fared well to show human and animal torsos and figures very subtly. His metamorphasized figures express his love of the human form.
Yemeni artists too experimented with human forms in their paintings, perhaps more subtly but the same aesthetic meaning comes across. In contrast, Sbaraglia’s graphic prints are delightful as they are captivating. In his prints, the reflection of a woman in her boudoir mirror or children playing on their wooden horse are symbols of man’s introspective nature and innocence, respectively.
Ciotti used broad sweeping strokes for his Italian land and seascapes. Yemenis could identify with such sceneries. Ciotti’s rendition of country scenes are also soothing to the spirit especially in Sanaa where green spaces have become precious.
Artists like Nasir has his favorite abstract depictions of women, hung nearby. Makrami has reworked old ideas in with new flowing gestures seen in his paintings of women performing their social duties, with somber colors while Dosh applies brighter tones. Other Yemenis like Carol Young depart from the classical Yemeni genre with their abstract post modern paintings. These art forms appear beside Nizar, Najwa and Amin Nasher’s graphic prints some of which were just completed at the recent Halaqa workshop. A special thanks for the Italian embassy’s support.
by Yemen Times Staff
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