Artist Nabil Anani

Nabil Anani:

Artist born in Hebron in 1943.

Anani graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria – Egypt (Department of Oil Painting) and obtained a master’s degree at Al-Quds University. He is one of the most prominent Palestinian visual artists and one of the founders of contemporary Palestinian art. Over the past five decades, he has created distinctive works of art using materials from the local environment such as (leather, henna, and natural dyes). His works reflect Palestinian life experiences, such as issues of exile, displacement, conflict, memory and loss.

He is a founding member of the Palestinian Visual Artists Association in 1975. He co-authored the book Palestinian Folk Fashion and The Guide to the Art of Palestinian Embroidery in 1984.He worked with the Palestinian handicraft development team at Birzeit University in 1985. Also, Anani is the founder of the Wasiti Center for Fine Arts in Jerusalem.

His career spanned over 50 years and his artistic works were distinguished by their political dimension and their focus on Palestinian culture. Al-Anani was influenced by international artists such as (Michelangelo and Tiziano), which was reflected in his paintings making them works of cosmic influence.

He was nicknamed (Palestine Picasso) because he was considered the best in painting the Palestinian scene, since his paintings can be identified without his signature on them.

He recently released a book “Palestine, Land and People” which he wrote documenting his artistic career over 50 years and is a reflection of the history of the Palestinian art movement and its beginnings.

He held his first solo exhibition in Jerusalem in 1972. Since then he has exhibited his works in a large number of Arab and European countries, as well as America and Japan.

In 1997 he received the first national prize in visual arts.

Selected Collections

• Guggenheim Museum (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
• Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art (Doha, Qatar)
• Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris, France)
• Jordan National Museum (Amman, Jordan)
• Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharja, UAE)
• Darat Al Funun (Amman, Jordan)
• Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
• Dar El-Nimer (Beirut, Lebanon)
• Dalloul Art Foundation (Beirut, Lebanon)
• Birzeit University Museum (Birzeit, Palestine)
• The Palestinian Museum (Birzeit, Palestine)
• Um Al Fahem Museum (Um Al Fahem, Occupied Palestine)
• Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
• The Agha Khan Museum (Toronto, Canada)

In 2012, he opened his art exhibition entitled (The Land and the People) in his home in Ramallah with a new idea, the first of its kind in Palestine, in order to reach a more diverse audience and break away from the traditional kind of art galleries.