Ismail Fattah (Iraqi, 1934-2004)

The desire for a career in art and art-related fields, or the hope of becoming an artist drew many young artists, poets, and intellectuals to Beirut in the 1960s and the early 1970s. The art scene was vibrant with many galleries curating shows from across the Middle East and Europe. Exhibition spaces opened in all areas of the cosmopolitan city. These spaces organized shows for artists from neighbouring countries where the art scene had not come to today's fruition. These two works by Ismail Fattah were exhibited in one of the most vibrant spaces, called Gallery One which was established in 1963 by the painter-art-critic Helen Khal and her husband Youssef Al Khal (poet and publisher of Shi'r Magazine). With the help of the acclaimed art activist Mr. Waddah Fares, they organized some of the first exhibitions of Iraqi art outside of Baghdad. They showed most of the Iranian pioneers like Dia Azzawi, Ismail Fattah, Kazem Haidar. Gallery One also showed some of the most prominent Arab artists of the period like Sudanese Ahmad Chibreen, Fateh Moudarres, but it closed in 1977 because of the civil was that afflicted Lebanon.