Wijdan Ali
Born
Sharifa Wijdan bint Fawwaz Muhana

(1939-08-29) 29 August 1939 (age 84)
Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq
NationalityJordanian
EducationB.A. University of Beirut; Muhanna Al-Dura and Armando Bruno; B.A., Beirut University (1961); Ph.D., University of London, (1993)
Known forPainter, art historian, educator, writer and diplomat
Notable work
  • Contemporary Art from the Islamic World, 1989
  • Modern Islamic Art: Development and Continuity, 1997
MovementHurufiyya movement
SpousePrince 'Ali bin Naif of Jordan

Princess Wijdan Ali (Arabic: وجدان علي) (born 29 August 1939 in Baghdad, Iraq) is a Jordanian artist, art historian, educator and diplomat.[1] She is the ex-wife of Prince 'Ali bin Naif of Jordan. She is best known for her efforts to revive the traditions of Islamic art and her abstract paintings and for her work as an art historian.

Education and career

She was born Sharifa Wijdan bint Fawwaz in Baghdad on 29 August 1939 into a noble family and was raised in Jordan. She was the daughter of Sharif Fawwaz Muhana, an architect, and his wife, Sharifa Nafi'a bint Jamil Ali. Both her parents could trace their ancestry to the Prophet Mohammed, which allowed her to be given the title of Sharifa.[2]

In 1962, she joined the Foreign Office of the United Nations in Jordan, shortly after completing her B.A. in Middle Eastern history from Beirut University College (1961), now the Lebanese American University.[3] She was the first woman to enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jordan (1962) and also the first woman delegate to represent Jordan at United Nations meetings[4] and the first female diplomat at the United Nations General Assembly.

While working as a diplomat, she was studying art privately and received some of her early arts training from Alice Ladoux, a French teacher.[5] In 1966, following her marriage to Prince 'Ali bin Naif, the second son of the ruling Hashemite family on Jordan, she resigned from her diplomatic post and began to take art seriously. She then began to study art formally with the Jordanian artists Muhanna Al-Dura and Armando Bruno.[6] She received a Ph.D. in Islamic art from the University of London in 1993.[1]

Wijdan Ali is both a contemporary painter and art historian. Her art explores themes of universal tragedy, especially dramatic events in Arab history, such as the Karbala series, which explores the tragedy that occurred in seventh century Karbala, when the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Hussein was martyred.[7] She also uses the motif of Islamic calligraphy as a graphic form, which was itself a revival of a traditional art form.[8] Her writing explores the rise and fall of an Islamic aesthetic in Islamic art and the dilution of centuries-long traditions, with the arrival of colonialism in North Africa and the Middle East.[9]

She is founder of the Royal Society of Fine Arts and of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts. She is also founder and dean of the newly established Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Jordan.[10] She is also a patron of the arts and has curated a number of exhibitions of Islamic art.[11]

Princess Wijdan Bint Fawwaz Muhana took the oath of office as Jordan's new ambassador to Italy before King Abdullah II on 3 October 2006.[12]

Work

In her art, she develops the traditions of Arabic calligraphy in a modern format and, as such, she forms part of the contemporary school of Arabic calligraphic painting.[13] Due to her use of Arabic calligraphy as a graphic form, she has been described as a pioneer of the Hurufiyyah Art Movement. [7] Her work, which has won awards in Belgium and France, is found in museums and private collections internationally, including the collections of the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, the American National Museum of Women in the Arts and the National Art Gallery, Pakistan.[10] She has participated in the cross cultural cooperation " the Dance of Visions" in Gothenburg Sweden, invited by the Swedish artist Ragnhild Lundén. Her best known art works are a series of shimmering desert-scapes made during the 1980s.[14]

She is a highly respected historian of Islamic art,[15] and has authored, edited and contributed to a number of books, including several devoted to female artists in the Islamic world.[16]

Two of her seminal works in the field, are:[13]

Select list of paintings

Family and marriage

She is the daughter of Sharif Fawwaz Muhana, an architect, and Sharifa Nafi'a bint Jamil Ali. In 1966, she married Prince 'Ali bin Naif of Jordan, the grandson of King Abdullah I.[4] Following her marriage, she became a member of the Royal family and was given the title of Her Royal Highness Princess Princess Wijdan Ali.

Children and descendants

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Bloom, Jonathan; Blair, Sheila S.; Blair, Sheila (2009). "Ali, Wijdan, Princess". The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. p. 53. ISBN 978-0195309911.
  2. ^ The titles, Sharif and Sharifa which roughly translate as noble, are honorific titles given to those who can trace their ancestry to Islamic prophet Mohammed. Encyclopedia.com,Online:
  3. ^ "Princess Wijdan Ali:Interview" Nafas Arts Magazine, December, 2003, Online: https://universes.art/nafas/articles/2003/princess-wijdan-ali/
  4. ^ a b Who's Who in the Arab World 2007-2008. Walter de Gruyter. 2007. p. 88. ISBN 978-3110930047.
  5. ^ Ibrahim, L., "Journey through Art: Princes Wijdan Ali," The Star, December 2002, in the Khalid Foundation Press Clippings, Online:
  6. ^ Hashem Talham, G., Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa, Rowman & Littlefield, 2013 p. 24
  7. ^ a b Mavrakis, N., "The Hurufiyah Art Movement in Middle Eastern Art," McGill Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Blog, Online:
  8. ^ Zuhur, S. (ed), Colors of Enchantment: Theater, Dance, Music, and the Visual Arts of the Middle East, American University in Cairo Press, 2001, p. 16
  9. ^ Ramadan, K.D., Peripheral Insider: Perspectives on Contemporary Internationalism in Visual Culture, Museum Tusculanum Press, 2007, p. 49; Palumbo, G., "Omages of Piety or Power? Conserving the Umayyad Royal Narrative in Qusayr Amra," Chapter 6 in T. Rico (ed.), The Making of Islamic Heritage, [Heritage Studies in the Muslim World], DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4071-9_6, 2017, especially see p. 96
  10. ^ a b "HRH Princess Wijdan bint Fawaz Al-Hashemi". SOAS, University of London.
  11. ^ Malt, C., Women's Voices In Middle East Museums: Case Studies In Jordan, Syracuse University Press, 2005, p. 62
  12. ^ "H.R.H Princess Wijdan Ali: Ambassador to Italy". UJCOnnect. University of Jordan.
  13. ^ a b Talhami, Ghada Hashem (2013). Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa. p. 24. ISBN 978-0810868588.; Ramadan, K.D., Peripheral Insider: Perspectives on Contemporary Internationalism in Visual Culture, Museum Tusculanum Press, 2007, p. 49. Ramadan writes that these two books are the "best English language works documenting important works and history of modern art in various countries in the region." (p.49)
  14. ^ Teller, M., Jordan, Rough Guides, 2002, p. 425
  15. ^ Who's Who in the Arab World 2007-2008, Publitec Publications, pp 88-89
  16. ^ Sinclair, S. (ed), Bibliography of Art and Architecture in the Islamic World, BRILL, 2012, p. 15

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