untitled

Jellal Ben Abdallah, artist

1921–2017

untitled, circa 1980s

Where object was made: Tunisia

Material/technique: paper; pencil; watercolor

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 4 x 5.3 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 1 9/16 x 2 1/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 4.4 x 5.7 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 1 3/4 x 2 1/4 in
Mount Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 15.4 x 17 x 0.2 cm
Mount Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 6 1/16 x 6 11/16 x 0 1/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 11 x 14 in

Credit line: Gift of Amin Bouker

Accession number: 2016.0260

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Jellal Ben Abdallah, a member of the artist group the École de Tunis (Tunis School), is renowned for miniature painting, watercolors, and monumental design. He portrayed female musicians, octopi, and starfish in Orchestre sous-marine, a study for a ceramic tile mural in the Hôtel les Palmiers, a modernist hotel designed by Olivier-Clément Cacoub. Similarly, the small sketch depicts five musicians, fish, and sea urchins on the seafloor. Ben Abdallah’s signature, written in Arabic, forms the oud (lute) strings. These works are rare examples of Arab surrealism in a U.S. museum collection. The untitled still-life represents the artist’s lifelong practice of painting miniatures and Arab instruments. Ben Abdallah, like other members of the École de Tunis, engaged with historical art forms found in Arab and Islamic lands as part of his modernist practice. His miniatures, particularly desired by Tunisian collectors, have been displayed as paintings, inserted into precious jewelry, and circulated as postage stamp designs. Ben Abdallah painted until the end of his long life; he passed away at the age of 96 on November 9, 2017.