Fahrelnissa Zeid at Tate Modern

Sunday, July 9th, 2017

Fahrelnissa Zeid’s exhibition at Tate Modern with beautiful kaleidoscope paintings that are ornate, colourful abstracts on a scale that really can’t be reproduced as a postcard or print. In that they reminded me of the Sonia Delunay exhibition at Tate Modern in 2015.

I was struck that both of these women were made exiles by events in their home country.  Zeid’s husband was the Iraqi ambassador to London when on the 14th July 1958 there was a military coup in Iraq.  Delunay was cut off from financial support by the Russian Revolution.

The early rooms paint a picture of Zeid’s struggle with abstract art then there is a room where several large abstracts take centre stage.  Another room has some smaller abstracts.  Then finally we have the end of her career as she returns to figurative work and pieces made by painting chicken bones cast in polyester resin panels.

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