Entertainment | Performing & Visual Arts
Intricate aesthetics
Amira Zahid, founder of Dahesh Museum of Art, on the perfection of 19th-century academic art
- By Alice Johnson, Staff Writer
- Published: 00:05 June 17, 2011
- Image Credit: Supplied
- Amira Zahid, founder of Dahesh Museum of Art
The Dahesh Museum of Art (DMA) is the only institution in America devoted exclusively to collecting and exhibiting 19th- and early-20th-century academic art.
The non-profit organisation opened on Fifth Avenue in 1995 and reopened in 2003 on Madison Avenue.
Amira Zahid, founder and trustee of the DMA, spoke to Weekend Review about her travels and love of art.
Zahid has deep roots in the region. She is of Saudi Arabian origin but was born in Egypt and has a Turkish ancestry. She lived for many years in Lebanon and then moved to the United States, escaping the civil war to attend college.
When did you first realise your interest in art?
From our early schooldays, in a French school in Lebanon, we were taught history of art: prehistoric, Pharaonic, Sumerian, Phoenician, Roman, Greek, etc. Our annual curriculum always had room for history of art and applied art; and our teachers took the subjects as seriously as algebra and literature. Even history classes, about the French Revolution, for example, had a whole section on the art of the period and how it depicted the history of developing events, whether through paintings by David or caricatures of key players.
Besides, my mother (who actually started painting when she was 13 years old) insisted on exposing us to the world of museums and music at home. My siblings and I today serve on the Board of Trustees of the Dahesh Museum of Art. She used to take us to museums in every city and country we visited on school vacations; and they were many. I was not always thrilled with having to rush to a museum before its closing time as soon as our luggage was dropped off (no exaggeration). With proper nurturing, appreciation of art in all its forms and a deeper understanding of arts, a passion that I never knew existed within me, was increased.
Do you think your upbringing and/or multicultural experiences have affected your perception of art?
With exposure to different cultures through travelling and studying, my perception of art grew to the point of understanding and appreciating art generally, and it helped me identify it in the small things around me that are generally taken for granted.
Why did you decide to set up the DMA; what does it provide to the public?
Since opening in 1995, the museum has become a leader in reviving the study of academic art of the period, presenting numerous scholarly exhibitions, important publications and public programmes. Education and scholarship for a wide and diverse audience are among the museum’s primary goals and, therefore, much attention is given to label copy to provide information in an engaging, non-instructional fashion.
Are any parts of the DMA more popular than others?
Popular exhibitions have included the rediscovering of forgotten artists, the technical training of young artists and the changing status of women in art history. Rosa Bonheur: All Nature’s Children (1998) was the first international exhibition in America of this important artist and was widely reviewed and praised. Overcoming All Obstacles: The Women of the Academie Julian (1999) continued the examination of women artists; organised by the DMA, it was also a major presentation at the Clark Art Institute in Williamston, Massachusetts. A number of popular exhibitions have explored the East/West dynamic.
Why do you think that is?
A substantial part of the museum-going public has felt surfeited with repetitive exhibitions based on the older “accepted” canon of 19th-century art. The DMA has presented exhibitions and publications exploring artists and movements that offer fresh insights into this extraordinarily diverse and creative century. Other institutions have realised the importance of the DMA’s mission and many of these exhibitions have travelled to other museums.
According to the DMA, since opening in 1995, diverse audiences have been ‘offered a fresh look at the role Europe’s art academies played in reinvigorating the classical ideals of beauty, humanism and skill’.
Can you explain further what this role was?
Taken as an example is the historic École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and a few similar institutions. Most cities in Europe and other parts of the world developed their own academies stressing the importance of rigorous training. The result was that these “classical ideals” were more broadly taught and because artists beyond Paris had access to superb training, new generations of excellent artists appear in new locations.
The DMA describes 19th-century European academic art as ‘one of the most neglected areas of art in the Western tradition’. Why do you think that is?
The 19th-century academic tradition — rigorous training, historical subject matter and polished execution — was seen as “old-fashioned” when Impressionism and later forms of modern art gained prominence by the end of the century, notwithstanding that many of the Impressionist artists, such as Van Gogh, had rigorous academic training. For most of the 20th century, the art establishment scorned academic art and artists as conservative. With a few exceptions, textbooks and museums focused on the revolutionary movements and non-conformist art, which ultimately led to Modernism. By the end of the 20th century, however, some publications and exhibitions addressed this historical neglect and distortion. The DMA took a leading role in the re-evaluation of this historical period.
When did you first become interested in 19th-century European academic art and why this era in particular?
Our founding director, David Farmer, had identified from the beginning of his tenure, this particular period of art being strongly represented in the collection of our museum, and he recommended that we focus our museum mission on this era. However, before opening the museum, I learnt from Dr Dahesh how academic art of the 19th century represented the apogée [peak] of perfection in art and he collected heavily in that field.
What was the formula/original idea behind ‘Reconnecting East & West’?
On one of my many visits to Dubai, I could not help but contemplate how the rich tradition of Islamic ornament has been continued in the modern urban architecture of this city. My personal fascination with Prisse d’Avenne’s 19th-century publication L’Art Arabe, documenting the diversity of Islamic ornament, was the impetus behind the idea of this exhibition to trace the discovery of authentic Islamic ornament by 19th-century orientalist scholars and artists, and compare them to the decorative elements used in modern architecture of major Gulf cities, such as Dubai.
What is your favourite part of this exhibition?
Islamic ornament is often confused for the art of arabesques or calligraphy; this exhibition explains in a clear way the different categories that form Islamic ornament. In other words, I like the whole exhibition and how it takes us on a journey of discovery of that form of ornament, and particularly how at the end of the exhibit we are sent on a quest into the big city of Dubai to identify the elements of ornament and what we learnt about them through the exhibition itself.
The DMA and Syracuse University will be hosting Reconnecting East and West: Islamic Ornament in 19th-Century Works at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre (Ductac), Mall of the Emirates, from June 18 to July 18.
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