Gallery Highlight: Ismail Fattah and Shapes of Power

Ismail Fattah, born in Basra in 1934, emerged as an undeniable figure within Iraq’s vibrant art movement during the 1950s onward. Following his return from Rome in 1965, where he completed his education, he taught at leading Iraqi art institutions and art groups, including the Baghdad Modern Art Group.

Fattah’s work explores the universal themes of the human experience, portrayed through an abstract and mystical approach that combines Mesopotamian art, Arabic heritage, and modern and contemporary aesthetics.

Fattah—also known as Ismail Fattah al-Turk—spent about a decade in Doha, upon an invitation from His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani to participate in an art residency programme that is still running today.

I never met him during his time in Doha, but I came to appreciate his character through the memories shared with me by HE Sheikh Hassan, who recalls Fattah as a charming and inspiring figure who sparked his interest and taught him sculpting. I was fortunate to explore hundreds of photographs of him in Mathaf’s archives, pictures of him while producing art, exchanging conversations, or playfully enjoying the moment. These photographs reveal his captivating personality and unwavering dedication to the creative process during his years as a resident artist in Doha.

While in Doha, Fattah produced a substantial body of work including paintings, prints, and sculptures. A few years before his death, he began working on a group of sculptures that focused on the ideology of power and control using the figures of soldiers as a metaphor. This body of work reflects the prolonged social and political realities in his home country Iraq.

In The Leader and the Soldiers (2000-2001), currently displayed in the first gallery of Resolutions: Evolving Realities, Fattah presents 24 colourful, almost identical soldiers standing in front of a seated leader. This figure, with its majestic posture, a recurrent motif in Fattah’s work, recalls depictions of gods in ancient Mesopotamian art, highlighting the leader as someone who assumes a divine status.

This divinity is further emphasised by the gold head, symbolising the mind that controls the body of soldiers. Unlike many of Fattah’s sculptures that are made with clean surfaces and hard materials, such as stone, bronze, and marble, this work is made with clay and plaster. This deliberate use of fragile earthy materials moulded and put together with rough, uneven finishes, challenges the sense of endurance associated with authoritarian systems of control.

My understanding of this remarkable installation and how it was constructed was deepened through Mathaf’s unique archives. I encountered extensive documentation of The Leader and the Soldiers, revealing the collective effort, aspirations, and challenges behind the project.

In fact, for this project, Sheikh Hassan had commissioned Fattah to create a wooden sculpture inspired by one of his earlier works. While Fattah accepted the commission, he ultimately chose to pursue a different artistic direction, reinterpreting the project according to his own vision. Archival photographs offer valuable insight into his working process, revealing that the sculpture was constructed around a metal armature and gradually developed through the application of multiple layers of clay and plaster before reaching its final form.

Monumental in scale, The Leader and the Soldiers occupies the gallery in its entirety, creating an immersive environment that allows visitors to experience both Fattah’s artistic vision and the intense dedication with which he realised the project over several months.

Fatima Mostafawi is Middle East and West Asia curator at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.

Learn more about Ismail Fattah in the Mathaf Encyclopedia.