Alcove: Intimate Essays on Arab Modernist Artists Vol. II

Price: 180 AED
Publisher: Kaph Books
Publication Year: 2025
ISBN: 9789948692744

This second edition of Alcove – from the Arabic al qubba, meaning vault or chamber – deepens the archive of Modern Arab art through 30 new personal essays. Narrated by the relatives, friends and students of pioneering figures who defined the region’s visual culture, this volume continues the first book’s celebration of memory, intimacy and reclamation and opens a space for remembrance, nuance and historical depth. Covering lives shaped by the 20th century – a transformative time, at once disruptive, turbulent and full of innovation and rebirth – it unveils stories that risk being lost to time, and offers a collective portrait of Arab Modernism as a lived, deeply human experience.

Featuring modernist artists including Amal Abdenour, Zeinab Abdel Hamid, Yvette Achkar, Safeya Binzagr, Kamal Boullata, Rafic Charaf, Laure Ghorayeb, Mahmoud Hammad, Faiq Hassan, Naziha Salim, Hussein Madi, and Elias Zayat, among others, Alcove II brings together personal recollections that illuminate the lives and legacies of those who shaped Modern art from across the Levant, Gulf and North Africa.