Inside “Hafra”, a celebration of Middle Eastern culture at Sotheby’s London
DUBAI: Throughout August, Sotheby’s is hosting “Hafura”, an auction series billed as a “celebration of Middle Eastern art”.
Hafra comprises four exhibitions: “Khamsheen: 50 Years of Saudi Visual Arts”, “Masarat Al Hibr: Outstanding Quranic and Calligraphic Works from the Bashir Mohammed Family Collection”, “Sotheby’s A2Z Advisory Jewellery” and an exclusive capsule collection of handbags with Saudi-inspired designs.
Alexandra Roy, Sotheby’s head of modern and contemporary Middle East sales, said “Khamsheen” is the largest component of “Hafra.” Organized in collaboration with Jeddah’s Hafez Gallery and its founder Kasra Hafez, it includes paintings, sculptures, photography, prints and installation works spanning the 1960s to the present.
“The Blue Quran” will be on display at the “Hafura” exhibition at Sotheby’s in London. (Courtesy)
“I’ve known Qaswara Hafez for a long time and this is a project he’s been thinking about doing for a while,” Roy says. “It’s been a long time coming. There are some fantastic shows about Saudi visual culture in London and of course a lot going on in the Kingdom right now, so it’s a fantastic moment to be a part of it.”
“Sotheby’s has participated in two Saudi Arabia art biennials, so we’re continuing that,” she added. “We’re representing 60 artists, some of whose work will be shown for the first time. We go back to around 1965, and it’s hard to find work older than that, but we were keen to show the work of the pioneers.”
“Actually, I didn’t know a lot of these artists, so I was reading about them and it was so amazing. A lot of them got scholarships and went abroad to study in Italy or France, and then they came back and were responsible for organizing their own exhibitions. And the artists really continued to create even after 1979, when the Kingdom became more conservative. They also really supported each other.”
Asprey’s limited edition capsule collection of Saudi Arabia-inspired bags is on display at Hafra. (Courtesy)
Roy suggested the exhibition also showed how contemporary Saudi artists “are responding to the global publicity they are currently receiving.”
But she stresses that CamScene is just an “introductory” show: “We could have gone much deeper. Hopefully this is the first step towards several more shows.”
Another major Saudi influence at Hafra can be seen in a capsule collection of handbags created by British luxury brand Asprey in collaboration with Noon, the jewelry house founded by Princess Noura AlFaisal.
“We’ve been in contact with Princess Noura for many years. She’s a very interesting person with a lot of different personal projects,” said Sophie Stevens, director and MENA jewelry specialist at Sotheby’s. “She’s a very prominent figure in the Saudi cultural world. When she heard about this exhibition she was very excited because it’s a great platform to talk about those efforts. We’ll be doing several events, talks and educational initiatives with her during Hafla.”
SABBA earrings exhibited at the A2Z Advisory Jewelry Exhibition at Hafla. (Provided)
“Earlier this year, she worked closely with Asprey to create five designs for the 1781 Asprey Pochette bag, using textiles inspired by five key regions of Saudi Arabia,” Stevens continues, “and as part of this commitment on the luxury side, we thought it was the perfect fit to marry our Saudi Arabian heritage with one of Britain’s oldest luxury brands.”
Another luxury aspect of Hafra is its collaboration with A2Z, founded in 2018 by Abdulrahman Al Zayani, whom Stevens describes as a leading jewellery and art adviser in the Gulf region.
“We’ll be renting the Sotheby’s salon space on New Bond Street and will be showcasing around 140 pieces that are inspired by or have some connection to Eastern design,” she says. “So we’ve got great design from the last century or so, great Art Deco pieces, great coloured stones, great diamonds and also some pieces from some of the top contemporary designers right now. It’s a great mix. And, we’ll also be doing some educational talks. We’ll be hosting a talk with[Al Zayani]based on the art of collecting, and it’ll be great to explore that theme with him.”
The final exhibition, “Hafura,” will feature 28 calligraphy and Quranic pieces from the family collection of Bashir Mohammed, a pioneer of Islamic art.
Firman with tughra of Suleiman I (r. 1520-66), Ottoman Empire, Turkey, 973 A.D. to 1565 A.D. (Courtesy)
“We’re studying the oldest examples of typefaces from the 9th century to modern iterations in the 21st century,” says Frankie Keyworth, an expert on Islamic and Indian art, “mixing pages of the Quran with pages of secular calligraphy, just to trace how typefaces developed and how each region created its own identity by using typefaces as part of their work.”
Keyworth cites two particularly special pieces: a bifocal leaf from the famous Blue Quran and an illuminated firmán (decree) bearing Suleiman the Magnificent’s tughra (a calligraphic monogram used as an official signature) from 1565.
Regarding the former, Keyworth said: “I’ve seen individual pages (of the Blue Quran) offered at auctions and exhibitions, but to hold the folio in my hands is really exciting, because you can really get a sense of the scale of it and how impressive it was.”
Meanwhile, Keyworth describes the coat of arms as “highly intricate and incredibly finely illuminated. You see this beautiful interplay; the calligraphic monogram combines with the ornamentation to create a work of art in itself.”
Hafra opened at a time when the UK is experiencing social unrest due to right-wing Islamophobia, so although the sales have been planned for some time, the timing couldn’t be better for this showcase of Middle Eastern culture.
“I think this is really important and a really impactful way to foster greater exchange and cultural understanding,” Stevens said. “I’m also really excited about the education side of it, because I think this will bring about a lot more understanding.”
