Lot 099
IBRAHIM HUSSEIN, DATUK
b. Kedah, 1936 – d. Kuala Lumpur, 2009
UNTITLED, 1968
Signed and dated ‘ibrahim hussein ’68’ lower left
Ink and acrylic on screenprint
28cm x 23cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, United States of America;
acquired directly from the artist.
ESTIMATE RM 10,000 - 15,000
PRICE REALISED RM 28,600
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This work done in Pop Art manner incorporated a degree of textual elements and could have been produced after Ibrahim Hussein’s two solo exhibitions in New York when he developed his printage technique using stencils of printed text. In the 1968 exhibition at the non-commercial Newsweek Gallery 10 in New York, John Haggerty filed a report which was carried in the local Sunday Mail (Feb 11, 1968), quoting Newsweek that Hussein’s efforts “combine hard-edged geometric design, complex linear patterns and near sculptural form with unusually rich colour to achieve paintings filled with vitality, activity and energy.” Ib, as the artist is more popularly known, was there on a Fullbright Award. He had another exhibition in New York, at the commercial Galerie Internationale before a major controversial show in Manila, the Philippines in August 1969.
Datuk Ibrahim Hussein was enrolled at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore in 1956. He received a scholarship to study at the prestigious Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting and the Royal Academy in London where he graduated in 1963 and 1966 respectively. A Fullbright Award saw him touring the United States and participating in exhibitions there. His career hit sky-high when he was selected to exhibit alongside Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali in Kuwait in 1977. In 1970, he was selected for the Smithsonian Institute workshop in the Venice Biennale. He had won many illustrious international awards, including the Japan Foundation Cultural Award (1988), the Monte Carlo 18th International Exhibition of Contemporary Art (1984), the Order of Andres Bello of Venezuela (1993), the Order of Bernardo O’ Higgins of Chile (1996), the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (1997) and the Anugerah Tokoh Melayu Terbilang (2007). A rare recipient of triple “Datuk” titles from various royalties, Ib was honoured with a retrospective exhibition by the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 1986. After 11 years of struggles and planning, the Ibrahim Hussein Museum and Cultural Foundation in Langkawi was launched in 2000. Together with his wife Datin Sim, he had organised the Club Mediterranee Asian Arts Festival in Cherating, Pahang and in Bali, Indonesia, as well as the 1st Langkawi International Festival of the Arts.
REFERENCE
Ibrahim Hussein: A Retrospective, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 1986.
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