Zulfa al-Sa'di

Zulfa al-Sa'di (1905–1988) was a Palestinian visual artist born in Jerusalem to a family of Sufis. She was a student of Nicolas Saig (1863–1942) from whom she must have learned how to use photographs that chronicled historical events or publicised political figures to develop her paintings. In particular, al-Sa'di was interested in an allegorical use that emphasized symbolic meanings about national Palestinian identity.^[1] al-Sa'di lived and worked in Jerusalem until 1948, when she was forced to move to Damascus. There, she taught art to Palestinian refugee children.^[2]

In 1933, at age 23, she participated in The Arab Exhibition in Mandate Jerusalem.^[3] There, she exhibited portraits of eminent men in the Arab world of her time, including Sharif Husayn, King Faysal I of Iraq, and Egyptian poet Ahmad Shawqi.^[4]

References

1. Boullata, Kamal (2009). Palestinian Art. From 1850 to the Present. Saqui. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-86356-648-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
2. Makhoul, Bashir, and Hon, Gordon (2013). The Origins of Palestinian Art. Lancaster: Liverpool University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-84631-952-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
3. Abusaada, Nadi (2019). "Self-Portrait of a Nation. The Arab Exhibition in Mandate Jerusalem, 1931-34" (PDF). Jerusalem Quarterly. p. 131. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
4. Tibi, Laura (2020). "The Roots for a Palestinian Nahda." Zulu al-Sa'di and the Advent of Palestinian Modern Art". Jerusalem Quarterly. 83: 106–123.