Mona Saudi 1945-2022

Overview

Mona Saudi (1945–2022, Amman, Jordan) sculpted mainly in stone and was one of the few artists of her generation to work primarily with this material. Her forms are marked by vitality, balance and a clear sense of equilibrium, frequently returning to ideas of fertility, growth and transformation. Beginning with basic geometric shapes such as the square, circle, cylinder and rectangle, she developed compositions through repetition, variation and intersection, giving these forms movement and a life of their own. She studied sculpture at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Turner Contemporary, Margate; the British Museum, London; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Sharjah Art Museum; and Darat Al Funun, Amman, and is held in major collections including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the British Museum, Sharjah Art Foundation, Barjeel Art Foundation and the National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman.

Mona Saudi passed away in 2022.

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Works

The Dawn of Creation
The Spring - La Source, 1989
Mother, Earth, 1996
Moon Lover, 1997
From the Petra Tablets series, inspired by Adonis (1993-1998), 1997
Woman / River, 2003-2004
Dialogue, 2004
The Dawn of Creation, 2005
Mother Earth, 2006
The Seed, 2007
Sunset, 2011
Moods of Earth & Humans , 2014

Biography

Mona Saudi and her work in front of the Insitut du Monde Arabe in Paris

Mona Saudi (1945–2022, Amman, Jordan) sculpted mainly in stone and was one of the few artists of her generation to work consistently with this material. Her forms are marked by vitality, balance and a clear sense of equilibrium, frequently returning to ideas of fertility and growth. Beginning with basic geometric shapes such as the square, circle, cylinder and rectangle, she developed compositions through repetition, variation in depth and height, and the intersection of forms, creating sculptures that appear to move and grow organically. Her work reflects a continuous search for harmony between material, form and nature.

Saudi was born in Amman, Jordan, and studied sculpture at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Over the course of her career, she became one of the most important sculptors of her generation in the Arab world, working between Jordan, Lebanon and France, and producing a body of work that combines modernist abstraction with references to ancient civilizations, nature and the human body.

Her solo exhibitions include Icons, Abu Dhabi Art with Lawrie Shabibi (2018); Humanized Abstraction, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Beirut (2017); Poetry in Stone, Lawrie Shabibi (2015); Saint John Perse Foundation, Aix-en-Provence (2011); Poetic Inspirations, The Mosaic Rooms / AM Qattan Foundation, London (2010); and a retrospective at Darat Al-Funun, Amman (1995). In 2018, Poetry & Form, a survey of her works curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, was presented at Sharjah Art Museum in collaboration with Sharjah Art Foundation.

Select group exhibitions include Arab Presences: Modern Art and Decolonisation, Musee D'art Modern de Paris (2024); Beyond Form: Lines of Abstraction 1950-1970, Turner Contemporary, Margate (2024); Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility at the 16th Lyon Biennale, macLYON, Lyon, France (2022); Feminine Power: the divine to the demonic, The British Museum, London, UK (2022); Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany (2022); Abu Dhabi Art, with Lawrie Shabibi, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2018); Abu Dhabi Art, with Lawrie Shabibi, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2016); Le Corps Découvert, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France (2012); Salon d'Automne, Sursok Museum, Beirut (2011-1993); International Cairo Biennale, Cairo (2003); Voyage en Jordanie, Hotel de Ville, Paris, France (1997); Forces of Change, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. (1994); Arab Contemporary Artists, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (1987); Arab Artists, Kunst Hus, Oslo (1981); Palestinian Art, Oriental Museum, Moscow (1979); International Art Exhibition for Palestine, Beirut (1978); Colamarini and his Students, Musee Rodin, Paris (1978); and Salon de Mai, Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris (1973-1972).

Her work is held in major international collections including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Sharjah Art Foundation; the British Museum, London; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; the National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman; the Khaled Shoman Foundation, Amman; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.; Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyya, Kuwait; and the Museum of Modern Art, Kuwait. A monumental sculpture by Mona Saudi stands outside the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the only work permitted in the surrounding precinct by architect Jean Nouvel.

Mona Saudi passed away in February 2022 in Beirut, Lebanon.

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Exhibitions