Ahmad Shibrain (Sudan, 1931-2017)Tawhid / Oneness mixed media and ink on panel, framedsigned "Shibrain" in Arabic (lower right), executed circa 196556 x 56cm (22 1/16 x 22 1/16in).注脚Provenance:Property from a private collection, BeirutAcquired directly from Gallery One, Beirut, 1965Exhibited: Gallery One, Beirut, 1965"I am drunk off the wine of oneness; I am free of color and smell - all differences in this world are of degree and not of kind, oneness is the secret of all" - RumiThe present composition by pioneering Sudanese artist Ahmed Shibrain is a captivating visual meditation on the Sufi notion of "tawhid" or divine oneness; combining Christian and Islamic iconography Shibrain uses contrasting religious symbolism to emphasize the unity of the divine and the essential equivalence of religious meaning Ahmed Shibrain is an integral and leading figure of Modernism in Sudan. Shibrain was born in 1931 in Berber, Sudan. In the early 1950s, Shibrain studied at the Khartoum Technical Institute when the institution was the hub of contemporary African art of the region and in 1957 he went onto studying at the Central School of Art and Design in London. Alongside his influential contemporaries Ibrahim El-Salahi and Kamala Ishag, Shibrain was one of the founders of The Khartoum School in the 1960s. The Khartoum School was a movement of visual artists who cultivated a new visual style called Sudanawiyya, which expressed local and Pan-African traditions alongside Western influences. Through the use of calligraphy, the aesthetics of hurufiyya (transforming Arabic letters into abstract shapes; named after harf the Arabic word for letter) and Islamic motifs, the movement attempted to convey the cultural fabric of Sudan. After returning to Khartoum, Shibrain became the head of the graphics department at his former college in 1970, and its dean in 1975. He was known for his design of presidential medals, postal stamps and various ebony murals. He held numerous exhibitions in Africa and abroad, published several books and critical essays and held many functional and academic positions in Sudan. In 1966 Shibrain founded the non-profit Shibrain Art Gallery which showcases Sudanese artists."As students, we used to rush into the other art studios, but entering his studio, we were always well-prepared as we felt that we were in the presence of creativity and achievement. He used to spend 10 minutes with each student, discussing their creative productions. Those 10 minutes were more than enough to feed us for the whole week, as they were so deep and interesting. Shibrain was fully aware of our potential and was the flaming fire that fed our creativity. We, as students, felt that he was living this 'age of the arts', and that he was always up to date and fully aware of where the arts was going" -Professor Hussein Jumaan