Ismael Fattah (Iraq, 1934-2004) Standing Nudes ink on paper, framed signed 'Ismael Fattah' and dated '88' in Arabic and English (lower left), executed in 1988 101 x 69cm (39 3/4 x 27 3/16in). Footnotes: Provenance: Property from a private collection, UK 'With Ismail Fattah who like Rahal and Ghani also studied in Rome –his works are related to his country's experience by virtue of their themes rather than their actual style. His beautiful statue of the great Abbasid poet Abu Nuwas may look like a Gothic Christ, but he knows it. He knows his bronzes owe more to modern sculpture than to Sumer or Assyria. To him, this is a technical point which is no cause for worry as long as he can express his Iraqi themes in a manner related to the present. If his style, which has its emphatic qualities, derives from contemporary [art], his confidence may lie in the fact that [art] in our time derives from a vast mixture of cultures mostly medieval or ancient, and especially middle-eastern' - Jabra Ibrahim Jabra For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com