Shakir Hassan Al Said and His Cultural and Artistic Role in Iraq (1940–2004)

Abstract

    From his position as an artist, theorist, professor, and historian, the artist Shaker Hassan Al Said was able to embody an exceptional synthesis of modernity, Islam, and Arabism. His philosophy of art was rooted in two sources: Islamic mysticism and modern Western thought. He thus combined structuralism, semiotics, deconstruction, phenomenology, and existentialism.

   This study attempts to shed light on his artistic and cultural output by recounting his life story and the most important stages he went through, as Shaker Hussein Al Said was an influential and prolific artist.