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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
The Blessed Beast
Bashar Alhroub (Palestinian, born in 1978)
Palestinian
2022
Medium/Technique
Ink and gold on paper
Dimensions
Height x width: 75 × 100 cm (29 1/2 × 39 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Frederick Brown Fund
Accession Number2023.368
ClassificationsDrawings
The Blessed Beast (2022) is from a series done by Palestinian artist Bashar Alhroub focused on the city Jerusalem. It represents the Buraq, the steed that carried the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem, from which he ascended to heaven to meet with God. Alhroub specifically designed this Buraq for the Palestinian people: he'd never seen a representation of the Buraq in Palestine. His deliberate use of negative space brings the Buraq into focus, but it also questions the city of Jerusalem as a Palestinian symbol. With such heavy focus on the Dome of the Rock and the Masjid al-Aqsa, are there other histories and symbols being overlooked? Can the Buraq be a symbol of Palestine, in the same way the turquiose and the gold of the Dome of the Rock has been used in Palestinian art and culture?
DescriptionImage of the Buraq, a winged steed with the head of a gender-ambiguous human with a gold-illuminated halo, drawn with black ink on a white background.
Signed
Bashar AlHroub (in pencil)
Provenance2023, sold by Zawyeh Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 21, 2023)