The One Dimension Group ( ''Al Bu'd al Wahad'') was a modern art collective founded in Iraq, by

Shakir Hassan Al Said Shakir Hassan Al Said ( ar, شاكر حسن ال سعيد) (1925–2004), an Iraqi painter, sculptor and writer, is considered one of Iraq's most innovative and influential artists. An artist, philosopher, art critic and art historian, he was act ...

in 1971 which attempted to combine medieval Sufi traditions with contemporary, abstract art. Although the One Dimension Group was founded in Iraq, its members originated from across Arab nations, and its influence was felt across the Arab art world.

Background

One Dimension is one of a number of

art groups An art group or artist group, sometimes also an artist collective, describes itself as an open or fixed association of artists to a group with a name. Founders and initiators of artist groups are mostly well-known artists, around whom similarly thin ...

that formed in 20th-century Iraq. During the first world war, a small group of European officers and artists settled in Iraq, exposing young artists to Western art traditions and techniques. While local artists and middle classes developed an appreciation for European art, the arts community searched for ways of synthesising indigenous art with international trends. In effect, these groups were seeking to forge an Arabic art aesthetic and to use art to help their nations reassert a sense of national identity. Between the 1930s and the early 1970s, more than six different art groups were formed: ''The Pioneers'' formed in the 1930s; ''The Avantgarde Group'' formed in 1950; '' The Baghdad Modern Art Group'' formed in 1951; ''The Impressionists'' formed in 1953; ''The Corners Group'' founded in 1961; ''The Innovationists'' founded in 1963; ''The New Vision'' founded in 1968 and ''One Dimension'' founded in 1971. Some of these groups endured for decades, while others were short-lived and abandoned within a few years of their formation. Each of these groups developed different ideas about how to combine heritage and modernity and developed a different vision for a national art aesthetic. Although there were tensions in the different visions of these groups, collectively, they actively searched for new national vision which would enable the country to develop internally, as well as take its place on a world stage. Of these art groups, the Baghdad Modern Art Group and the One Dimension Group are the most frequently cited.

Brief history and philosophy

The One Dimension Group was established formally in 1971 by the prominent Baghdadi artist and intellectual, Shakir Hassan Al Said, when he published a manifesto for the group. Al Said had previously been a founding member of the Baghdad Group for Modern Art (Jama'at Baghdad lil-Fann al-Hadith) together with

Jawad Saleem Jewad Selim (1919–1961) ( ar, جواد سليم) was an Iraqi painter and sculptor born in Ankara, Ottoman Empire in 1919. He became an influential artist through his involvement with the Iraqi Baghdad Modern Art Group, which encouraged artists ...

(1919-1961) and

Jabra Ibrahim Jabra Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (28 August 1919 – 12 December 1994) ( ar, جبرا ابراهيم جبرا) was a Iraqi-Palestinian author, artist and intellectual born in Adana in French-occupied Cilicia to a Syriac Orthodox Christian family. His fami ...

(1919-1994), but he along with several high profile artists, had withdrawn from that group when it lost its sense of direction, following the death of its founder, Jawad Saleem in 1961. The One Dimension manifesto gives voice to the group's commitment to both heritage and modernity and sought to distance itself from the modern Arab artists which they perceived as following European artistic traditions. One Dimension's objectives are complex and sophisticated; it is philosophy, technique, style and a relationship between time and space, between the visual and the non-visual. The "one dimension" is an oblique reference to

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

, which has been described as "the inner dimension of Islam." The objectives of the One Dimension Group were multi-dimensional and complex. At the most basic level, the group rejected two and three-two dimensional artwork in favour of a single "inner dimension". This approach was influenced by both the philosophy of

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...

and the traditions of

Arabic calligraphy Arabic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy based on the Arabic alphabet. It is known in Arabic as ''khatt'' ( ar, خط), derived from the word 'line', 'design', or 'construction'. Kufic is the oldest form of th ...

and associated Sufi movements. In practice, a single inner dimension was difficult to realise because most artworks are produced on two-dimensional surfaces. At a more profound level, one dimension refers to "eternity". Al Said explained: Al Said actively searched for relationships between time and space; and for a visual language that would connect Iraq's deep art traditions with modern art methods and materials. The incorporation of callij (calligraphy) letters into modern artworks was an important aspect of this relationship. The letter became part of Al Said's transition from figurative art to abstract art. Arabic calligraphy was charged with intellectual and esoteric Sufi meaning, in that it was an explicit reference to a Medieval theology where letters were seen as primordial signifiers and manipulators of the cosmos. Al Said, and members of the One Dimension group, searched for a new artistic identity, drawn from within their own culture and heritage and successfully integrated Islamic visual traditions, especially calligraphy and Arabic motifs, into contemporary, abstract compositions. At an individual level, these artists were carrying out their own dialogue with national identity and modern art, at a broader level they also worked towards an aesthetic that transcended national boundaries and represented a broader affiliation with an Arab identity. Al Said and his group successfully bridged the gap between modernity and heritage. In so doing, they "charted a new Arabo-Islamic art aesthetic, and thus initiated a possible alternative for art valuating for local and regional art other than those allowed through an exclusionary Western canon of art history." In focusing on the Arabic letter as the central element of his work, al-Said soon was collaborating with

Madiha Omar Madiha Umar (1908 – 2005 in Aleppo) ( ar, مديحة عمر) was an Iraqi artist who was known for incorporating calligraphy with abstract art. She is generally perceived as the first Arab artist to have done this. Therefore, she is seen as ...

(who by then was living in the US) and

Jamil Hamoudi Jamil Hamoudi (1924–2003) was an Iraqi artist who became the Director of the Ministry of Culture's Fine Arts Department. He is noted for his involvement in various Iraqi and Arabic art movements including the Hurufiyya movement which bridged the ...

, who both joined his group. The One Dimension Group was very significant to the so-called School of Calligraphic Art (also known as the

Hurufiyya movement The Hurufiyya movement ( ar, حروفية ''ḥurufiyyah'', adjectival form ''ḥurufī'', 'letters' (of the alphabet)) is an aesthetic movement that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century amongst Muslim artists, who used their under ...

) which comprised groups of artists that had emerged independently across North Africa and the Middle East in the second half of the 20th century, with the common thread being that each group searched for ways to integrate tradition and modernity in a way that would contribute to a distinct national style. Although each of these groups developed locally, and went by different labels at the local level, collectively, these groups and their practitioners would become known as the School of Calligraphy (or

). In Jordan, the movement emerged in the 1950s and was known as the ''Al-hurufiyyah movement'', while in Iraq, the movement was known as ''Al Bu'd al Wahad'' (or the One Dimension Group)", and in Iran, the Saqqa-Khaneh movement. In Sudan, artworks took on a slightly different form - since artists rejected Western art traditions and included both Islamic calligraphy and West African motifs. In Sudan, the movement was known as the ''Old Khartoum School.'' Original members of the One Dimension group include:

Rafa al-Nasiri Rafa al-Nasiri (b.1940 Tikrit, Iraq -7 December 2013 Amman, Jordan) was an Iraqi painter, draughtsman, print-maker, educator and author whose works with a social and political message resonated with the Iraqi public in the mid-20th century. He w ...

Mohammed Ghani Hikmat Mohammad Ghani Hikmat (April 20, 1929 – September 12, 2011) ( ar, محمد غني حكمت) was an Iraqi sculptor and artist credited with creating some of Baghdad's highest-profile sculptures and monuments and was known as the "sheik of sculp ...

Nuri al-Rawi Noori al-Rawi (1925-2014) was an Iraqi painter; a pioneer of Iraqi art who played an important role in shaping the Iraqi modern art movement through his roles as a practising artist, author, television presenter, art administrator and art critic. ...

Dia Azzawi Dia Al-Azzawi (Arabic: ضياء العزاوي) is an Iraqi painter and sculptor, now living and working in London, and one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. He is noted for incorporating Arabic script into his paintings. Active in the arts com ...

, Hashem Samarchi (b. 1939), Hashim al-Baghdadi (1917-1973) and Saad Shaker (1935-2005).Treichl, C., ''Art and Language: Explorations in (Post) Modern Thought and Visual Culture'', Kassel University Press, 2017, p.117

References

{{Reflist 1971 establishments in Iraq Arab artists Arts organizations Art societies Iraqi art Sufi art

Background

Brief history and philosophy

See also

References