The first-ever book-length history of Arab graphic
design PROSE AWARD WINNER, ART HISTORY & CRITICISM
Arab graphic design emerged in the early twentieth century out
of a need to influence, and give ...expression to, the far-reaching
economic, social, and political changes that were taking place in
the Arab world at the time. But graphic design as a formally
recognized genre of visual art only came into its own in the region
in the twenty-first century and, to date, there has been no
published study on the subject to speak of. A History of Arab
Graphic Design traces the people and events that were integral
to the shaping of a field of graphic design in the Arab world.
Examining the work of over eighty key designers from Morocco to
Iraq, and covering the period from pre-1900 to the end of the
twentieth century, Bahia Shehab and Haytham Nawar chart the
development of design in the region, beginning with Islamic art and
Arabic calligraphy, and their impact on Arab visual culture,
through to the digital revolution and the arrival of the Internet.
They look at how cinema, economic prosperity, and political and
cultural events gave birth to and shaped the founders of Arab
graphic design. Highlighting the work of key designers and
stunningly illustrated with over 600 color images, A History of
Arab Graphic Design is an invaluable resource tool for graphic
designers, one which, it is hoped, will place Arab visual culture
and design on the map of a thriving international design
discourse.
1980–1989 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
Ongoing political instability in the Arab world, arising from the Lebanese civil war, but also in no small part from the military dictatorships in Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Egypt, compelled many ...designers to emigrate to Europe and the United States to pursue their careers. In parallel with such developments, as more and more Western companies were selling their products to the new, rich oil states in the Arabian Gulf, the need for Arabic type experts grew more urgent. This situation gave rise to a new breed of specialized Arabic type designers, who catered to major American and European typeface-distribution companies
1940–1959 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
The end of the Second World War saw the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers and the beginning of the end of French and British rule in the Middle East. The war had been ...costly for France and Britain, and the Arab world was profoundly affected by this changing world order. The retreating colonizers were leaving behind an artificially divided region where rulers struggled to create nation-states based on European models. Arab countries sought a break with their colonial past, and their awakening national identities were given expression in new flags, coins, stamps, institutional logos,
1990–2000 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
As the Lebanese civil war came to an end, the country’s youth returned home in the early 1990s, lured by the rebuilding effort that was about to take place. Key players in the contemporary Lebanese ...design scene returned during this time. Leila Musfy came back from the United States and took the lead in 1992 as the director of the newly founded graphic design program at the American University of Beirut. Karl Bassil, having studied at the École de Recherche Graphique in Brussels, cofounded Mind the Gap in 1993, a specialized design firm that became a key player in the
1920–1939 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
Most of the early newspapers in the Arab world appeared in the transition between the final days of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of European colonial rule. The earliest newspapers were ...government mouthpieces aimed at communicating political news and bureaucratic decisions. Lebanon and Egypt were historically the leaders in the Arab publishing industry, a fact that remains true to this day. Al-Ahram, opening its doors in 1875, became a school for Arab journalism. The first periodical in the Arab world is listed as the bilingual journal al-‘Iraq, which was published in Arabic and Turkish in Baghdad beginning in 1816.
1960–1969 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
Following the declaration of the State of Israel in May 1948, the subsequent Palestine war, and the expulsion or flight of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, the majority of Palestinians were ...relocated to nearby Arab countries. Some were housed in makeshift refugee camps where they and their descendants remain to this day, while the more affluent among them bought lands and homes in their host countries. Almost a decade after the Nakba, Palestinians realized that their right to their land was not going to be granted and that they would have to fight to return to their homes. This marked
1900–1919 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
The first attempts at emulating Western educational systems in the Arab world took place under Muhammad Ali between 1811 and 1836. In 1836, the first art schools in Egypt were inspired by the French ...educational system. The history of modern Egypt has been linked to the history of applied arts since the establishment of the first institute founded during Muhammad Ali’s era with the aim of teaching decorative arts and crafts.
When the Arab world was under foreign rule, art education related to Islamic art was regarded as traditional and thus of a lesser importance. “In claiming modernity as a
1970–1979 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
The uncertain Arab socialist experiments of the 1950s and 1960s were gradually replaced by capitalist economies in the 1970s and 1980s. In Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Algeria the military regimes ...had transformed into full-fledged dictatorships. In Egypt the Infitah, or Open Door, policy was initiated by President Anwar Sadat in 1974 in a conscious effort to liberalize the Egyptian economy and open it up to outside investment. The result was a surge in consumption and increased economic inequality in the country.
In Lebanon, the country’s Muslim and Christian communities had reached a power-sharing agreement in 1943, the year of
Pre-1900 Shehab, Bahia; Nawar, Haytham
A History of Arab Graphic Design,
12/2020
Book Chapter
Graphic design is part of a visual language that is itself the by-product and reflection of a culture and its society. To understand the intellectual production of a society and its visual culture, ...it is necessary to understand that society’s history. Although the Arab world is today the site of significant unrest, it was, at various points in its past, specifically between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, home to several thriving capitals that witnessed the creation of some of the finest examples of literature, art, and architecture that humanity has known. From Cairo to Damascus to Baghdad, the Arab lands
