Kamal Boullata was a Palestinian artist and art historian.
25 Facts About Kamal Boullata
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Kamal Boullata's work was abstract in style, focusing on the ideas of division in Palestinian identity and separation from homeland.
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Kamal Boullata expressed these ideas through geometric forms as well as through the integration of Arabic words and calligraphy.
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Kamal Boullata was born to mother Barbara Ibrahim Atalla and father Yusuf Isa Boullata in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem in 1942 shortly before the partition of Palestine and Israel.
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Kamal Boullata had five older siblings by the names of Isa, Renee, Andre, Jamil, and Su'ad.
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Kamal Boullata attended elementary school at the College des Freres and secondary school at the St George's School.
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Later in his childhood, Boullata recalls sitting for hours on end as a small boy in front of the Dome of the Rock, engrossed in sketching its innumerable and unfathomable geometric patterns and calligraphic engravings.
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Kamal Boullata studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Rome graduating in 1965.
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Kamal Boullata enrolled in the graduate program at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, DC, receiving an MFA in 1971.
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Kamal Boullata continued to live and create in Washington until 1974, at which time he traveled to Beirut for a short period and worked as art director of a pioneering publishing house.
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In 1993 and 1994 Kamal Boullata was awarded Fulbright Senior Scholarships to conduct research on Islamic art in Morocco.
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Kamal Boullata worked and lived between Morocco and Paris during the later 1990s.
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Kamal Boullata was a fellow resident at The Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
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Kamal Boullata is buried on Mount Zion in Jerusalem at the Greek Orthodox cemetery.
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Kamal Boullata's compositions are often based on the angular Kufic script embedded in geometric designs, which he uses as a representational form of art.
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Kamal Boullata employed the French pochoir technique to achieve crisp stenciled edges.
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Kamal Boullata was interested in this geometric form not just in Islamic art history, but in the mandorlas surrounding the figure of Christ in traditional icons.
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Kamal Boullata wrote poetry and exhibit reviews, and studied and wrote about art history, art theory, and Palestinian arts.
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Kamal Boullata was published often by the Journal of Palestine Studies.
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Kamal Boullata has written introductions and exhibit reviews for other artists such as Sophie Halaby, Steve Sabella, and 'Asim Abu Shaqra.
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Kamal Boullata divided the various roots of Palestinian artistic style and expression into four categories.
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Not only was Kamal Boullata an accomplished artist, he was the author of what is perhaps the most important book on the subject of Modern and contemporary art from Palestine, titled: Palestinian Art: from 1850 to the Present.
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Kamal Boullata looked young, energised, inspired, speaking about many projects.
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Kamal Boullata inspired thousands in his life, and I do feel his journey has just begun.
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Kamal Boullata's departure is not a loss, but a reward to all humanity.