Kamal Boullata Palestinian, 1942-2019
Born in Jerusalem, Kamal Boullata created a body of work deeply rooted in Palestinian identity and the condition of exile.
Early in his career, Boullata developed a distinct pictorial idiom embedding Arabic words and letters in angular Kufic script into colourful geometric designs. Particularly meaningful to him, calligraphy and geometric patterning evoked his time at the Dome of the Rock and his training under painter Khalil Halabi. Often working in silkscreen, Boullata's formal language also referenced Palestinian embroidery and the geometric abstraction of Western modernism. After 1967, the square became central to his compositions, dissected through lines and thin layers of oppositional colours to create prismatic surfaces of colour and light.
Boullata graduated from the Academy of Rome and the Corcoran Art Museum School in Washington, DC. In 1993, he received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship to research Islamic art in Morocco. His publications include Palestinian Art: From 1850 to the Present and Belonging and Globalisation: Critical Essays in Contemporary Art and Culture. After periods in the USA and France, he settled in Berlin, where he was a 2012–13 fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021, Kamal Boullata – Geometrie des Lichts, Galerie Pankow, Berlin, Germany
2020, Kamal Boullata: Qasida, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2019, Kamal Boullata, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris, France
2018, A Survey of Recent Painting, Warehouse 421, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2017, Adolcendo, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2015, ...And There Was Light, Berloni Gallery, London, UK
2014, Bilqis, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2013, Bilqis, Wiensowski & Harbord, Berlin, Germany
2009, Homage to al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham, ArtSpace Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2002, Mare Nostrum, Musée du Chateau Dufresne, Montreal, Canada
2002, Livres d’Artiste, Bibliothèque Centrale, Grenoble, France
2001, Confluences Nord/Sud, Galerie d’art contemporain, Palais de l’Europe, Menton, France
1999, Eppur si muove, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris, France
1998, Granada, Patronato de la Alhambra Islamic Museum, Granada, Spain
1998, Surrat al-Ard, Darat al-Funun, Amman, Jordan
1998, Twelve Lanterns for Granada, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, Ramallah, Palestine
1991, Symmetries, Alif Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
1990, Houghston House Art Gallery, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, USA
1988, School of Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
1985, Geometry of Words, Alliance Française, Abu Dhabi, UAE
1984, National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
1984, Geometry of Words, Al-Hakawati Gallery, Jerusalem, Palestine
1984, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1983, Thomas Evans Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024, Arab Presences: Modern Art and Decolonisation, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, France
2024, Hudood: Rethinking Boundaries, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, UK
2023, The Future Of Traditions, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, UK
2023, Ce que la Palestine apporte au monde, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
2021, Zaat: Collectors Eye, Fann A Porter, Dubai, UAE
2021, Converging Lines, MEI Art Gallery, Washington, USA
2020, Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950–1980s, multiple venues, USA
2020, Modern Masters, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2016, Arab Print: Volume II, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2016, The Sea Suspended, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran
2015, Art International, Istanbul, Turkey
2015, Debating Modernism II, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
2015, Adventures of the Black Square, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
2014, Tariqah, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
2013, Changing Agents, Alaan Artspace, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2013, Tajreed, CAP Kuwait, Kuwait
... [further exhibitions can be formatted in this style on request]
PUBLICATIONS
2009, Palestinian Art: From 1850 to the Present
2015, Steve Sabella: Works 1997–2013
2014, Bilqis, Meem Editions
2012, Between Exits: Paintings by Hani Zurob
1990, Faithful Witnesses: Palestinian Children Recreate Their World
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Darat al-Funun, Amman, Jordan
Sharjah Art Museum, UAE
Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon
Arab American National Museum, Michigan, USA
World Bank, Washington, DC, USA
New York Public Library, New York, USA
British Museum, London, UK
Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
UNESCO, Paris, France
Bibliothèque Louis Notari, Monaco
Islamic Museum, Granada, Spain
SELECTED PRESS
2019, Kamal Boullata (1942–2019), Artforum International
2019, A Tribute to the Palestinian Artist Kamal Boullata, MERIP
2019, Palestinian artist Kamal Boullata to be buried in Jerusalem after 50 years of exile, Middle East Eye
2019, Prominent Palestinian artist Kamal Boullata dies in Berlin, The National
2018, The Modern Arab Artists Who Have Turned to Words, Apollo Magazine
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Be The Stone
Tabari, Frieze Abu Dhabi 2026 19 - 22 November 2026Tabari Artspace presents Be the Stone , a multi-artist booth bringing together Egyptian artist Khaled Zaki (b. 1964, Suez, Egypt), Iraqi-British artist Irene Scheinmann (b. 1933, Baghdad, Iraq), and Palestinian...Explore -
Kamal Boullata Solo Exhibition
9 - 31 December 2009Dubai’s Renowned Artspace Gallery Proudly Presents Palestinian artist Kamal Boullata. A diverse and moving exhibition of contemporary paintingsExplore
