Biography
Samia Halaby, born in Jerusalem in 1936, is a leading abstract painter and influential scholar of Palestinian art. Based in the United States since 1951, she is recognized as a pioneer of contemporary abstraction in the Arab world. Halaby began her career in the early 1960s after graduating with an MFA in Painting from Indiana University. Her work is influenced by the geometric abstraction of Islamic architecture and the abstract movements of the Russian avant-garde, focusing on how reality can be represented through form.
Halaby has exhibited internationally and her work is held in prestigious collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, and the British Museum. She taught at universities across the United States and was the first full-time female associate professor at the Yale School of Art. Her notable solo exhibitions have been held at Ayyam Gallery and Birzeit University Museum, among others.
Artwork
