Getting a closer look at ‘Taking Shape’

Students from the MENA Student Association and the fall quarter art history course visited the Block Museum exhibition “Taking Shape” for a tour led by Barjeel Art Foundation founder Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi.

Al Qassemi, an Emirati columnist and researcher, is the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation.  

All works in “Taking Shape” were selected from the Barjeel Art Foundation Collection and most were acquired by Al-Qassemi himself.

Al Qassemi walked guests through the exhibition, sharing stories of individual works, and artist biographies and his perspectives as a collector and researcher.

Weekly visits to the exhibition were part of the fall quarter class “Modernism in the Age of Decolonization” taught by Hannah Feldman in art history and Rebecca Johnson, director, Middle East and North African Studies Program.

Art critics have called “Taking Shape” a must-see exhibition for the way it proves modern art wasn't merely a Western phenomenon. The exhibit is on view at the Block Museum through Dec. 4.