JEDDAH, 7 March 2006 — Abdul Halim Radawi, a distinguished member of the Saudi fine art scene died in Jeddah on Sunday.
Radawi, 76, was in one of the first groups of Saudi artists in the 1960s sent to Italy and the US to study on government scholarships. He returned from Italy with a BA in Fine Arts and later held the first individual art exhibition in the Kingdom in 1964. His paintings were exhibited around the globe, including the US, Holland, Brazil, England, France, Spain, Italy, Japan and Sweden.
Radawi was known not only for his own paintings which illustrated the authentic Saudi life style with such varied elements as writings, people and even birds.
In an earlier interview, Radawi said that the artist should know and benefit from famous schools of art but at the same time not merely imitate blindly.
The Saudi artist must always keep an eye on his national identity, Radawi always argued. “As Saudis we have a huge resource in our own traditions and costumes: the dances, clothes, houses that differ from one tribe to another,” he said.
Radawi’s long artistic career is rich with many different paintings. He himself, however, was personally very proud of two of them. The first won a prize at the 1988 Biennale in Spain and is titled, “Recitation of Qur’an.
The other is “Old Buildings in Makkah” which he refused to sell for half a million riyals. The picture remained in his personal museum in Jeddah.
