Solving the mystery of Chants Mystique

The abstract nature of the subject of this oil painting is what makes it so alluring. Its red and ochre tones, inset with darker swathes, are reminiscent, perhaps, of thunder clouds or a raging fire. The undulating colours swirl around the canvas with an unmistakable crescendo of light at its centre, which calls to mind a heavenly body. It has an almost meditative quality, where the central illumination reflects the inner light of the viewer and its title—Chants Mystique—only adds to its charm, alluding to a kind of celestial quality that allows the viewer to dive in.

When Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi first came across the work, by Suha Shoman, it was in a low-resolution image that he discovered while researching the students of Fahrelnissa Zeid, the now legendary Turkish-Jordanian artist best known for her large abstract paintings. He was immediately captivated.

“Even before seeing Chants Mystique in person I was drawn to its beauty,” Al Qassemi explains. “Looking at the painting one may get the feeling that it is in motion as though one is staring at a body of water, deep down inside where the movement is silent and placid—almost still—but it is moving nonetheless.”

Shoman, who joined the Fahrelnissa Zeid Institute of Fine Arts, Amman in 1977, is also the co-founder and chair of Darat al Funun-The Khalid Shoman Foundation, dedicated to promoting and supporting Arab art and artists since 1988. She began her career as a realistic painter but after studying under Zeid, she experimented with lyrical abstraction and developed this entrancing style where she mastered the use of light and shadow. In 1984, an exhibition of her work was displayed at Wally Findlay Gallery in Paris within which all the works were selected by her teacher, Zeid. It was the first show by an Arab woman in this prestigious gallery and Chants Mystique adorned the back cover of the catalogue.

After discovering the image, Al Qassemi, perhaps the region’s most prolific collector of modern Arab art, began to trace it and found that the painting was bought by an unnamed collector at the 1984 exhibition and the artist knew nothing more of its whereabouts. However, with the help of George Al Ama, a researcher and collector, Al Qassemi tracked down the work and brought it to Sharjah, where it now takes pride of place in the Barjeel wing of Sharjah Art Museum. Standing in front of the piece is an uplifting experience.

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Shoman herself told The National newspaper that she thought the painting “lost for ever” and that now, in the Sharjah Art Museum, it had “found its way back home.”

Al Qassemi shares her view. “[Shoman’s comments] may echo sentiments that I share about a larger sense of belonging we hold towards the Arab World. And likewise, I feel that I would want Barjeel to reflect this larger sense of cultural belonging to a part of the world that I love.”