Fuad Al-Futaih, an iconic figure in modern Yemeni art, was trained as a highly skilled artist in Germany and had strong influence as a pioneer modern artist and art promoter to many contemporary Yemeni artists. He was born in Hoggeriyah, Taiz governorate, Yemen in 1948 and passed away in 2019. He worked using several art media: watercolours on paper, oil paint on cloth, oil paint on wood, copper and iron and created both stunning figurative and abstract art. He also did murals and sculpture projects, and was the first to create the familiar gypsum miniature tower houses, imitating Yemeni traditional architecture, which are now mass produced and sold by local artisans. His works have been used by publishers for book covers, by Yemen airlines for their calendars and by the United Nations for their logos. His works have been exhibited in Egypt, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Iraq, United States - to name a few countries. His works are also been collected at the British Museum, San Francisco Museum, Hindiyeh Museum (Jordan), Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Sharjah Art Museum (Barjeel Art Foundation), Dresden Museum, Alexandria Museum (Egypt), Museum of the Arab World (Paris), the Mathaf: the Arab Museum for Modern Art in Qatar, and the Paris Museum of Modern Arts. A leading artist force among contemporary artists in the Middle East, it is hard to conceive of contemporary Yemeni art and, for that matter, Middle Eastern art without his beautiful and colourful creations and his nurturing influence in mentoring young Yemeni artists and promoting their works. This book is about his life, his education, and the factors which combined to shape his amazing creativity and his impactful artistic life.
