The British newspaper The Guardian profiles a new book that examines the open-air artworks created by world-famous artists in the 1970s in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the city’s recent push to restore and feature them.
“From Joan Miró to Jean Arp and Henry Moore, the Saudi city was a magnet for big names in art in the 1970s, as fascinating new book Sculptures of Jeddah shows.”
“The Saudi city of Jeddah was a pioneer investor in the shock of the new” in 1970. “As Ahmed Mater’s photographs in the book Sculptures of Jeddah show, this ancient city near Mecca is home to one of the world’s most spectacular arrays of open-air modern sculpture. Perhaps aware of the kudos its neighbours are getting from their Guggenheim branches and skyscrapers, Jeddah has just restored these modernist marvels and moved a selection into a new seaside sculpture park.”
The Guardian features a slideshow of the various outdoor artworks from Jeddah, a city of about 3.4 million people on Saudi Arabia’s western coast, not far from Mecca.
[Photo via Jeddahartweek.com]
