Jassim Zaini was born on 1 January 1943 in Doha, Qatar, and passed away on 29 September 2012 in Doha, Qatar. Widely regarded as the founder and pioneer of modern Qatari art, Zaini witnessed and documented the rapid socio-economic changes that took place in Qatar after the discovery of oil. 

From an early age, Zaini was immensely influenced by his father, Mohammed Zaini, who worked as a traditional craftsman and used their house as his canvas to paint the walls and engrave the wooden stairs. He attended Mohammed bin Ali Al Mahmoud School – an institution named after a renowned Emirati intellectual who pioneered in education and stressed the importance of teaching children about Islamic culture and Arabic. As an elementary student, he was encouraged by his Arabic teacher to develop his talent in calligraphy. Thus, Zaini was designated by his teacher to write daily in Arabic on the blackboard with chalk which improved his calligraphic style. Afterwards, he transferred to a governmental school where he formally studied art as part of the educational curriculum. There, he practiced in the art studio, developing his artistic talent until graduating secondary school.  

Soon after his graduation, Zaini travelled abroad to complete his studies in law in Cairo. But he left law school to pursue his academic art training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad, graduating in 1968. At the Academy, he was mainly influenced by Faiq Hassan, amongst other artists who instructed him, such as Atta Sabri, Hafidh Al-Droubi, and Ismail Al-Shaikhly. Zaini engaged with various styles during studies, including Abstraction, Cubism, Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism, where his subject matter concerned the Qatari cultural heritage. Upon his return to Doha, he worked at schools as an art instructor and started a private art collection and artefacts. In 1980, he co-founded the Qatar Fine Arts Association with other members. Soon after, he transferred to the Qatar National Museum to build the museum’s collection ranging from ancient and archaeological artefacts, Bedouin ethnographic materials, maritime artefacts, and environmental items to antiques. During his tenure at the museum, he continued his art practice, building the museum’s collection, and has also donated a big part of his private collection to the museum.  

In his oeuvre, he resorted to a style of realism which he coined as ‘advanced realism’ to document the local environment, cultural heritage, traditions, and life in Qatar amid its quest for modernisation. Besides painting on canvas, he worked on plywood and jute. His colour palette is mostly based on earthy tones echoing the environment and heritage of Qatar. A lot of his known works were produced during his studies in Baghdad. For instance, Abstraction of the Word ‘Qatar’ (1967) is one of his most celebrated artworks where he resorted to a cubist style and abstracted the word ‘Qatar’ in Arabic. Presenting the word as an architectural form, the ‘ta’ in Qatar is depicted as a gushing oil well, symbolising the modernisation of his native Qatar while preserving its cultural heritage and identity. In Our Epic Tale (1973), Zaini recounts Qatar’s modernisation process in three phases; fishing and pearl diving, oil exploitation, and urbanisation. While his main artistic preoccupations concerned the modernisation of Qatar, he also painted subject matters that were inspired by his own memories and experiences growing up. In Features from Qatar (1973), he depicts a timid boy and a girl sewing a button onto his ‘Thobe’ in close proximity. As a result of the intimacy, Zaini elongated their bodies as if they were both melting from timidness. In another work titled Al-Radif (The Bicycle Passenger) (1968), he depicts two boys riding the same bike in soft and creamy oil colours. This particular scene is inspired by his childhood memories, riding with his friends from the neighbourhood he grew up in. His later works adapted subject matters that are more social, interlacing traditions and modern ways of life. 

Zaini’s works have been exhibited locally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions, primarily representing the State of Qatar in Biennials and pavilions in the Arab region. In 2018, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art organised a major solo exhibition examining works he produced between 1967 and 2012.

Featured image: Courtesy of Iraqi artist Ismail Azzam.