Sliman Mansour

{{short description|Palestinian painter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = | native_name = سليمان منصور | native_name_lang = ar | image = Sliman Mansour.jpg | alt = | caption = Sliman Mansour, 2023 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1947}} | birth_place = [[Birzeit]], Ramallah Subdistrict, [[Mandatory Palestine]] | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = Suleiman Mansour, Suliman Mansour | occupation = Visual artist, author, cartoonist | years_active = | known_for = Painting, sculpture | notable_works = }}

'''Sliman Mansour''' (also '''Suleiman''' or '''Suliman''', {{langx|ar|سليمان منصور}}, born 1947) is a [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] painter, sculptor, author and cartoonist, considered a leading figure among contemporary [[Palestinian art]]ists. Mansour is considered an artist of [[intifada]] whose work captures the [[Palestinian culture|cultural]] concept of [[sumud]].<ref name=Ankorip74>{{harvnb|Ankori|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=X_Q6FX0YFVwC&pg=PA60&dq=sumud+1948&sig=aTYMArlfa60CCxb0bRQHUX1S5Wg#PPA74,M1 74]}}</ref> His paintings which have been exhibited around the world reflect the Palestinian struggle and include images of women in [[Palestinian traditional clothing]] and Levantine tree-filled landscapes. In 1987, he was part of the [[New Visions|New Visions collective]] that boycotted Israeli supplies and instead used local natural Palestinian materials.

Palestinian artist and scholar [[Samia Halaby]] has identified Mansour as part of the Liberation Art Movement and cites his important work as an artist and cultural practitioner before and after the [[Intifada]].<ref name="Halaby">{{cite web |title=On "Liberation Art" and Revolutionary Aesthetics: An Interview with Samia Halaby |website=[[Jadaliyya]] |date=22 June 2012 |url=http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6084/on-liberation-art-and-revolutionary-aesthetics_an- |access-date=12 June 2024 |first=Maymanah |last=Farhat}}</ref>

==Biography== Mansour was born in 1947, one year before the [[Nakba]], in [[Birzeit]] north of [[Jerusalem]]. He studied art at the [[Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design]] in Jerusalem, where he was taught [[Abstract expressionism]], a trend he didn't want to study, he wanted to paint more realistic things from [[life]].<ref name="DW018">{{Cite web |last=Hofmann |first=Sarah Judith |date=May 15, 2018 |title=Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour will not leave Israel despite not feeling free |url=https://www.dw.com/en/palestinian-artist-sliman-mansour-will-not-leave-israel-despite-not-feeling-free/a-43782048 |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=[[Deutsche Welle]] |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515160818/https://www.dw.com/en/palestinian-artist-sliman-mansour-will-not-leave-israel-despite-not-feeling-free/a-43782048 |archive-date=15 May 2018}}</ref> He developed a realist style of painting, depicting the daily life of those living and rooted in Palestine.

In 1987, together with other Palestinian artists like [[Vera Tamari]], [[Tayseer Barakat]], and [[Nabil Anani]], Mansour founded "[[New Visions]]", a collective formed in response to the [[First Intifada]] (1987–1993).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-21 |title=Middlebury College Awards Eight Kellogg Fellowships |url=https://www.middlebury.edu/announcements/academic-affairs/2023/08/middlebury-college-awards-eight-kellogg-fellowships |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=Middlebury News and Announcements |language=en}}</ref> This collective turned to earthworks and mixed media and assemblage using natural materials derived from the Palestinian environment in order to boycott Israeli art supplies in protest of the ongoing occupation.<ref name="Farhat">{{cite web |first=Maymanah |last=Farhat |title=Between Exits: Paintings by Hani Zurob |website=[[Jadaliyya]] |date=3 July 2013 |url=http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/12486/between-exits_paintings-by-hani-zurob |access-date=12 June 2024}}</ref> Mansour used [[mud]] for the [[soil]]. His childhood memories of working with his grandmother when she was building [[beehive]]s and ovens with mud [[Artistic inspiration|inspired]] him. He was always around her, trying to help: ″So when I thought about material that I could use, mud was the first thing that came to my mind. After a while, once I started making figures, I realized that the mud also reflects the human fate with the cracks, people waiting to disappear, fall down and go away.″<ref name="DW018" />

In 1988 he made a series of four paintings on [[List of villages depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict|destroyed Palestinian villages]], the four villages being [[Yibna]], [[Yalo]], [[Imwas]] and [[Bayt Dajan]].<ref name=Ankorip82>{{harvnb|Ankori|2006|p=82}}</ref>

He is a co-author of the book ''Both Sides of Peace: Israeli and Palestinian Political Poster Art'', published in 1998 by the Contemporary Art Museum with [[University of Washington Press]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Sliman Mansour |url=http://www.encyclopedia.mathaf.org.qa/en/bios/Pages/Sliman-Mansour.aspx |website=Mathaf Encyclopedia |first=Sarah |last=Rogers |access-date=12 June 2024}}</ref> Mansour is the author of two books on [[Palestinian traditional costumes|traditional Palestinian clothing]] and embroidery.

Mansour contributed extensively to the development of an infrastructure for the fine arts in [[Palestine]]. He taught at numerous cultural institutions and universities, including [[Al-Quds University]]. He was the head of the League of Palestinian Artists from 1986 to 1990. In 1994, Mansour co-founded al-Wasiti Art Center in East Jerusalem. He is a member of the Founding Board of Directors of the [[International Academy of Art Palestine]], established in 2004.

Mansour is a contributing artist to the ''[[I Witness Silwan]]'' art installation in [[East Jerusalem]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bishara |first=Hakim |date=2021-07-28 |title=Murals Watch Over Jerusalem Neighborhood, a Silent Protest Against Displacement |url=https://hyperallergic.com/murals-watch-over-silwan-jerusalem-protesting-palestinian-displacement/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en}}</ref>

==See also== * [[Palestinian art]] * [[New Visions]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{Citation|title=Palestinian Art|last=Ankori |first=Gannit |author-link=Gannit Ankori|year=2006|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=1-86189-259-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_Q6FX0YFVwC&q=sumud+1948&pg=PA60}}

==Further reading== {{Refbegin}} * {{Citation|title=Subjective Atlas of Palestine|author=de Vet, Annelys |author-link=Annelys de Vet|year=2007|publisher=010 Publishers}} * {{Citation|title=Made in Palestine|author=Harithas, James |year=2002|publisher=Ineri Publishing|isbn=0-9659458-1-2}} * {{Citation|title=Sliman Mansour|author=Mitwasi, Faten Nastas |year=2008|publisher=[[Michael Imhof Verlag]] GmbH & Co. KG|isbn=978-3-86568-370-0}} *{{Citation|title=Visit Palestine: A Voyage Through Contemporary Art, [[Four Walls Gallery]]|year=2005}} *''Sliman Mansour'', monograph published in 2011 by Palestinian Art Court-Al Hoash, Jerusalem, with essays by Bashir Makhoul, Nicola Gray and Tina Sherwell {{ISBN|978-9950-352-01-8}} {{Refend}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20061003115801/http://www.legacy-project.org/index.php?page=artist_detail&artistID=103 www.legacy-project.org] *[http://www.palestineposterproject.org/artist/sliman-mansour Palestinian Poster Project] *[http://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/artist/palestine/suleiman-mansour/ Barjeel Art Foundation] *[http://alhoush.com/en/video/7/ Alhoush House of Arab Art and Design] *[https://slimanmansour.com/about-the-artist-sliman-mansour/ Sliman Mansour's official website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansour, Sliman}} [[Category:1947 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Artist authors]] [[Category:Palestinian poster artists]] [[Category:Palestinian male painters]] [[Category:Palestinian non-fiction writers]] [[Category:Palestinian contemporary artists]]

[[Category:People from Birzeit]] [[Category:20th-century Palestinian male artists]] [[Category:20th-century Palestinian painters]] [[Category:21st-century Palestinian painters]] [[Category:21st-century Palestinian writers]] [[Category:Arab people from Mandatory Palestine]] [[Category:People from Mandatory Palestine]]