PARIS: The mysterious Fatma Haddad – known by her artist name Baya – rose to fame aged just 16. She was elevated to the rank of icon by a generation of post-war French intellectuals. More than 20 years after her death in 1998, she continues to be venerated by critics and collectors alike. A new exhibition at the Institut du monde Arabe in Paris, with works donated by Claude
The offer consists of 44 lots from prominent and emerging artists from the Arab world, which have been donated both by the artists and Parisian collectors and gallery owners, Claude and France Lemand.
Nathalie Bondil Photo: Robert Skinner
Nathalie Bondil, the former director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) who was forced out last summer after a row with the board chair, has now been appointed as the head of the museums and exhibitions division at the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris.
Run by France and 23 Arab states, the IMA opened in 1987 on the left bank of the Seine in a building designed by Jean Nouvel. The French curator was selected to fulfill a three-year mandate there by a jury chaired by Yannick Lintz, the head of the Islamic department at the Louvre Museum, and included Leila Shahid, the former ambassador for Palestine at Unesco, the Lebanese architect Hala Warde and Laurent Le Bon, the director of the Picasso Museum in Paris. Her appointment in Paris comes less than one year after she was fired from the MMFA, which she is suing for unfair dismissal.