Kuwait Art Scene in the 70s

I stumbled upon the instagram post below the other day by the textile designer Christopher Hyland and thought it was worth sharing:

The 1970’s art scene in Kuwait was exhilarating.

Assuming my memory serves me correctly as to date, in 1977 or so the Kuwaiti Ministry of Communication invited me to judge the Kuwait National Art Competition, exactly why and how I cannot remember.

While in Kuwait I attended a Warhol exhibition in a large tent (although Google reports that it took place in the confines of the Sultan Gallery), had breakfast with I M Pei and at the arts awards ceremony I was presented a medal cum Kuwaiti memento of appreciation for my judging efforts (see the accompanying images of the medal and of me seated at dinner with the artists). The arts scene was flourishing.

I met Members of the Al Ghanim family and the owners of the pioneering Sultan Gallery.

Artists organized a weekend, tented desert encampment for me. I recall that the Minister or was it Director of the Ministry of Communications had the-unusual for Kuwait-nickname Bucky Beaver.

One hopes that a vibrant Kuwait arts scene continues to flourish, war and other pressures having so much in the event lessened but not by any means removed the prospects those golden years held. -CH

Sultan Gallery also responded to the post with this extra tidbit of information:

Thank you for posting this, it brings back nice memories of Kuwait back then. Just to correct one of the points in the post, the Andy Warhol exhibition wasn’t shown in a tent it was at Dhaiat Abdulla Al-Salem Gallery (now know as Ahmed Al-Adwani Gallery) and organized by the National Council of Arts, Culture & Letters by the recommendation of Najat Sultan