In line with our aim to document and enhance the exchange of knowledge, Mahmoud Hammad`s archive is the second collection of modern Syrian art for which we take upon ourselves the responsibility to work on and publish. Through his daughter Lubna and his son Amin, we reached an agreement with Mahmoud Hammad family, and gained access to significant material on the history of Syrian art.
Hammad was not only an exceptional artist and one of the prominent founding figures of the Syrian art scene – especially in regard to the abstract and Hurufiyya movements of his oeuvre – he was also one of the notable co-founders of The Faculty of Fine Arts, helping out on the administrative front as well as being involved in the development of the curriculum. He was also Dean between 1970 and 1980. The richness of his personal, artistic and educational expertise bestowed upon this archive an important documentational dimension that has allowed us to survey the artistic, educational, social and historic scene related to the life of artists.
The oldest document dates back to 1924, while the most recent is from 1988, i.e., spanning from when Mahmoud Hammad was one year old up until his death. There are eight main folders – Documents (163), Letters (41), Manuscripts (56), Monuments (252), photographs (795), Postcards (105), Clippings (124) and Writings (26) – which shows the importance of this archive on three levels: the historical importance of cultural value, the intellectual importance of scientific value and the artistic importance of a personal dimension.
THE FOLDERS:
Documents: was divided into three sub-folders:
• Certificates from Rome (1935–1957): All kinds of identification papers and certificates Mahmoud Hammad had while studying in Italian schools in Damascus and later living in Rome.
• Letters and Official Documents (1944–1988): Written correspondence between Hammad and official Syrian, Arab and foreign entities, his administrative decisions when he was the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, and other official documents.
• Personal Documents (1925–1982): Identity and personal cards, including professional affiliations, licenses and certificates.
Letters (1923–1987): Includes letters taken out from the Letters and Official Documents sub-folder. These are exchanges related to Hammad`s family and personal lives, and friendships.
Manuscripts: Includes texts handwritten by Hammad as drafts for articles, lectures, interviews, translations and scientific reports as well as texts by other writers. The reason behind grouping these texts under this category regardless of their nature ( official or private) is our inability to verify whether they have been published as they are or not, and whether they have been edited or their content changed. No information was available related to the publishers.
Monuments: Includes seven sub-folders that contain documents and photographs relating to monumental works designed by Hammad (both executed and unexecuted works). The photos in these sub-folders vary from documentation to photos of executed works, sculpture scale models, digital copies of blueprints and perspectives and sketches.
Photographs: This is the largest folder in Hammad`s archives, and thus we divided it into decades, starting from the 1920s through to the 1980s. Each sub-folder consists of album-style smaller folders based on the technical description of the photographs. Due to the sheer number of photographs, we can only publish part of them.
Postcards: Consists of a large number of postcards sent to Hammad by friends and colleagues, including artists and Syrian, Arab and foreign professors from their countries or places they visited.
Clippings: Includes journalistic writings and critiques published in Arab and foreign newspapers and magazines, and related to Hammad`s artistic practice. This folder is of great importance as it portrays the cultural movement and the level of art criticism in each relevant time period. This folder also includes interviews with other artists or writings about them. Thus, the folder is relevant to the history of Syrian art in general, and Mahmoud Hammad in particular, and has been divided according to publication years.
Writings: includes some of the writings and translations of Mahmoud Hammad, as well as a small number of his published articles. Despite the relatively small number of documents in comparison to Hammad`s overall written output, this folder is of great intellectual importance, and is limited to the material that was available to archive owners.