The Spiritual Edifices of Islam

The Spiritual Edifices of Islam is a collection of graphite drawings by the artist Wahbi Al-Hariri.

The Spiritual Edifices of Islam

The Classicist

Wahbi Al-Hariri has frequently been heralded as a classicist. And what made him so, above all else, is that he was a true master of composition. For composition is not simply about where things are, but equally as important, where they are not. His masterful and truly brilliant compositions force a delicate tension among various elements, evoking emotions for reasons unknown to us.

Retrospective

Many consider the thirty-three works that comprise The Spiritual Edifices of Islam as the crowning achievement of Wahbi Al-Hariri’s long career as an artist. But the eighteen retrospective works that accompany the Edifices introduce the viewer to the broad artistic range mastered by this gifted artist [
The United States Capitol, Washington D.C.] who very early on in his career composed concertos in pastels and entire symphonies in watercolors and in oil. What the retrospective does not tell us is that Al-Hariri was also an accomplished sculptor, a successful architect, a talented photographer, and an avid student of history.

The Collection

With the encouragement of his friends and wife, Widad Marachi, Al-Hariri travelled from Spain to China to identify and document the most significant historic mosques of the world. [
Great Mosque of Xian, Huajue Xiang, China] Despite a four-year battle with cancer, he was able to produce in record time a body of work that features over forty historic mosques. The collection known as The Spiritual Edifices of Islam, was completed with the assistance of his son Mokhless Al-Hariri, and embodies the final evolution of his distinctive classical yet contemporary style.

Exhibit trust

The collection is exhibited by The Georgetown Design Group Exhibits Trust in Washington D.C. [http://www.gdgexhibits.com GDG Exhibits]