Dismuke
Amir Nour, Sudanese, 1939 - 2021
Modern Art Foundry, Inc.
1972
Bronze
Overall: 17 5/16 × 4 7/8 × 6 1/2 in. (44 × 12.4 × 16.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Robert J. Strasenburgh II 1942 Fund, the Phyllis and Bertram Geller 1937 Memorial Fund, the William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Fund, and the William B. and Evelyn F. Jaffe (58, 60, & 63) Fund
2005.15
Geography
Place Made: Sudan, Eastern Africa, Africa
Period
20th century
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Sculpture
Africa
Not on view
Inscriptions
Modern Art Foundry, Astoria, New York
Label
Dismuke, one of Amir Nour’s well-known works, was inspired by the artist’s brief visit to his home country Sudan in the early 1970s. He encountered a number of starving children during a period of economic depression, a consequence of severe drought in Sudan. The sculpture is a tribute to Dismuke, one of the children the artist met. Cast in bronze, the minimalist sculpture reflects the artist’s technical skills and deep knowledge of cubist principles as he reduces the human form to basic geometric combinations, yet imbued with a poignant human story based on his personal experience.
Nour is considered one of the most accomplished modernist sculptors of his generation. Born in 1939 in Shendi, northern Sudan, he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, and the Royal College of Art, London. In 1969 he moved to the United States to study for a master’s degree at Yale University, and since 1974 has been living in Chicago, where he is a studio art professor.
From the 2019 exhibition Global Contemporary: A Focus on Africa, curated by Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Curator of African Art
Exhibition History
Amir Nour: Brevity in the Soul of Wit, Bait Al Serkal, Arts Area, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, November 12, 2016-January 9, 2017.
Arts et Cultures D'Afrique Noire, Maison de la Culture Andre Malraux, Reims, France, 1978.
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 1976.
Collectanea: The Museum as Hunter and Gatherer, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 21, 2005-February 12, 2006.
Global Contemporary: A Focus on Africa; Dorothy and Churchill Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26-December 8, 2019.
Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 26,2009-March 15, 2010.
The Sculpture of Amir Nour, French American Center for the Arts in Paris, France, June 2001.
Publication History
Salah Hassan, Contemporary, African Art and Aesthetic: Towards a Critical Understanding, in Africana Studies and Research Center Newsletter, vol. 4, no. 1, Spring 1992, Cornell University.
Brian P. Kennedy and Emily Shubert Burke, Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2009, p.103, no.77.
Provenance
Artist; sold to Joseph Beale, Chicago, Illinois via Eva Maddox Associates, late 1970's; sold to present collection, 2005.
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