page_title: Wahbi al-Hariri
section_title: Exploring Arabia
hierarchical_section_title: Wahbi al-Hariri / Career / Exploring Arabia
caption_attribution_description: English: Wahbi al-Hariri-Rifai, far left, at the Palazzo Strozzi at an event organized by Fratelli Alinari who published his book, Traditional Architecture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 1981. The book, a full-size hand-printed facsimile edition, is visible on the table far right, spine facing, and far left, spine facing al-Hariri-Rifai.
context_page_description: Wahbi al-Hariri-Rifai Arabic: وهبي الحريري آلرفاعي‎ was a Syrian American artist who has often been called "the last of the classicists". As an artist he was remarkably prolific in the last years of his life despite a protracted and painful struggle with terminal cancer. He was also an accomplished architect, archaeologist, and author. His artwork has garnered international recognition and praise both in his lifetime and posthumously.
  He has also been recognized as a significant Middle Eastern cultural pioneer for his role in the "establishment of the foundations of the Plastic arts movement" in the Levant and for mentoring many important Arab artists.
context_section_description: Al-Hariri's first major commission in Saudi Arabia was the 1965 design of an extensive master-plan for the new campus of the university in Medina which was executed under his supervision. His design made allowance for future growth and has informed the university's expansions over the years.
  In his capacity as chief architect, al-Hariri designed and led projects all over the Kingdom. As he traveled throughout the country, al-Hariri grew increasingly interested in the history and culture of Arabia. 
  In the late 1960s the many facets of the Arabian Peninsula's heritage were unknown and, as is possible with fast-paced development, were in danger. Al-Hariri resolved to preserve and document the kingdom's traditional architectural and artistic heritage and in the 1970s he embarked on explorations throughout the region to "document the diversity of architectural styles, building materials and geographic regions that exist in Saudi Arabia." 
  After years of travel and research, "Al-Hariri produced a collection of superb drawings that has been hailed as one of the finest records of Saudi Arabia's architectural past", wrote Helen Khal; his "drawings are more than illustrations of old buildings and historical monuments. They reveal a devotional bond between artist and subject in a creative process." The drawings were the product of "intensive travel throughout the kingdom to draw on location. For months at a time, he would travel to remote towns and villages, carrying with him only his art supplies."
  In 1981, with the completion of his important collection of drawings, a full-size facsimile edition of this collection, titled Traditional Architecture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was published in Florence, Italy, by Fratelli Alinari Istituto di Edizioni Artistiche with the assistance of al-Hariri's son, Mokhless, a Washington, D.C. architect and also a graduate of the Beaux-Arts.
  In 1982 the massive book was first presented to King Khalid of Saudi Arabia.
  Copies of the book can also be found in the collections of The Library of Congress, the Royal Library at Buckingham Palace, the library of Emperor Akihito of Japan, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, as well as several other libraries worldwide.
  The publication of this hand-printed art collector's folio brought about worldwide recognition of his artistic work. Select drawings were exhibited at several American venues, including the 1982 World's Fair and the Southern Arts Federation. The exhibition tour culminated with a 1984 solo exhibition of the collection at the Smithsonian Institutionin Washington, D.C. With it, he became the first living artist to be honored with a solo show at the Smithsonian.
  The exhibition was curated by Esin Atıl, PhD, then curator of Islamic arts at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art. 
  The complete collection of drawings, which never before had all been publicly shown, were exhibited from 10 October to 7 November 1984 at the Smithsonian castle.
  Esin Atıl explains that "inasmuch as some of the buildings depicted are no longer standing" the significance of the drawings is that they "provide a permanent record of the buildings' existence" and as such they "preserve a historical record of the architecture of Saudi Arabia."
  Washington Post critic Benjamin Forgey, whose full-length feature of al-Hariri's exhibit ran on 22 October 1984, writes that:
  We are given a privileged look at such villages, and other extraordinary manifestations of traditional Saudi architecture, in sensitive pencil drawings by Wahbi Hariri-Rifai ... His Beaux-Arts training shows in the enormous skill with which he draws ... A modern scholar might be content with photographs, especially in areas where mid-afternoon temperatures rise beyond 110 degrees Fahrenheit, but Hariri-Rifai obviously believes that there is something more to be learned—absorbed, really—in the patient exercise of hand and pencil upon a blank sheet of paper. This conviction is our good fortune, for the drawings combine an archaeologist's respect for the facts with an artist's sensitivity to the spirit of a pla
caption: Al-Hariri, far left, at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 1981, at a book launch presentation organized by his publisher, Fratelli Alinari.
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