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In the present scene, a Palestinian Feda’i guerilla fighter is enshrined by a luminous white light, inferred by the title to be a luminous halo; the man rests beneath an olive tree. While simple in its depicted subjects, the scene is ripe with powerful symbolism and irony; as the work is titled Halo of Light , which is a symbol of sanctity and radiance, upon a second look, the solider is also enclosed within dead-center of gun-sight. Completely unaware, the Feda’i clutches his gun and seeks refuge behind an olive tree, a universal symbol of peace, assuming his enemy might be behind him. This is only for the viewer to recognize his ultimate fate –his enemy is in front of him—making this scene emotionally wrenching. More on this painting
Ismail Shammout (1930 – 2006) was a Palestinian artist and art historian.
Shammout was born in 1930 in Lydda. On July 12, 1948, he and his family were amongst 25,000 residents of Lydda expelled from their homes by Israeli occupation. The Shammout family moved to the Gaza refugee camp of Khan-Younes. In 1950 Shammout went to Cairo and enrolled in the College of Fine Arts. After returning to Gaza in 1953, he held his first exhibition, which was a success.
Shammout and Palestinian artist Tamam al Akhal participated in the Palestine Exhibition of 1954 in Cairo. The exhibition was inaugurated by then Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser. Later in 1954, he moved to Italy and enrolled at the Academia De Belle Arti in Rome. He married al Akhal in 1959. Their work has been exhibited in several countries.
Shammout became a part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the Director of Arts and National Culture in 1965. He also held the position of Secretary General of the Union of Palestinian Artists. He became Secretary General of the Union of Arab artists in 1969. In 1992 he and his wife, al Akhal, moved to Germany due to the Gulf War. After Germany, they settled in Jordan.
He and Al Akhal, returned to Lydda in 1997.
He died on July 1, 2006, at the age of seventy-six. More on Ismail Shammout
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