Mohammad Omer Khalil: Musings
Watson Galleries, September 28, 2023 - June 1, 2024
Mohammad Omer Khalil: Musings
Musings presents a survey of work by artist Mohammad Omer Khalil (b. 1936, Khartoum, Sudan; lives and works in New York), a master printmaker, painter, and influential teacher whose career spans over six decades. Khalil belongs to the first generation of Sudanese modern artists and is celebrated as the first printmaker to emerge from the Arab world.
His classical training began in the College of Fine and Applied Arts in Khartoum under the Greek painter Aristomenis Angelopoulos; Khalil later taught painting at the school from 1959 to 1963. In 1963, he was granted a scholarship by the Sudanese Ministry of Education to continue his studies at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts where he was taught fresco painting under Primo Conti and etching under Rodolfo Margheri. He returned to Sudan to head the painting department at the Khartoum Technical Institute before immigrating to New York in 1967.
Khalil has spent most of his career between Morocco, where he led the Asilah Printmaking Workshop, and New York, where he taught at the renowned Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop. From 1973 to 2012, he taught etching at Pratt Institute, The New School, Columbia University, and New York University. Since 1970 Khalil has operated a printing atelier in New York City, printing editions for pioneering and internationally known artists Louise Nevelson, Jim Dine, Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, Al Held, Sean Scully, Emma Amos, among others.
A prolific artist, Khalil’s work has been exhibited and collected widely in major galleries and museums in the United States, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Arab world, including the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Brooklyn Museum; the Bronx Museum of the Arts; the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Musée de Grenoble; the British Museum; and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman.
Khalil’s abstract compositions focus on the interplay between light and dark, color and pattern, and are informed by his Sudanese root and Western art training. His imagery combines found objects and references to notable literary figures and artists. By way of abstraction, Khalil challenges the viewer to look carefully and meditate on his images as he himself reflects on memories of people and places.
Mohammad Omer Khalil: Musings was organized by Isra El-beshir, director of museums, and co-curated by Patricia Hobbs, senior curator of art, and students Hailey Neaman ’25, Aislinn Niimi ’24, Annabel Symington ‘25, and Annie Zajicek ’24.
The exhibition is made possible by the generosity of Mohammad Omer Khalil, who gifted the Museums at W&L several works, and Mrs. Jane Joel Knox, who provided funds to support the Spring term Seminar in Museum Studies, and, in part, by the Provost’s Office’s Spring Term Course Enhancement Fund and the Art Collection Gift Fund.
Exhibition Guide
On View: September 28, 2023 - June 1, 2024
Location: Watson Galleries
Event: Opening Reception, September 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Photo (left): Homage to Basquiat 2, 2022
Mohammad Omer Khalil (b. 1936, Sudan)
Oil, collage on canvas
On loan from the artist
Events and Programming
Opening Reception
September 28, 2023, 6:30 — 7:30 p.m.
Watson Galleries
Join the Museums at W&L for the opening reception of Musings. Food and drink provided – IDs required for consumption of alcoholic beverages. The event is free and open to all members of the W&L community and the public.
*Photo by Arthur Mones (1997.162.5). Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum
Lunch and Learn — Stories of Migration
Select Mondays in 2023, 12:00 — 1:00 p.m.
Reeves Museum of Ceramics
Join us for a special Lunch and Learn series inspired by our current exhibitions that will explore themes of migration, diaspora, and identity. Lunch is provided, but be sure to sign up quickly. All are welcome.
And We Love Life: A Short Films Program
November 7, 2023, 7:00 p.m.
Stackhouse Theater
Inspired by our current exhibition, We Love Life Whenever We Can, the Museums invites you to an evening of contemporary short films by Arab and South Asian filmmakers: Bouchaib (dir. by Ali Boudra, runtime 13 min.), Cousins (Karina Dandashi, 13 min.), and Sweet Refuge (Maryam Mir, 12 min.). Join us for a post-screening discussion on identity, culture, community, and pride.
Note: Space is limited; first come, first served. For accommodations, please contact museums@wlu.edu.
Photo (left): Film still from Sweet Refuge (2023), ©Maryam Mir, ©Chheangkea Ieng
Artist Talk and Gallery Stroll with Mohammad Omer Khalil
Thursday, November 30, 2023, 5:30 — 7:00 p.m.
Leyburn Library, Northen Auditorium
The Museums at W&L invite you to join us for a moderated conversation with master printmaker and painter Mohammad Omer Khalil. The talk will be followed by a gallery stroll of MUSINGS with the artist in Watson Galleries. Light refreshments and appetizers provided. The event is free and open to all.
*Photo by artist Dia Al Azzawi (2014). Courtesy of Albareh Contemporary
**This event was previously postponed due to an emergency.
New Year, New Goals: Collage Making Workshop
Thursday, January 18, 2024, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Watson Galleries
Start the new year with some art! Join the student co-curators of Mohammad Omar Khalil: MUSINGS for a hands-on workshop where you will use some collage-making techniques inspired by Khalil’s work to create a vision board for your hopes and goals this year. Drop by any time during the event. No outside supplies or experience required.
Museum Talk: Jamaal B. Sheats
Arts Leadership in the 21st Century
Monday, January 29, 2024, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Northen Auditorium, Leyburn Library
Join us for a talk by Jamaal B. Sheats, dynamic Director and Curator of Fisk University Galleries, Associate Provost for Arts and Culture, and Assistant Professor of Art. Professor Sheats will offer insights into his influential role as an arts leader, reflecting on the role of academic museums as catalysts for change and the enduring impact of the Galleries’ groundbreaking exhibition, African Modernism in America, the first major traveling exhibition to examine the complex connections between modern African artists and American patrons, artists, and cultural organizations.
Lunch & Learn – Stories of Migration
Select Mondays, 12 – 1 p.m.
Reeves Museum of Ceramics
Join members of our W&L community as they share their personal stories around the themes of migration, diaspora, and identity. Lunch is provided, and all are welcome - limited seating. RSVP required.