Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1936 Sungai Limau, British Malaya (now Malaysia)

Died: 2009 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Year of Migration to the UK: 1959

Other name/s: Ib Hussein

Biography

Artist Ibrahim ‘Ib’ Hussein was born into an impoverished family in the village of Sungai Limau in the Yan district of Kedah, British Malaya (now Malaysia) on 13 March 1936. Blinded in one eye at age eight in an accident, he nevertheless showed determination and early talent in art. He later found a British colonial administrator to fund his secondary education. For his higher education, Hussein first enrolled at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore in 1956, before relocating to London, England in 1959 to pursue his studies at Byam Shaw School of Art and later at the Royal Academy Schools. While living in London, he took on jobs as a postal worker and a film extra to make ends meet and struck up a friendship with a collector who regularly provided him with canvases. Hussein’s situation improved when he received an Award of Merit scholarship, enabling him to visit both France and Italy. At the invitation of Professor Ungku Aziz, he returned to Malaysia to serve as a resident artist at the University of Malaya. In 1970, Hussein became the first Malaysian artist participating in the Venice Biennale. In 1991, he established the Ibrahim Hussein Museum and Cultural Foundation in his homeland, a non-profit institution focused on promoting, nurturing, and advancing art and culture. During his tenure as Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad contributed to the development of the foundation, which is situated within the Langkawi Geopark, a UNESCO-recognised site. Hussein is now recognised as one of the veterans of the Malaysian modern art scene.

In his art practice, Hussein often combined painting, printmaking and collage, championing a technique which he called ‘printage’ (the mixing of printing and collage). His English art education exposed him to Western painters, with some of his works showing a particular influence from Francis Bacon. Hussein's use of vivid colours, sweeping lines, gestural brushstrokes and textural qualities shares the expressive intensity of the Fauves and of Abstract Expressionism, while his overlaying of intricate linework hints at Eastern calligraphy. Overall, his work exhibits a dynamic fusion of abstraction and figuration. Discernible forms occasionally emerge from amid the compositional chaos, only to disappear again, requiring the viewer to actively seek them out. Many of his paintings deal with the abstraction of moments of conflict and struggle, such as the 1960 protests in Trafalgar Square, London; racial unrest in Malaysia in 1969; and the 1982 massacre at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. However, his intention was never to portray these events in a direct or literal manner.

Throughout his career, Hussein exhibited internationally and received numerous awards attesting to his global reputation. He had several solo exhibitions, including at John Whibley Gallery in London in 1963 , when all the paintings were sold by the end of the opening night. Solo shows were also mounted in New York, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila, Kuwait, Copenhagen, Brussels, and Tokyo, among other locations. Hussein received a Byam Shaw Scholarship from 1959 to 1963, followed by a Byam Shaw Award of Merit between 1961 and 1963; a Royal Academy Scholarship in London from 1963 to 1966, and won the Griffin Prize in 1964. In 1967, he received a Fulbright Travelling Scholarship and the John D. Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship, which continued into 1968. In 1970, he participated in the Smithsonian Institute’s American Workshop in Venice and was awarded the Lee Foundation Fellowship at the University of Malaya for 1970-1971. In 1984, he was honoured at the XVIII International Contemporary Art of Monte Carlo. He received the Japan Foundation Cultural Award in 1988, the Order of Andrés Bello from Venezuela in 1993, and the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins from Chile in 1995. Other recognitions include the ‘Style with Substance’ award by American Express/Hong Leong Bank in 2000 and the UMNO Distinguished Malay Award in 2007. Between 1971 and 1973 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hussain also received the Malay title of Datuk, an honorific conferred upon individuals by Malaysian state rulers or the federal government and an equivalent to a British knighthood. In 1976, he met Datin Sim Hussein, a student at the University of Malaya. The two subsequently married and had a daughter, Alia Ibrahim. Hussein's eldest brother is the celebrated Malaysian novelist and writer, Abdullah Hussain. Ibrahim Hussein died from a heart attack in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 19 February 2009 and is buried at Bukit Kiara Islamic Cemetery. His works are not included in any public collections in the UK. Little is known about Hussein's time in London and Ben Uri Research Unit welcomes contact from family members and researchers who may have further knowledge.

Related books

Sarena Abdullah, Malaysian Art Since 1990s: Postmodern Situation (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2018)
Suraya Mohd Yusof, The case of Ibrahim Hussein's black painting : a historical study of an artistic response to May 13 (Student Reports: Nanyang Technological University, 2016)
Nur Hanim Mohamed Khairuddin and Beverly Yong, Reactions: New Critical Strategies: Narratives in Malaysian Art (Kuala Lumpur: Rogue Art, 2013)
Ibrahim Hussein, Eddin Khoo and Alia Ibrahim Hussein, IB, a Life: the Autobiography of Ibrahim Hussein (Petaling Jaya: Pentas Seni Pustaka, 2010)

Related organisations

Byam Shaw School of Art (student )
Royal Academy Schools (student )

Selected exhibitions

Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile (1991)
Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), Takashimaya Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (1989)
Singapore Arts Festival (group show), National Art Gallery, Singapore (1986)
Ibrahim Hussein-A Retrospective (solo exhibition), National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1986)
Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), Gallerie Bortier, Brussels, Belgium (1983)
Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), Daruma Art Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark (1983)
Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), Dhait Abdullah Al Salam Gallery, Kuwait (1977)
Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (1970)
Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), Solidaridad Gallery, Manila, Phillipines (1969)
Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), Newsweek Gallery 10, New York, USA (1968)
Ibrahim Hussein (solo exhibition), John Whibley Gallery, London (1963)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Ibrahim Hussein]