Abdelmannan Shamma

Dr. Abdelmannan Shamma

1937 Born in Homs city – Syria

1950 - 1958 Studied on the hands of his first pioneering drawing teacher Mr. Subhi Shuaib.

1958 Won the first position of the Art Contest after which was sent under scholarship to Moscow for art study.

1965 Merited MA Degree of Mural Painting with Honors from Sorikov Academy of Plastic Arts – Moscow.

1965 – 1966 Taught at the Teachers’ Institute in Homs city.

1966 Won the Sole Seat Contest towards the post-graduate study in favor of the Faculty of Fine Arts – Damascus University.
For the second time, he was sent under scholarship to Moscow for this purpose.

1971 Obtained Ph.D. in Fine Arts from the Academy of Soviet Arts in Moscow. It was the first academic qualification ever in the field of fine arts obtained by a Syrian artist and researcher.
After that, he was appointed at the teaching staff of the Faculty of Fine Arts – Damascus University and ever since he is a member of the Syndicate of Fine Arts in S.A.R.

1972 Contributed to the foundation of the Union of Arab Plastic Artists.

1974 Participated in an art research at the Cultural Meeting on Architecture and Plastics organized by UNESCO at Hammamat – Tunisia as representative of S.A.R.








1975 – 1983 Elected as deputy associate of Fine Arts in S.A.R. for several successive terms of office.

1976 – 2002 Appointed as undersecretary of Administrative Affairs at the Faculty of Fine Arts, then undersecretary of Academic Affairs, then dean and head of the Painting Department.
Re-appointed as dean of Faculty of Fine Arts as well as the academic undersecretary for the second time.

1980 – 2002 Took part in the ornamenting the republican palaces /Tichrin and People/.
Participated in the judgment and execution of the monument of the “Unknown Soldier” project and Panorama project of the “October Liberation War” /early stages/.
Contributed in the activities of the selection and acquisition committees of artworks, organization of the important art galleries including the Annual Gallery, the gallery of Al-Mahabba Festival as well as the Biennial.
Worked with the construction committee of the Modern Art Museum in Damascus city in addition to his participations through membership of the High Committee of Memorials in judgment of memorial contests and supervision over the execution of some monuments.

1971 – 2002 Participated in the university artistic and academic committees and boards in setting up syllabuses for all graduate stages at the Faculty of Fine Arts /Bachelor – Diploma – Master – Ph.D./.

1995 Member of the international referee committee of the 07th Biennial for Asian and Australian Arts in Dacca – Bangladesh.

1996 Officially honored by the Ministry of Culture at Al-Mahabba Festival in Lattakia city for his distinctive art giving.

1997 Member of the referee committee of the 02nd Biennial for Arabic Arts held at Al-Mahabba Festival in Lattakia city.





2000 Participated in the constituent assembly of the Arab faculties of fine arts held in Amman – Jordan as representative of the Faculty of Fine Arts – Damascus University.

2002 Participated in the International Art Meeting held at Al-Khiyam Detention Camp South Lebanon in support of the legitimate resistance.
Shared in Alie Symposium for Drawing and Sculpture as well as Ehden Symposium – Zegartta – Lebanon.

1950 – to-date Held individual art galleries and took part in collective art galleries inside and outside Syria, the brotherly Arab countries and some friendly foreign countries over the different continents.
Accompanied a number of Syrian Arab plastic art galleries held in some Arab and foreign countries. On the marginal activities, he held artistic symposiums that contributed in an academic and objective manner in the introduction of the contemporary Syrian Arab art and its various artistic trends as well as the Syrian Arab creative artists.

Further, he partook in drawing up some art agreements and reinvigorating the pertinent activities between the Syndicate of Artists in S.A.R. and the counterparts in some of the brotherly Arab countries and friendly foreign countries.

- Some of his works are acquired by the National Museum in Damascus city, the Ministry of Culture, other organizations and ministries, the republican palaces, the Museum of Oriental Arts in Moscow, Vladimir & Sozdal Museum in Russia and otherwise in our embassies as well as some private acquisitions of artwork collectors inside and outside Syria, on the Arab and worldwide scales too.
- The general outlines of his artistic methodology and style of expression is correlated to his personality, ideas, convictions, intellectual and artistic orientations. He is committed to expressing the issues of good and evil and lauding his national identity, local environment, Arab originality, civilized and oriental roots in addition to all the humanitarian contemporary and momentous issues.




It is all carried out within the wide, flowing, and plain, framework of realism, expressionism, and symbolism.
Through this vivid neo-realism, he endeavors every time to fulfill good and nice painting that is legible, objective, non-interpretable or construable far beyond the absurd trends of both thought and art.

- At present, he works as professor at the Department of Painting - Faculty of Fine Arts – Damascus University.
- He lives currently in: Damascus – Jdeidat Artouz – First Residence – Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash St. –