JNGFA, Royal Society of Fine Arts

The Royal Society of Fine Arts (RSFA) is a cultural, non-profit organization founded in 1979. Its goal is to encourage cultural diversity and promote contemporary art. It has engaged in a range of activities in co-operation with international museums and institutions, in order to promote cultural dialog and artistic exchange.

The RSFA established the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, which was opened in 1980. Its unique collection of modern and contemporary artworks in the region comprises over eighteen hundred works, including paintings, prints, sculptures, photographs, installations, weavings, and ceramics by more than 700 artists from 45 countries, mainly in Asia, Africa, and South America.

In order to enlarge the original space of the National Gallery in Jabal-Weibdeh, the Royal Society of Fine Arts has acquired a building from the 1950s that is currently being renovated and is situated across the park from the present Gallery.

The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts organizes exhibitions in its own space as well as in co-operation with foreign museums and institutions. The Gallery has installed a specialized art library and is establishing a computerized information center on contemporary artists and art movements in the Islamic world, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It maintains a graphic studio headed by Jordanian artist, Dr. Khalid Khreis, who conducts regular classes there.

The Royal Society of Fine Arts and the National Gallery organize lectures, seminars, and workshops. In addition to the exhibition catalogs, its publication program includes books on classical and modern art from Islamic and Arab cultures.

The driving force behind both institutions is H.R.H. Princess Wijdan Ali. In an email interview with Universes in Universe, she discusses the reasons for her personal engagement and her vision. She writes: "We have to reach out in order to attain a basic and exigent goal: the promotion of world peace through the advancement of the arts and the eradication of cultural apartheid."

(Compiled from information provided by the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts)

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