Forty years of the political career of King Faisal in photographs
[Photographs - Press photos of King Faisal and the Saudi royal family].
30 silver gelatin prints in protective sleeves, ranging from 255 x 200 mm to 180 x 120 mm (1 small photo is 90 x 100 mm). Most with press stamp on the reverse in Arabic, English, or French.
€ 12.500,00
Press photographs of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1906-75) and members of the Saudi royal family, ranging from the 1930s to 1960s and documenting key moments in Saudi diplomacy and Faisal's political career as Prince and later King of Saudi Arabia. In photographs commemorating Faisal's foreign relations in both Arab and international spheres, Faisal is shown being visited by foreign dignitaries, such as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Ahmed bin Khalifa Al Suwaidi (b. 1937), who is - per the caption - shown conveying a private oral message from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004). In a series of photographs taken in Jeddah, Faisal receives Hajj delegations from Syria, China, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, and an Egyptian delegation led by Vice President of Egypt Hussein Mahmoud Hassan el-Shafei (1918-2005), as well as diplomatic visits from Somali Foreign Minister Umar Arteh Ghalib (1930-2020), Lebanese politician Amin al-Hafez, and French Ambassador Pierre Richard.
The earliest photograph, taken in Paris in 1932, shows Faisal as a young man in front of the Grand Mosque of Paris. Faisal was often on the move promoting and discussing Saudi interests abroad, documented in scenes including but not limited to: Prince Faisal and his brother Prince Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1913-1982), who thirty years later would succeed the throne upon Faisal's assassination, together on a 1943 tour of the United states; a 1945 visit to New York with a delegation headed by Prince Faisal and including Prince Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (ca. 1921-2005, later King Fahd), Prince Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1910-88), Faisal's eldest son Prince Abdullah bin Faisal Al Saud (1923-2007), and nine-year-old Prince Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1932-2015).
Faisal appears at the first session of the United Nations General Assembly alongside Saudi ambassador Hafiz Wahba (1889-1967) and in a second trip to a UN General Assembly alongside his own nine-year-old son Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud (1937-2017), who like Faisal received political training from a young age. Faisal is shown in a 1947 meeting of the Arab League with Palestinian politician Amin al-Husseini (1897-1974) and Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud Fahmy El Nokrashy Pasha (1888-1948) to discuss the announcement of the partition of Palestine.
Having ascended to the throne in 1964, Faisal appears flanked by guards at a diplomatic dinner with President of Tunisia Habib Bourguiba (1903-2000), meeting U.S. President Eisenhower in 1953, and attending another 1969 Arab League Summit with King Hassan II of Morocco (1929-99) and his brother Prince Moulay Abdallah (1935-1983).
Spanning decades of King Faisal's political career, a thorough and interesting collection documenting Saudi diplomacy and political actors across the Arab world in the middle of the 20th century. Some American press photographs, intended for newspaper reproduction, have been augmented by hand in ink or grey watercolour wash in order to retain fainter details. Altogether exceptionally well preserved.
