Biography
Early life and education
Abdeljabar Alyahya was born in 1931 in Al-Zubair, Iraq, where he spent his early childhood and completed his primary school education. His artistic abilities emerged during this time and were fostered by his teachers and exposure to a culturally and intellectually vibrant environment. His early visual art education was influenced by the work and experiments of Iraqi artists, but during this time, he also became familiar with classical European art history, examining and copying reproductions of Italian renaissance masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. This method of copying historical works formed the foundation of his technical training, which he later expanded to include French Impressionist painters like Paul Cézanne and Édouard Manet.
At 16, Alyahya relocated to Bahrain to further pursue his studies. Shortly thereafter, he was obliged to curtail his education and prioritise making a living, leading to his move to the eastern province of Saudi Arabia in 1947. In 1951, he attended a professional training school for 18 months and subsequently left to the United States to study electronics. While his formal education was not focused on the arts, these experiences fostered technical and observational skills that later influenced his artistic practice.
Professional career and artistic development
In 1952, Alyahya relocated to Jeddah, working for the Saudi Air Force until 1969. He maintained his artistic practice alongside his professional work throughout this period and also undertook the creation of visual material and design projects for his employer. His involvement in the arts eventually extended beyond his personal studio and design work. In 1969 he began contributing to the arts and culture pages of Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, one of Saudi Arabia's oldest daily Arabic-language newspapers, writing articles and translating English-language texts on visual art—the first of many engagements where he found himself in a position to contribute his knowledge and expertise to the development of the Kingdom's cultural discourse on art.
Alyahya moved from Jeddah to Riyadh in 1969. Here in the Kingdom’s capital city he received encouragement to pursue visual art more seriously, particularly after a German collector bought one of his artworks—an acquisition that for him came to represent a pivotal moment in his artistic development. In 1971, he presented his first solo exhibition, featuring 25 oil paintings, at the headquarters of the American aerospace company Northrop in Riyadh, a contractor for the Saudi Air Force. Its success led Alyahya to organize three additional solo exhibitions over the next four years.
Well before his decision at the close of the decade to focus on his artistic career, Alyahya had already begun participating in exhibitions. In 1954, he participated in a group show at the Missouri History Museum, making him one of the first Saudi artists to present work outside the Kingdom. In the following decades, he regularly participated in exhibitions organised by the General Presidency for Youth Welfare and the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts. His exhibition record also includes the Saudi Art Exhibition in India, the inaugural Janadriyah Festival in Riyadh, the Gulf States Visual Arts Festival in the United Arab Emirates, and the first Roshan Exhibition of Contemporary Saudi Art in Jeddah. Alyahya also represented Saudi Arabia at several international exhibitions, including the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication in Vancouver. He also participated in the touring exhibition The Kingdom: Past and Present, which travelled across Europe in 1986 and 1987.
In addition to his individual practice, in the 1970s he co-founded the Alwan Group for Fine Arts, serving as chairman of the board and in this position taking charge of coordinating exhibitions and providing professional support for regional artists.
