These are the stories of the folk artist Muhammad Harb, known as Abu Subhi al-Tinawi. The artist grew up in Damascus, but his paintings reached Europe and America. Tinawi practiced the art of glass painting, a folk art known in the Balkan countries and Tunisia. He drew his scenes from folk stories and religious stories. When the boy was born more than 100 years ago in the alleys of Old Damascus, they called him Muhammad, as an example to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.
His father died while he was young, so his mother married a man named Tinawi. He lived in their home’s care and was called Tinawi. He lived with his mother and her husband until he grew up, married, and had seven children. He was nicknamed Abu Subhi and worked in several professions until he managed to buy a small shop to sell kitchen utensils. One day, one of his relatives passed by him, a sheikh of Persian origin. He stayed with him for a few days before continuing his way on his pilgrimage to the Holy House of God in Mecca.
The Persian brought Abu Subhi a wonderful gift, which was a glass painting on which the hero Antar ibn Shaddad was drawn stretching his white horse. Abu Subhi was impressed by Antar’s painting and glorified God when he saw it. Then he placed it in the sitting room and left to contemplate it. The Persian asked him: Do you love Antar? He said: Yes, as much as I have heard his story from the storyteller’s mouth. He said: Who painted this picture? The Persian said: It is handmade. If you want, I will teach you how to paint like this, and so it was.
In the morning of the next day, the two men bought some pieces of glass and paints and began work immediately. After effort, Abu Subhi mastered some principles of glass painting and was able to copy the Antar painting that he loved. After a few days, the Persian traveled, continuing his journey. As for Abu Subhi, he carried his tools to the shop and began copying another picture from the same Antar painting. While he was painting the horse’s face, he noticed it had only one eye. Abu Subhi was astonished and didn’t know that when painting from the side, one of the two eyes is not visible.
He thought the Persian had forgotten to put the other eye, so he placed it on the horse’s forehead. Abu Subhi continued his subject, dealing with topics from the stories of the prophets and popular biographies. People would pass by his shop and not care about what he was doing. Until an antique dealer named al-Sayyid Ubayd passed by. He was impressed by the drawings and offered to market his production for him.
Abu Subhi agreed to the offer, and the operation brought him decent profit. A deep friendship and affection developed between the two men. Years passed, and Abu Subhi passed the age of seventy. One day, al-Sayyid Ubayd passed by him, as usual, accompanying tourists to buy a painting. They proudly showed them the Antar painting. The tourists took the painting, examined it, and noticed the way the man had painted the horse’s eyes. They laughed and mocked each other, while Abu Subhi remained before them not understanding their language. He was angry at that and went to his friend, saying to him: What are they saying? He said to him: They say you paint like Picasso.
He said: Who is this Picasso? And he thought that al-Sayyid Ubayd was taking customers for himself and sharing his livelihood. He got angry and said to him: After our companionship, you left me and tried to convince him that Picasso was a Spanish painter, that he doesn’t paint on glass, and never set foot on the land of Sham. But he wasn’t convinced, and the situation remained between them for a period until some of the neighborhood’s dignitaries gathered and reconciled between them, convincing Abu Subhi that al-Sayyid Ubayd had never betrayed him.