Shedding light on a number of abstract movements initiated by artists' collectives as well as individual practitioners in the region and the Arab diaspora, this book examines how these artists moved away from figuration and naturalistic depictions of reality toward investigations into the expressive capacities of line, colour and texture. Placing the featured artists and their works within larger, cultural and global contexts, Taking Shape contributes to the bourgeoning scholarship on and interest in art from the region.