By Sotheby’s Auction is a Love Letter to Beirut
Beirut, once called the Paris of the Middle East, is a thriving epicenter of art, culture, architecture and fashion. As an ode to this vibrant city, Sotheby’s is all set to auction artworks by celebrated Lebanese and Arab artists on April 23rd, 2024, in London. A Love Letter to Beirut, exhibits artworks of 30 Lebanese artists, along with creatives from Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Palestine, whose practices have been shaped by the interaction with the country.
Highlights include paintings, watercolors, mixed media and sculptures by Etel Adnan, Huguette Caland, Ayman Baalbaki, Mona Saudi, Aref El Rayess and Saloua Raouda Choucair. The auctioned works date back to the mid-twentieth century followed by the rise of post-war modernism in the city that had coincided with the shift towards Lebanon as an independent state. Prior to this auction would be an exhibition in New Bond Street from 19th to 22nd, April 2024.
Some of the prominent artworks to go under the hammer include:
Etel Adnan, Untitled, 1965 (estimated £150,000-250,000)
Considered as one of the most internationally celebrated Arab artists, Adnan was born in 1925 in Beirut. She is all set to be represented in the Venice Biennial 2024 and was also honored with a major retrospective at Ithra, Saudi Arabia. This early work of hers, brings together a love of pure colours, affinity for geometric abstraction and fascination with the sun and the sea of her youth.
Huguette Caland, Untitled, 2004 (estimated £40,000-60,000)
The only daughter of Lebanon’s first president, Bechara Al Khouri, Caland started her art journey late in life, enrolling at American University of Beirut in 1965. She went on to learn art formally along with her friend and contemporary Helen Khal, who in 1963, together with her husband Yusuf opened Gallery One, Beirut’s first commercial art gallery. Interestingly, the auction also offers a painting by Helen Khal from 1982.
Mona Saudi, Untitled, 1980 (estimated £50,000-70,000)
Born in Amman, Jordan, Mona explored the ancient ruins surrounding her home as a child playing among the stone statues and Roman columns. At 17, she moved to bustling Beirut to become an artist. Her first solo exhibition was held at Beirut’s Café de la Press in 1963, enabling her to fund a trip to Paris where she studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts.
Aref el Rayess, Untitled, 1972 (estimated £60,000-80,000)
Born in Beirut in 1928 Rayess, a self-taught artist went on to become a pioneer of modern art in Lebanon. Post his first exhibition in Lebanon in 1948, he lived in Senegal and Paris – learning under cubist artists Fernand Léger and André Lhote. He was greatly inspired by West African art, folklore and mystical motifs. His painting to be auctioned dates back to the time of his return to Beirut.
Saloua Raouda Choucair, Untitled, from the Repetitive Dual Series, 1988 to 1990, (estimated £50,000-70,000)
Born in Beirut in 1916, she is regarded as Lebanon’s first true modern abstract artists and a leading sculptor of the Arab world. Choucair’s art laces in elements from Islamic designs.
All pics courtesy Sotheby’s