Galerie Claude Lemand

DUBAI - Art Dubai Modern 2015 - 16-21 mars 2015 - Stand M7 - Claude Lemand Gallery.

SHAFIC ABBOUD + ABDALLAH BENANTEUR.

1. Shafic Abboud (Lebanese, 1926-2004).
Historic mas­ter­pie­ces from European pri­vate col­lec­tions.
‘Shafic Abboud is one of the fore­most Arab Artists of the 20th cen­tury. His pain­tings are a mani­festo for free­dom, colour and light, as well as being a per­ma­nent bridge bet­ween the art of Europe and the Middle East. He was very atta­ched to Lebanon, to its land­sca­pes, its light and his own child­hood memo­ries. He was from a Lebanese Arab Modern culture, stron­gly influen­ced by the sto­ries of his grand­mo­ther, the pain­tings of the tra­vel­ling story-tel­lers and by the Byzantine icons. The wri­tings of the Arab Nahda were to later have a signi­fi­cant impact on his intel­lec­tual edu­ca­tion. He played in Lebanon, before 1976 and after 1993, a major role for Beirut’s cultu­ral and artis­tic life. (…). His mature works are ‘trans­fi­gu­ra­tive’, because of Abboud’s search for a syn­the­sis bet­ween his fairy-tale like child­hood world and his tech­ni­cal mas­te­ring of abs­tract Parisian pain­ting. He trans­fi­gu­red images fil­te­red from his memory into pain­ting, such as his series of Destroyed Cafés of 1990. (…).’ (Claude Lemand, Paris 2011)

Claude Lemand held 15 solo shows of works from dif­fe­rent periods and aspects of his Art, wrote ana­ly­sis on his per­so­na­lity, works and influence, publi­shed his Monograph in 2006, cura­ted his Retrospective in 2011 in Paris, at the Institut du Monde Arabe and publi­shed the Catalogue. In 2012, ini­tia­ted his Retrospective in the Beirut Exhibition Center.

2. Abdallah Benanteur (Algerian, born 1931).
Paintings from 1982 to 1992.
‘Born in 1931 in Mostaganem (Algeria), Abdallah Benanteur was brought up in an Algerian family and cultu­ral envi­ron­ment, spe­ci­fi­cally enthral­led by wri­ting and illu­mi­na­ted manus­cripts, by mystic Muslim poetry, by Andalusian music and songs. Throughout his ado­les­cence, he shared a pas­sion for the poetic illu­mi­na­tions of Al-Hallaj, Ibn Arabi, Omar Khayyam and Saadi, as well as for Cézanne’s visual and cons­truc­tive order, whose influence he dis­co­ve­red in books of repro­duc­tions. (…). In 1953, he set­tled down in Paris, which he trans­for­med into his own capi­tal of life and crea­ti­vity. Visiting museums in France and Europe, he assi­mi­la­ted the mas­ter­pie­ces of the great mas­ters, and he mana­ged to create his own per­so­nal œuvre, pro­du­cing lyri­cal land­sca­pes infu­sed with the light of his Mediterranean home­land and that of his adop­ted Brittany, land­sca­pes that are some­ti­mes abs­tract or dotted with sil­houet­tes of people wal­king.’ (Claude Lemand, 2005)

Claude Lemand held 22 solo shows dedi­ca­ted to Abdallah Benanteur, of works from dif­fe­rent periods and aspects of his Art, wrote ana­ly­sis on his per­so­na­lity and works and publi­shed his Monograph in 2 volu­mes.