Acclaimed Syrian artist Elias Zayat dies aged 87

Elias Zayat, the post-war up to date painter and probably the most influential Syrian artists of the twentieth century, has died aged 87.

Inexperienced Artwork Gallery in Alserkal Avenue, the place the artist’s final solo exhibition After the Deluge was held in 2015, confirmed the information on-line.

“Inexperienced Artwork Gallery is saddened to listen to the information of the passing of the acclaimed Syrian artist Elias Zayat, one of many nation’s most vital artists of the twentieth century, and a key founding father of Syria’s trendy artwork motion,” a consultant stated.

Zayat was an artist, artwork restorer and historian. He was one of many founders of the College of Superb Arts on the College of Damascus, the place he taught till his retirement in 2000 and had revealed a number of papers on artwork criticism and regional historical past.

A prolific painter, Zayat’s physique of labor drew on a broad vary of pursuits and influences spanning mythology, historic civilisations, Sufi thought and spiritual iconography.

Thought-about one of many the nice trendy artists of Syria, Zayat’s chief preoccupation has at all times been his homeland.

“All the things I’ve accomplished in my life stems from my attachment to my nation,” he informed The Nationwide in 2015, when talking about his solo exhibition at Inexperienced Artwork Gallery. “My household has been in Damascus for no less than three generations and this initially impressed me to find my roots and relationships tied to Syria and the Levant. With these work, I’m telling you that that is the place I’m from.”

Zayat was born in 1935 in Damascus and grew up within the Christian district of Bab Tuma. He started his profession as a painter at 17, below the inventive coaching of the main Syrian artist Michael Kurcheh, one of many nation’s pioneers of Impressionism and an influential determine within the area’s trendy artwork motion.

In 1956, Zayat was granted a governmental scholarship to review on the Nationwide Academy of Artwork in Sofia, Bulgaria. This was a particularly influential time for him.

Finding out below portrait artist Boris Mitov and socialist realism portrait painter Ilya Petrov, Zayat experimented with totally different methods and was tremendously impressed by post-Impressionism. He was additionally capable of journey throughout Europe throughout this time, visiting galleries and museums to feed his curiosity in artwork historical past.

Zayat continued his research on the College of Superb Arts in Cairo the place he skilled below Abdul Aziz Darwish, one of many pioneers of life like Impressionism within the Arab world. Egypt proved to be one other nice affect on Zayat’s follow.

As he did in Europe, Zayat visited many museums in Egypt, discovering and finding out historic Egyptian and Islamic artworks and the Fayum mummy portraits, courting again to the late 1st century BC.

On visits again to Syria, Zayat additionally travelled throughout the nation to archaeological websites corresponding to Horan and Palmyra to review the aesthetic qualities of historic Syrian artwork and reconnect along with his homeland’s cultural heritage.

He then returned to Europe in 1973 the place he studied artwork restoration on the Academy of Superb Arts in Budapest, Hungary.

By the point he returned completely to Damascus within the mid-Nineteen Seventies, Zayat had began to develop a singular type influenced by a large number of inventive practices and aesthetics, from the traditional artwork of Egypt and Syria, to the methods of post-Impressionists corresponding to Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse.

Whereas he finally moved away from portraits influenced by post-Impressionism, his work developed to hold a particular DNA and a visible language that has confirmed to be each timeless and common.

By means of his dramatic portraits, stylised figures are intertwined. They float, surreal however substantial in their very own proper, in opposition to flattened backgrounds. Their stares face inwards, or past the body the scales of their options and our bodies, whereas exaugurated and morphed to disclose a balanced and considerate hand, which has merged totally different types and voices in a approach that’s new and surprising.

From his use of color and line to the vacant, virtuous and generally tortured look of his figures, in addition to the smooth composition of pictorial parts, balanced by the seeping of shapes into one another, Zayat’s work is otherworldly but in addition tied to an instantaneous and acquainted unconscious state.

All through his profession, Zayat obtained a number of awards, together with The Artwork and Literature Appreciation Award, Ministry of Tradition and Nationwide Orientation, Syria (2013), the Bronze Medal for Zabadani Valley, Moscow Youth Pageant Award, Russia (1975); and First Award in Scholar Artwork for Elm Timber in Ma’loula, College of Damascus (1954).

His works have been proven at a number of solo exhibitions, together with Elias Zayat: Homage to Gibran, 4 Seasons Lodge, Damascus (2010); Dance and the Metropolis, Atassi Gallery, Damascus (2002); Un Oiseau Sur Un Arbre, Al-Sayed Gallery, Damascus (1995); and Union of Bulgarian Artists Gallery, Sofia (1985).

He has additionally been a part of quite a few prestigious group reveals all over the world together with Millennia of Creativity, Nabu Museum, Batroun, Lebanon (2018); Syria: A dwelling Historical past, Ismaili Middle, Dubai (2017) and Syrian Artists on the Week of Syrian Tradition, Brunei Gallery, SOAS College of London (2004).

Zayat’s works are additionally a part of collections discovered at Barjeel Artwork Basis, Sharjah; Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Artwork Basis, Beirut; Nabu Museum, Heri, Lebanon; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; and Nationwide Museum of Damascus.

Up to date: September 06, 2022, 10:38 AM