AZIZ ART December 2018
Saloua Raouda Choucair
Remedios Varo Uranga
Oscar M. DomĂnguez
Qahveh Khanehei Painting
Marc Chagall
1-Saloua Raouda Choucair 5-Oscar M. DomĂnguez 7-Remedios Varo Uranga 13-Qahveh Khanehei Painting 17-Marc Chagall
Director: Aziz Anzabi Editor : Nafiseh Yaghoubi Translator : Asra Yaghoubi Research: Zohreh Nazari
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Saloua Raouda Choucair June 24, 1916 – January 26, 2017 was a Lebanese painter and sculptor. She is said to have been the first abstract artist in Lebanon though she sold nothing there until 1962. Life and work Born in 1916 in Beirut, Choucair started painting in the studios of Lebanese painters Moustafa Farroukh (1935) and Omar Onsi (1942).Her exhibition in 1947 at the Arab Cultural Gallery in Beirut is considered to have been the Arab world's first abstract painting exhibition. In 1948 she left Lebanon and went to Paris, where she studied at the École nationale supérieure des BeauxArts and attended Fernand Léger's studio. In 1950, she was one of the first Arab artists to participate in the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris and had in 1951 a solo exhibition at Colette Allendy's gallery, which was better received in Paris than in Beirut. In 1959 she began to concentrate on sculpture, which became her main preoccupation in 1962. In
1963, she was awarded the National Council of Tourism Prize for the execution of a stone sculpture for a public site in Beirut. In 1974, the Lebanese Artists Association sponsored an honorary retrospective exhibition of her work at the National Council of Tourism in Beirut.In 1985, she won an appreciation prize from the General Union of Arab Painters. In 1988, she was awarded a medal by the Lebanese government.A retrospective exhibition organized by Saleh Barakat was presented at the Beirut Exhibition Center in 2011. Choucair's work has been considered as one of the best examples of the spirit of abstraction characteristic of Arabic visual art, completely disconnected from the observation of nature and inspired by Arabic geometric art. Choucair recently received a prestigious honorary doctorate from the American University of Beirut (May 2014. Her artwork "Poem" is on loan to Louvres Abu Dhabi. 1
She turned 100 in June 2016.She died on January 26, 2017.Her older sister, women's rights leader Anissa Rawda Najjar, lived almost 103 years. Raouda Choucair's 102nd birthday. Solo exhibitions "Saloua Raouda Choucair: The Meaning of One, The Meaning of the Multiple", Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, 2015, curated by Laura Barlow. Noble Forms, Salwa Raouda Choucair, Maqam Art Gallery, Beirut, 2010 Retrospective. Salwa Raouda Choucair, Beirut Exhibition Center, 2011 Saloua Raouda Choucair, Tate Modern, 2013 Group exhibitions The Road to Peace, Beirut Art Center, 2009 Art from Lebanon, Beirut Exhibition Center, 2012
Oscar M. Domínguez In 1933 Domínguez met André (January 3, 1906 – December 31, Breton, a theoretician of 1957) was a Spanish surrealist Surrealism, and Paul Éluard, known painter. Born in San Cristóbal de La as the poet of this movement, and Laguna on the island of Tenerife, on took part a year later in the the Canary Islands Spain, Surrealist exhibition held in Domínguez spent his youth with his Copenhagen and those of London grandmother in Tacoronte and and Tenerife in 1936. He took up devoted himself to painting at a the Russian-invented technique of young age after suffering a serious decalcomania in 1936, using illness which affected his growth gouache spread thinly on a sheet of and caused a progressive paper or other surface (glass has deformation of his facial bone been used), which is then pressed frame and limbs. onto another surface such as a canvas. He went to Paris at 21 where he first worked for his father in the central market of Les Halles, and spent his nights diving in cabarets. He then frequented some art schools, and visited galleries and museums. Domínguez was rapidly attracted by avant-garde painters, notably Yves Tanguy and Pablo Picasso, whose influences were visible in his first works. At 25 he painted a selfportrait full of premonition as he His 1937 oil painting The Infernal showed himself with a deformed Machine sold for 2 770 000 FF (US $ hand and with the veins of his arm 404,375) on June 8, 2000 at cut. He chose to kill himself 27 Drouot-Montaigne in Paris. 5 years later by cutting his veins.
His 1933 oil painting Roma's portrait sold for 902,500 GBP (US $ 1,469,270) on Feb. 4th. 2014 at CHRISTIE'S in London. In 1952 he started an affair with Marie-Laure de Noailles, who called him "poochie". DomĂnguez committed suicide December 31, 1957, by slitting his wrists in the bath. Marie-Laure arranged to have him interred in the Bischoffsheim family mausoleum in the Montparnasse cemetery
Remedios Varo Uranga December 16, 1908 – October 8, 1963 was a Spanish-Mexican parasurrealist painter and anarchist. She was born María de los Remedios Alicia Rodrigo Varo y Uranga in Anglès, a small town in the province of Girona, Spain in 1908.[1] Her birth helped her mother get over the death of another daughter, which is the reason behind the name. In 1924 she studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. During the Spanish Civil War she fled to Paris where she was greatly influenced by the surrealist movement.
She met her second husband (after her death it was discovered that she had never divorced her first husband, painter Gerardo Lizarraga), the French surrealist poet Benjamin Péret, in Barcelona. There she was a member of the art group Logicophobiste.Due to her Republican ties, her 1937
move to Paris with Péret ensured that she would never be able to return to Franco's Spain. She was forced into exile from Paris during the German occupation of France and moved to Mexico City at the end of 1941. She died at the height of her career from a heart attack in Mexico City in 1963 7
Early life Varo’s father, Rodrigo Varo y Zajalvo, was an intellectual man who had a strong influence on his
to name her first daughter after the saint. Her father was a hydraulic engineer and the family traveled the Iberian Peninsula and into North Africa. To keep Remedios busy during these daughter’s artistic development. long trips, her father had her copy Varo would copy the blueprints he the technical drawings of his work brought home from his job in with their straight lines, radii and construction and he helped her perspectives, further develop her technical which she reproduced faithfully. As drawing abilities. a child she read much with favorite authors including Jules Verne, He encouraged independent Edgar Allan Poe and Alexandre thought and supplemented her Dumas. She also read books about education with science and oriental philosophy and mysticism. adventure books, notably the Those first few years of her life left novels of Alexandre Dumas, Jules an impression on her that would Verne, and Edgar Allan Poe. As she later show up in motifs like grew older he provided her with machinery, furnishing, artifacts, and text on mysticism and philosophy. Romanesque and Gothic Varo’s mother, Ignacia Uranga architecture unique to Anglès. Bergareche, was born to Basque parents in Argentina. She was a devout Catholic and commended herself to the patron saint of Anglès, the Virgin of Los Remedios, promising
Varo was given the basic education deemed proper for young ladies of a good upbringing at a convent school - an experience that fostered her rebellious tendencies. Varo took a critical view of religion and rejected the religious ideology of her childhood education and instead clung to the liberal and universalist ideas that her father instilled in her. Formative years
The very first works of Varo's, a self-portrait and several portraits of family members, date to 1923 when she was studying for a baccalaureate at the School of Arts and Crafts. In 1924 (age 15) she enrolled in the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy in Madrid, the alma mater of Salvador Dalí and other
renowned artists. Varo got her diploma as a drawing teacher in 1930.[ At school, surrealistic elements were already apparent in her work, as it had arrived to Spain from France and she took an early interest in it. While in Madrid, Varo had her initial introduction to Surrealism through lectures, exhibitions, films and theater. She was a regular visitor to the Prado Museum and took particular interest in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, most notably The Garden of Earthly Delights. In 1930 she married a young painter named Gerardo Lizárraga. The couple left Spain for Paris, both to escape the rising political tensions as well as to be nearer to where much of Europe’s art scene was.
Qahveh Khanehei Painting (Tea House style of painting) oil painting on canvas, Qajar period. Q ahveh Khanehei painting is an Iranian painting style combined with European techniques (oil and color on wall and convass). It was about eighty years ago that this method was formed among laypeople. The characteristic of this art is its popularity and distance from court arts. Unknown artists who had some experience in painting on tiles, were influenced by the atmosphere and ambience of Qahveh-Khanehs , along with Shahnameh-Khani (reading verses from Shahnameh) endeavoured to create simple and beatiful views
on the walls of Qahveh Khaneh and on cloths.
Though they did not have any academic instructions, these artists succeeded to occupy a place in Iranian artistic history for themselves. For its presence in narrations and Shamayel gardani (carrying the icons) Qahveh Khanehei painting may be regarded a part of Iranian painting arts. And on other hand due to its distance from painting features it may be considered among visual arts. But, prior to illustration of this traditional and true Iranian art, we should acquire knowledge about Qahneh Khanehs . These places with their old history have been the keeper of our old traditions, thoughts and tastes. In QahvehKhanehs the narrators of Shahnameh told about natioanl stories with much enthusiasm. Therefore, in the course of long centuries, QahvehKhanehs took many characteristics, which are important for their extensive contact with people. In fact QahvehKhanehs of old days played the role of today mass media. This role had its due rules and traditions, one of which being “ QahvehKhane painting�. 13
In this style of painting, one can easily detect some elements of Miniature painting. As narration of stories in its climax incline towards poetry, the paintings of QahvehKhaneh some times tend to delicateness of miniature. These are not much records concerning the history of this national art, because in its present form, it has been current since eighty years ago. But remaining paintings and plaster moulding indicate that some kind of this art existed in 18th and 19th centuries. For example the paintings on tiles of Chehel Sotun Palace in Esphahan have been worked under Shah Abbass II and Nader, of course most of theme are Shabih Sazi (dramatic) and they are inspired by feasts, while Qahveh Khanehei painting is purely imaginary and the painter does not have any model and what he draws is merely that which goes in his mind. Observing the present evidences he draws an imaginary picture of, for example, Karbala desert, Ashura epic, and Resurrection day and some epical pictures which indicate the imagination and enthusiasm of painting.
Qahveh Khanehei painting which is called Imaginary painting by many people, is an art with its recognized principles. Its main feature is retaining the genuinenes of portraits, in a way that even in dealing scenes of feasts or epics, the painter makes his outmost effort to paint the faces. This feature is due to the fact that “ state” and “ motion” are limited in this type of painting. In each painting the faces convey the subject intended by painter to onlookers. The painter of this style is an earnest narrator who consciously or unconsciously represents the protagonists or antagonists with due emotions
towards them. For example in Rostam and Sohrab, Rostam’s face occupies a large place in the painting and this shows the painter’s love of Rostam. In a religious painting the face of enemies and vicious people are as ugly as possible. In Qahveh Khanehei painting there is no limitation of subject and the painter’s hands are free to draw whatever he desires. Due to this reason, no painting could be ever considered a criterion for other works. In general one may devide the subjects into three groups: religious, epic, feast and amorous paintings.
Marc Chagall 6 July 1887 – 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist.21 Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century" (though Chagall saw his work as "not the dream of one people but of all humanity"). An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints. According to art historian Michael J. Lewis, Chagall was considered to be "the last survivor of the first generation of European modernists". For decades, he "had also been respected as the world's preeminent Jewish artist". Using the medium of stained glass, he produced windows for the cathedrals of Reims and Metz, windows for the UN, and the Jerusalem Windows in Israel. He also did large-scale paintings, including part of the ceiling of the Paris OpÊra.
Before World War I, he traveled between St. Petersburg, Paris, and Berlin. During this period he created his own mixture and style of modern art based on his idea of Eastern European Jewish folk culture. He spent the wartime years in Soviet Belarus, becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde, founding the Vitebsk Arts College before leaving again for Paris in 1922. He had two basic reputations, writes Lewis: as a pioneer of modernism and as a major Jewish artist. He experienced modernism's "golden age" in Paris, where "he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism". Yet throughout these phases of his style "he remained most emphatically a Jewish artist, whose work was one long dreamy reverie of life in his native village of Vitebsk. "When Matisse dies," Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, "Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what colour really is". 17
Early life Chagall's Parents Marc Chagall was born Moishe Segal in a Lithuanian Jewish family in Liozna,near the city of Vitebsk (Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire) in 1887. At the time of his birth, Vitebsk's population was about 66,000, with half the population being Jewish. A picturesque city of churches and synagogues, it was called "Russian Toledo", after a cosmopolitan city of the former Spanish Empire. As the city was built mostly of wood, little of it survived years of occupation and destruction during World War II. Chagall was the eldest of nine children. The family name, Shagal, is a variant of the name Segal, which in a Jewish community was usually borne by a Levitic family. His father, Khatskl (Zachar) Shagal, was employed by a herring merchant, and his mother, FeigeIte, sold groceries from their home. His father worked hard, carrying heavy barrels but earning only 20 roubles each month (the average wages across the Russian Empire being 13 roubles a month). Chagall would later include fish
motifs "out of respect for his father", writes Chagall biographer, Jacob Baal-Teshuva. Chagall wrote of these early years:
Day after day, winter and summer, at six o'clock in the morning, my father got up and went off to the synagogue. There he said his usual prayer for some dead man or other. On his return he made ready the samovar, drank some tea and went to work. Hellish work, the work of a galley-slave. Why try to hide it? How tell about it? No word will ever ease my father's lot... There was always plenty of butter and cheese on our table. Buttered bread, like an eternal symbol, was never out of my childish hands.
One of the main sources of income of the Jewish population of the town was from the manufacture of clothing that was sold throughout Russia.
had been a center of that culture dating from the 1730s with its teachings derived from the Kabbalah. Chagall scholar Susan Goodman describes the links and sources of his art to his early home:
They also made furniture and various agricultural tools. From the late 18th century to the First World War, the Russian government confined Jews to living within the Pale of Settlement, which included modern Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, almost exactly corresponding to the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth recently taken over by Imperial Russia. This caused the creation of Jewish market-villages (shtetls) through out today's Eastern Europe, with their own markets, schools, hospitals, and other community institutions.
Chagall's art can be understood as the response to a situation that has long marked the history of Russian Jews. Though they were cultural innovators who made important contributions to the broader society, Jews were considered outsiders in a frequently hostile society... Chagall himself was born of a family steeped in religious life; his parents were observant Hasidic Jews who found spiritual satisfaction in a life defined by their faith and organized by prayer. Chagall was friends with Sholom Dovber Schneerson, and later with Menachem M. Schneerson.
Most of what is known about Chagall's early life has come from his autobiography, My Life. In it, he described the major influence that the culture of Hasidic Judaism had on his life as an artist. Vitebsk itself
Art education Portrait of Chagall by Yehuda (Yuri) Pen, his first art teacher in Vitebsk In Russia at that time, Jewish children were not allowed to attend regular Russian schools or universities. Their movement within the city was also restricted. Chagall therefore received his primary education at the local Jewish religious school, where he studied Hebrew and the Bible. At the age of 13, his mother tried to enroll him in a Russian high school, and he recalled, "But in that school, they don't take Jews. Without a moment's hesitation, my courageous mother walks up to a professor." She offered the headmaster 50 roubles to let him attend, which
he accepted.
A turning point of his artistic life came when he first noticed a fellow student drawing. Baal-Teshuva writes that for the young Chagall, watching someone draw "was like a vision, a revelation in black and white". Chagall would later say that there was no art of any kind in his family's home and the concept was totally alien to him. When Chagall asked the schoolmate how he learned to draw, his friend replied, "Go and find a book in the library, idiot, choose any picture you like, and just copy it". He soon began copying images from books and found the experience so rewarding he then decided he wanted to become an artist.
He eventually confided to his mother, "I want to be a painter", although she could not yet understand his sudden interest in art or why he would choose a vocation that "seemed so impractical", writes Goodman. The young Chagall explained, "There's a place in town; if I'm admitted and if I complete the course, I'll come out a regular artist. I'd be so happy!“ It was 1906, and he had noticed the studio of Yehuda (Yuri) Pen, a realist artist who also operated a small drawing school in Vitebsk, which included the future artists El Lissitzky and Ossip Zadkine. Due to Chagall's youth and lack of income, Pen offered to teach him free of charge. However, after a few months at the school, Chagall realized that academic portrait painting did not suit his desires. Artistic inspiration Marc Chagall, 1911, Trois heures et demie (Le poète), Half-Past Three (The Poet) Halb vier Uhr, oil on canvas, 195.9 x 144.8 cm, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950, Philadelphia
Museum of Art Marc Chagall, 1911, I and the Village, oil on canvas, 192.1 x 151.4 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York Marc Chagall, 1911-12, The Drunkard (Le saoul), 1912, oil on canvas. 85 x 115 cm. Private collection Marc Chagall, 1912, Calvary (Golgotha), oil on canvas, 174.6 x 192.4 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Alternative titles: Kreuzigung Bild 2 Christus gewidmet [Golgotha. Crucifixion. Dedicated to Christ]. Sold through Galerie Der Sturm (Herwarth Walden), Berlin to Bernhard Koehler (1849–1927), Berlin, 1913. Exhibited: Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon, Berlin, 1913 Goodman notes that during this period in Russia, Jews had two basic alternatives for joining the art world: One was to "hide or deny one's Jewish roots". The other alternative—the one that Chagall chose—was "to cherish and publicly express one's Jewish roots" by integrating them into his art. For Chagall, this was also his means of "self-assertion and an expression of principle."
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