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The National
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
From Syria to Mayfair via Berlin: Marwan gets the blockbuster treatment with Christie's exhibition
Berlin is famous for its walls and for decades a select group of people have treasured lumps of its former Cold War dividing line. There is something appropriate about a chunk of wall from the Berlin studio of Marwan Kassab-Bachi sitting at the heart of a blockbuster exhibition of his work at Christie's in central London. The mountain is his soul staying in the landscape and in the soil of Syria Ridha Moumni, Christie's Middle East The Mayfair institution has been taken over by a display of Marwan's work that does full justice to his long career, which was almost entirely shaped by his life in Berlin. It was his roots in Syria that helped to shape his work. A practitioner of art as an enigmatic expression of the soul, Marwan is seen by Christie's curator Ridha Moumni as working out a deep attachment to his Syrian childhood in his paintings. Not least in the breakthrough period of his work when Maran painted many heads reclining but with an identifiable landscape on the canvas. You can take the boy out of the foothills of Mount Qasioun but for the painter it was a lifelong resource. The exhibition sets this up with a series of almost monochrome postwar Berlin photographs by the famed Henri Cartier-Bresson. The chairman of Christie's Middle East and Africa has chose Marwan: A Soul in Exile as the third Christies summer series on art of the Arab World. Works like the Parisian Head in 1973 or Kopf moved the focus to the head with rich, deep French-inspired use of colour to show how he brooded on his past, almost like a man lost in thought staring into a mirror. The mountain is never depicted but its brows and ridges are reflected in the flesh. "The head is mixing directly with the landscape," says Mr Moumni at one point of a tour on the opening morning of the month-long retrospective. "He acknowledged that the faces and the heads that he's painting all his life are part of the mountain. The mountain is the core of his painting - the–mountain is his soul staying in the landscape and in the soil of Syria." From the 1967 war through to the outset of the 1970s, Marwan's work took on a political dimension with piece such as The Disappeared, where handkerchiefs and scarves covered the faces. There was also the haunting Three Palestinian Boys in 1970. "When the veil comes over the face it is almost a feeling of the disappearance but also a feeling of covering the face in front of the atrocities of the world," said Mr Moumni. "This is a very, very strong and impactful painting from 1970. "The Three Palestinian Boys is a painting that was displayed very extensively through his life and it is not only a work on that did not only on the displacement but what he wanted to do was a representation of the Palestinian voice. This is why he represented them from below." The dramatic perspective flips Marwan's usual order with big bodies and small hands and, crucially, heads. Typically the head or the face dominated his work but not in this case. Meanwhile, as the decade progressed he would go on to develop portraits of political figures such as the Syrian Munif Al Razzaz or the Iraqi Badr Shakir Al Sayyab. Intimate artist Marwan eventually resumed his direct relationship with Syria. He was not banned from his home country, although he had suffered the schism of his family land being seized not long after he started studying in Berlin in 1957. A trove of his correspondence in Arabic forms a side exhibit and is as illuminating as the body of paintings. "Marwan was very poetic in the way he was writing -he was really writing almost like a poet," he added. "He was writing these letters in Arabic to people and showing that reading and writing in Arabic and using Arabic letters and its literature was very important for him." Homeward bound In the 1990s what had been an intermittent relationship with the Middle East and his work – he exhibited at the Arab Cultural Centre in Damascus in 1970 – came to be a part of his career. A portrait of Mona Atassi, the driving force behind the Attasi Foundation, by Marwan is part of the exhibition for that reason. As director of the summer academy at Darat Al Funun in Amman, he became a mentor to a generation of Arab artists. In the decade before his death in 2016, Mr Marwan honed in on the face and in these paintings what surrounds the faces are telling, according to Mr Moumni. In this as elsewhere in his work there are hallmarks of a Cezanne influence. "What you see around [the face] is the question of the soil but also the question of the death," he explains of one work. "The hair is creating almost a continuity with the landscape and here it's almost a wall, almost a darkness created by the idea of the afterlife."
Arab News
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Christie's London to feature retrospective on Syrian artist Marwan
DUBAI: Christie's is poised to host a non-selling exhibition of work by late Syrian artist Marwan Kassab-Bachi, titled 'Marwan: A Soul in Exile.' For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ Taking place from July 16-22, the show was curated by Ridha Moumni, chairman of Christie's Middle East & Africa. This retrospective exhibition will display more than 150 works on loan from museums, institutions and private collections in Europe and the Middle East. The exhibition traces the artist's career, from his artistic beginnings in Syria to his prolific output in Germany, his adopted homeland, where he spent six decades of his life. 'I wanted to highlight the essential threads running through his career: from his iconic 'Face Landscapes' to the celebrated 'Heads,' his journey from Damascus to Germany, and the pivotal moments that shaped his legacy — including his major 1976 retrospective at Charlottenburg Schloss, which established his place in the German art scene,' Moumni told Arab News. 'Equally important is his enduring connection to Syria and the Arab world,' he added. With paintings, works on paper, and editions from 1953 until 2014, this exhibition offers audiences in London the chance to explore the artist's multi-disciplinary approach. 'Over the past two years, our aim has been to introduce artists and artistic scenes to London that people here don't often get to see. One of our deepest commitments is to highlight the richness of artists from the Arab world or of Arab heritage. Marwan embodies this mission beautifully: a towering figure from the Syrian diaspora, who built an extraordinary career in Germany, and had a big impact on modern portraiture,' Moumni said of Christie's decision to spotlight the artist this summer. In 1957, Marwan moved to Berlin and attended the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, graduating in 1963. The artist, who is referred to by his first name, joined a group of German expressionist painters that included Georg Baselitz and Eugen Schonebeck, but he retained his Syrian identity and engaged with social and political issues of the Middle East through his work. 'For those who already know his work, I hope they uncover new depths — its poetic power, its meditations on exile, identity, and belonging. Above all, I hope visitors feel a true connection to Marwan's work,' Moumni said.
The National
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Christie's to spotlight Marwan and his rippling art of exile in summer exhibition in London
For Marwan Kassab-Bachi, better known as Marwan, the human face was a landscape of emotion and existential depth. His haunting, contorted visages were his signature – a rippling representation of the disquiet of living abroad. This summer, the third annual Arab Art Exhibition at Christie's will spotlight the late Syrian painter, presenting works that chart his remarkable career, from the figurative works of the 1960s, a few years after he moved to Germany, to the enigmatic Marionette series and his idiosyncratic facial terrains. Marwan: Soul in Exile will take place between July 16 and August 22 at Christie's global headquarters in London. It brings together close to 200 works loaned by several top institutions from the Arab world, Europe and the US. 'We wanted to highlight one of the most fascinating artists coming from the Arab world,' says Ridha Moumni, chairman of Christie's Middle East and Africa. 'Marwan's work is in several major institutions in the Middle East, but he is also one of the most sought-after Arab artists in the West. His works are held by several prestigious institutions, including the Tate Modern in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and recently the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.' This global recognition mirrors Marwan's own life, which was marked by a constant dialogue between the Arab world and the West, deeply influencing his style and thematic concerns. While Marwan left his native Syria in 1957, travelling to Germany where he would live most of his life, he was inextricable from the Arab world. His works are often perceived as representations of life in exile, a yearning for wholeness as well as a devotion to a homeland rife with struggle. 'The idea is to really show the legacy of this artist who was living and working in Germany, but who was very important to the Arab world,' Moumni says. 'His paintings describe the political situation of the Middle East, which touch upon his exile and life in Berlin. At the same time, he was able to display his work and voice to the region. He was an important mentor for a generation of artists, affecting their lives and their art. Among them are Said Baalbaki, Ayman Baalbaki and Serwan Baran, to name a few.' Marwan sustained a steady artistic output until his death in 2016. He was the first artist from the Middle East to be accepted to the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, graduating from its department of painting in 1963. He worked with a quiet determination for years after, despite measured success. His practice was unencumbered even during the time he worked in a fur factory in Berlin between 1962 and 1970, painting some of his most recognisable works during this period, including The Husband (1966). 'We will be exhibiting the earliest works of Marwan,' Moumni says. 'We will follow his career, showing works from key periods of his career. We will show the works he produced when he arrived in Germany and became an abstract painter. We will show the shift in his work during the 1960s and 1970s, when he became recognised as one of the greatest figures from a new generation of figurative painters in Germany. We will also be presenting works that he created in the 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s, until his death.' Highlights will include works from Face Landscape, showing how the series – most of which was rendered in monochrome or with a restrained use of colour – went on to inform his famous Heads portraits of faces contorting vividly across a wide palette of hues. 'We will also exhibit important still life, lithographs and works on paper that were inspired by the collaborations he did with writers from the Arab world,' adds Moumni. Marwan: Soul in Exile is the third iteration of Christie's annual exhibition of Arab art in London. The inaugural Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World was held in 2023. The exhibition marked London's largest presentation of Arab art. It was divided into two segments. The first, Kawkaba – Arabic for constellation – brought 100 artworks from the Barjeel Art Foundation's collection, including luminaries such as Mohamed Melehi, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Inji Efflatoun, Simone Fattal, Menhat Helmy, Samia Osseiran Joumblatt and Mona Saudi. The second section of the exhibition, Emirati Art Reimagined: Hassan Sharif and the Contemporary Voices, highlights the contributions of one UAE artist who was pivotal in establishing the contemporary and conceptual art scene of the country and wider region. Last year, Christie's held a mid-career retrospective of Ahmed Mater's work. Entitled Ahmed Mater: Chronicles, the exhibition featured more than 100 works including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, video and installation – giving a comprehensive overview of the diversity of the Saudi artist's practice. While the previous two exhibitions demanded a deft curatorial touch – particularly as they served as many Londoners' first in-depth encounter with Arab art – that's less the case with Marwan: Soul in Exile, Moumni says. 'Marwan's works are extremely evocative,' Moumni adds. 'They speak for themselves. They create a dialogue with the viewer that is strong. Simply seeing the work in person showcases the mastery of the artist. His art speaks to viewers no matter where they come from. 'Marwan remains one of the most fascinating artists of the 20th century,' Moumni adds. 'He didn't get what he deserved during his life. This exhibition brings some of the most important works by Marwan in one place to give an opportunity for visitors to reconsider the career of an artist who struggled all his life to find his place in the West. He developed an artistic career in Europe but remained intellectually and emotionally connected to the Middle East. Marwan's art represents an encounter of these two different cultures.'
