Hussein Madi, (Lebanon, born 1938)

Shifting Sands

Shifting Sands
acrylic and sand on panel
signed "MADI" and dated "09" (lower right), executed in 2009
120 x 120cm (47 1/4 x 47 1/4in).

Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Beirut

Lots 34-37 of the present auction present a seminal group of works by Lebanese artist Hussein Madi, spanning over half a century of the artists career and exemplifying this artists tremendous vision, versatility, and mastery of artistic mediums.

A prolific Lebanese painter, sculptor and printmaker, Hussein Madi is best known for his colourful works that harmonise abstract design with Islamic art. In 1962, after completing his studies at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut Madi worked in Baghdad, Iraq for a short period of time before moving to Rome, Italy in 1963 to complete his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti.

Madi was based in Rome for much of the Seventies and Eighties, studying everything from frescoes and mosaics to sculpture techniques in bronze and wax while continuing to teach at the National Art Institute of the Lebanese University, Beirut in parallel. In 1973, he made the first of his now famous alphabetic works, for which he created a grid of forms representing visual riffs on the letters of the Arabic alphabet, exemplified in the stunning alphabetical composition in Lot 35. Over time Madi developed several of those forms into symbolic figures that were oft-repeated in his oeuvre. In 1986 Madi re-located to Beirut where he has been working ever since.

Aside from his alphabetic works, Madi's weaves exquisite semi-optical, colourful abstract compositions notable for their fractal and symmetrical qualities. Inspired by European artists likes Matisse and Picasso, Madi displays superb draftsmanship, his eye notably sensitive to the linear definition of form.