Nazir Ismail – Born in Damascus in(1948–2016) was self-taught, discovering art at an early age from the famous folk artist Abu Subhi Al Tinawi, whose studio was close to his grandfather’s house.
In the 1960s, when Ismail began his practice, he moved to Beirut and held his first exhibition. From its dismal reviews, he began new experimentations and finally settled on his distinctive form of expressionism. In the beginning, he focused on rural mud houses, depicting their simplicity of shape and life. Evolving over time from the houses to elongated figures and faces, his work used distinctive geometric and stylised forms: expressive elements in the brushwork, colours and faces of the figures create an emotive quality, with his canvases full of symbols.
(ATASSI FOUNDATION)
