Christie’s Dubai art sale sponsored by credit Suisse includes key works from artists from North Africa, the gulf & the Levant
International Modern & Contemporary Art
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Christie’s auction of International Modern and Contemporary Art includes more than 150 works representing artists from around the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, alongside a handful of works by western artists. The sale includes works from Saudi Arabian artists for the first time (separate press release available) and is sponsored by Credit Suisse, one of the leading global providers of financial products and services in Private Banking, Investment Banking, and Asset Management.
Jussi Pylkkänen, President of Christie’s Middle East and Europe, commented: “This sale is a significant sign of the continuing maturity of the art market in the region. Its strength lies in the diversity of artists represented from countries all over the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey which has grown and expanded with each of our sale seasons in Dubai. We are confident that the works included in the sale will be well received by new and existing collectors.”
Raj Sehgal, Branch Manager, Credit Suisse Dubai, said: “Credit Suisse considers the Middle East as one of its most important growth markets, having built its knowledge and understanding of the region over four decades. Through its collaboration with Christie’s, Credit Suisse brings to clients, investors and collectors in the Middle East, an opportunity to engage in a prestigious forum dealing in high value art and jewelry. The artworks on offer are a mélange of tradition and modernism.”
Iran
A large Triptych showing the sun amidst a bank of trees, blown aside by the wind, the fine branches and leaves like peacock feathers filtering the glow of its vivid orange light, by the Iranian artist Abolghassem Saidi, is one of the highlights. Painted in 1982, the triptych is offered for sale from a private American collection and is estimated at $80,000-100,000. Other Iranian artists represented in the sale include important works by; Parviz Tanavoli The Wall and the Script (estimate: $120,000-180,000), Sohrab Sepehri Untitled (estimate: $150,000-200,000), Charles Hossein Zeneroudi Wav+ Wav + VE, (estimate: $150,000-200,000) and Mohammed Ehsai A Bunch of Daffodils (estimate: $120,000-180,000).
Saudi Arabia
This is the first time that a group of work from Saudi Arabia has been included in an international auction and will include works by six contemporary artists including Ahmed Mater Al-Ziad Aseeri and Lulwah Al-Homoud, reflecting the vibrancy of the Kingdom’s young artistic talent. Ahmed Mater Al-Ziad Aseeri, a doctor, landscape photographer and businessman who was born in Abha, in Aseer in 1979 and is one of Saudi Arabia’s most celebrated young artists, will offer a work form his X-Ray series which shows a skeletal head and torso set upon sheets resembling pages from a traditional religious text. Illumination V and VI, which is made of X-ray film print on paper stained with tea and pomegranate juice and embossed with gold leaf, turquoise, amber and carnelian, is estimated at $15,000-20,000. Maharam, a play on the Arabic word used to describe tissues and your close family, is by Ayman Yossri Daydban. In this work, the Jeddah-based artist has taken a group of tissue boxes, decorated them with posters advertising classic Arabic films from the 1940s or 1950s and stacked them beside and on top of one another, (estimate: $10,000-15,000).
The Levant
A group of four paintings by the celebrated Syrian artist Fateh Moudarres, from the collection of the former German Ambassador to Syria, Rudolf Fechter and his wife Maria is the highlight of this part of the sale. The most important work in the group is The Icons of Moudarres from 1962 with an estimate of $30,000-40,000 showing a group of figures, arranged symmetrically with areas picked out in gold leaf. This important work by the artist symbolizes the three main monotheistic religions in Syria through the symbolism of the Cross, face of Christ, tablets of law and group of veiled faces. Other artists represented from this region include; Louay Kayyali (Syria), Chafic Abboud (Lebanon), Laila Shawa (Palestine) and Paul Guiragossian (Lebanon).
North Africa
North African artists represented in the sale include; Mahjoub Ben Bella (Algeria), Rachid Koraichi (Algeria), Nja Mahdaoui (Tunisia), Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco), Lalla Essaydi (Morocco) and Abdallah Benanteur (Algeria).
Egypt
A large bronze sculpture, Au bord du Nil, by Mahmoud Mokhtar (1891-1934), the much admired Egyptian sculptor and the father of modern Egyptian art, is included with an estimate of $60,000-80,000. From a private collection in Paris, the bronze measuring 63cms., depicts a woman carrying a carafe on her head, her robe draped around her to the ground and a large bangle around her upper arm. The sale also includes an important portrait of Tahia Halim, one of Egypt’s most important 20th Century artists by Hamed Nada, her contemporary and an artist of equal importance in Egypt. It was exhibited at the 1st Biennale in Alexandria in 1955 and is estimated at $100,000-150,000.
Turkey
This will be the second time that a significant group of works by Turkish artists have been included in the Dubai sales. This time 16 works are offered and they are highlighted by Selma Gűrbűz’s Kedili Doga (Nature with Cats) showing a seated woman in a black dress surrounded by cats, one draped around her shoulders (estimate: $35,000-45,000) and Erol Akyavaş’ Alma Ausente, an important early work from a private collection in the United States, estimated at $70,000-100,000.
