Young Boy with Watering Can

Details

Louay Kayyali (Syrian, 1934-1978)
Young Boy with Watering Can
signed 'Kayyali' (lower left)
oil on canvas laid down on board
36 5/8 x 17¾in. (93 x 45cm.)
Painted in the 1960s

Provenance

Jalileh Yousef Kabboushi Collection, Damascus.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

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Lot Essay

Young Boy with Watering Can is an unusual composition in which the artist moves away from his well-known paintings of adolescent and adult characters to depict a seemingly playful and innocent child. However, on closer inspection of the painting, one feels a sense of melancholy and the innocence and purity of the figure slowly fades away. The boy is standing tall, with his eyes half shut, struggling to carry a heavy watering can. By depicting the child alone within a silent and almost haunting environment, Louay Kayyali alludes to the imminent loss of his innocence and evokes the burden shared by his fellow Syrian people.

Young Boy with Watering Can is one of the most rare and alluring examples from the artist's career to appear at auction.

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