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Lot Essay
The Lebanese artist Yvette Achkar has been at the forefront of the Lebanese modern art scene, becoming a pioneer female artist noted for her experimentation of colour and developing a unique language of simplicity in abstraction. Born in Sao Paulo in 1928, she then graduated from ALBA in 1957 where she was highly influenced by the Italian painter Fernando Manetti and the French painter Georges Cyr. She then received a scholarship to Paris from the French government, later teaching painting at ALBA and at the Institute of Fine Art, Lebanese University from 1966 to 1988.
Christie’s is offering this work at a time when international female artists are receiving recognition for their presence within more male dominated artistic circles, including those such as Hilma af Klimt at the Guggenheim, New York; Fahrelnissa Zeid’s show at the Tate Modern in 2017, along with the many Middle Eastern modernist artists we are offering in our present sale such as Etel Adnan, Gazbia Sirry, Huguette Caland, Helen Khal, Nadia Saikali and Juliana Seraphim.
Achkar’s work embodies a strong sense of energy and artistic vigor articulated with a splash of colour. Her abandonment of structure develops a sense of underlying tension within her work, where forms clash with planes of colour without a defined plane of reference. In the present work, her use of colour and form are clearly articulated, with patches of brush strokes in exacting form and impastoed technique producing an abstracted entity cascading against a calming celadon background. Whereas her earlier works were noted by their geometric abstraction, her later works move away from an emphasis on style to the language of simplicity. She cleans and bares her lines, willingly curbs her use of color, focusing much on the technique, whereby her identity dissolves within the canvas.
The artist has participated in different biennales in Baghdad, Alexandria, Paris, and Sao Paolo and has taken part in collective exhibitions in Italy, Belgium and Yugoslavia and Lebanon, among others and is a recipient of numerous prizes including UNESCO, Baalbeck and Ministry of Education and National Fine Arts, Lebanon.
Christie’s is offering this work at a time when international female artists are receiving recognition for their presence within more male dominated artistic circles, including those such as Hilma af Klimt at the Guggenheim, New York; Fahrelnissa Zeid’s show at the Tate Modern in 2017, along with the many Middle Eastern modernist artists we are offering in our present sale such as Etel Adnan, Gazbia Sirry, Huguette Caland, Helen Khal, Nadia Saikali and Juliana Seraphim.
Achkar’s work embodies a strong sense of energy and artistic vigor articulated with a splash of colour. Her abandonment of structure develops a sense of underlying tension within her work, where forms clash with planes of colour without a defined plane of reference. In the present work, her use of colour and form are clearly articulated, with patches of brush strokes in exacting form and impastoed technique producing an abstracted entity cascading against a calming celadon background. Whereas her earlier works were noted by their geometric abstraction, her later works move away from an emphasis on style to the language of simplicity. She cleans and bares her lines, willingly curbs her use of color, focusing much on the technique, whereby her identity dissolves within the canvas.
The artist has participated in different biennales in Baghdad, Alexandria, Paris, and Sao Paolo and has taken part in collective exhibitions in Italy, Belgium and Yugoslavia and Lebanon, among others and is a recipient of numerous prizes including UNESCO, Baalbeck and Ministry of Education and National Fine Arts, Lebanon.