 Adel
Saghir b. 1930
Biography:
Adel Saghir is an internationally recognized artist painter/sculptor
whose work has been characterized as "pulsating" and "obsessive"
by the New York Times.
Described as "among the best-known Lebanese abstract painters"
by author Frieda Howling, Saghir brought his unique and personal
style to the United States in 1973. His pieces have been exhibited
worldwide in a myriad of respected venues, such as the Paris and
Sao Paulo biennales, and can be seen in public locations including
the World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C. and Riyadh International
Airport in Saudi Arabia.
"Adel Saghir covers a canvas with circles and oval shapes,
building them up obsessively in stripes of all colors and tones,"
wrote Vivien Raynor of the New York Times in the art review Juried
Show: Best of a Good Lot. "The result is a pulsating, edge-to-edge
image."
While Saghir's work has evolved from various contemporary art disciplines
into what has been described as "extreme abstractionism,"
his controlled compositions denote the distinct origin of his Middle
Eastern heritage.
Other art critics reveal that, "Saghir's refusal to accept
easy apparent interpretations of abstract art, is rather a delving
into the genesis and roots of abstracts art itself."
"Saghir refuses to accept easy interpretation of abstract art,
instead delving into the genesis and roots of abstract art itself...
in quest of inherent authenticity with which he is establishing
his own personal style," wrote Victor Hakim in La Revue du
Liban. "Saghir is creating a new branch in international abstract
art.
Adel's work is publicly exhibited in many well known and respected
locations, such as:
World Bank Headquarters, Washington D.C.
12 Place Vendome, Paris
Riyadh International Airport, Saudi Arabia
Sursock Museum
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency
The Royal Dining Room of the Royal Reception Pavilion, King Abdul-Aziz
International Airport, Jeddah Saudi Arabia
The Palace of Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabbah, Kuwait
Union Bank of Switzerland, Beirut Lebanon
Beirut International Airport
"My
work, said the artist, has an oriental cachet put in a modern context"
Article:
After starting
medical school, then political science and philosophy. Adel Saghir
finally came to painting and sculpture. Already in his childhood
the paint box was the "magic box" that made him "Stay
quiet".
He attended the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts between 1952 and 1957
and continued his art education at the American University. In 1959
he received a two-year scholarship to specialize at the Munich School
of Fine Arts in Germany.
Adel Saghir wants to underline the part played by philosophy in
his art: "Philosophy", he says, "helped me a great
deal in achieving the synthesis between intellect and art... I have
selected the oriental school because it is specifically abstract
and because oriental thinking is abstract. Mysticism, Sufism, our
literature and our religion are filled with abstractions".
About his art, he claims that going from one color to the next,
from one form to another requires for him a functional formulation
in the composition which had always been neglected. This theme-formulation
plays an essential part and cannot be expressed without giving it
a concrete form.
The Lebanese critic Victor Hakim also writes in the same vein: "Adel
Saghir has chosen to express himself in terms of abstractions, starting
from oriental elements of decoration. These elements include the
use of the arabesque, especially curvilinear, but in Adel this arabesque
is translated into broken lines in search of an impossible quadrature."
He emphasizes that "our artist's merit consists in drawing
his inspiration from the oriental stylistic background, but without
repeating its implications... since he stretches his arabesques
in order to extract from them the maximum of personal research.
In so doing, he creates a new branch of international abstract art."
It is on this point that the critic Nazih Khater enlarges when he
says that Adel Saghir "has selected the path that goes through
the arabesque. This type of painting whose major concern is to be
part of the oriental tradition, at the same time a renaissance and
a transcription of the aesthetic symbols of the past, has always
been treated as a mere out-growth of western abstract art. "But",
he stated, "The work of art is defined by the process of its
genesis and Adel Saghir's research can only mean and enrooting."
Saghir who has reached this type of abstraction had from the beginning
studied modern German decoration which is influenced by the arabesque
while remaining outside its symbolism and meaning. They are "pictures
for contemplation" and make use of the beautiful rounded forms
of Arabic calligraphy. These pictures are abstract because the letters
which constitute them are not used to make up words.
However, after giving up "the beautiful rounded forms"
to adopt broken lines, Adel Saghir keeps getting closer to western
abstraction. Only his sculptures, especially those in metal, remain
closer to oriental calligraphic drawing.
Adel Saghir has recently begun to return to figurative art which
was the basis of his first academic works. This can be seen in his
preference for painting nudes and representing the environment of
his intimate life, his studio for example.
In French:
"Mon
œuvre dit l'artiste, a un cachet oriental mis dans un contexte moderne"
Après
avoir commencé la Médecine puis passé par les
Sciences Politiques et la Philosophie, Adel Saghir a fini par arriver
à la peinture et à la sculpture. Dès son enfance
la boîte de couleurs était cette " boîte
magique" qui le faisait "rester sage".
Il s'inscrit à l'Academie Libanaise des Beaux-arts (1952-1957)
et poursuit sa formation à l'Université Américaine.
En 1959 il obtient une bourse de spécialisation de deux ans
à l'école des Beaux-arts de Munich.
Adel Saghir tient à souligner le rôle de la philosophie
dans son art. "La philosophie, dit-il, m'a beaucoup aide à
faire la synthèse de l'intellect et de l'art... J'ai choisi
l'école orientale parce qu'elle est spécifiquement
abstraite, que la pensée orientale même est abstraite.
Le mysticisme, le soufisme, notre littérature, notre religion
contiennent beaucoup d'abstractions..."
A propose de son art, il souligne que le passage d'une couleur à
l'autre, d'une forme à l'autre, adopte chez lui une formulation
fonctionnelle dans la composition qui était toujours négligée.
Cette formulation-thème joue un rôle essentiel et on
peut l'exprimer sans la concrétiser.
Parallèlement, le critique Libanais Victor Hakim écrit:
"Adel Saghir a choisi de s'exprimer en termes d'abstraction
en parlant des éléments orientaux du décor.
Ces éléments comportent l'emploi de l'arabesque surtout
curviligne mais chez Adel cette arabesque est traduite par des lignes
brisées en quête d'une impossible quadrature."
Il souligne que "le mérite de notre artiste consiste
à s'inspirer du fonds stylistique oriental mais sans en répéter
les effets... car il prolonge ses arabesques pour en extraire le
maximum de recherche personnelle. Par ce joint il crée une
nouvelle branche de l'art abstrait international".
C'est sur ce point qu'insiste le critique Nazih Khater lorsqu'il
dit que Adel Saghir "a choisi le chemin qui passe par l'arabesque.
Cette peinture dont le souci majeur est de se vouloir dans la tradition
orientale, à la fois renaissance et transcription des symboles
esthétiques d'hier, s'est toujours vue traitée comme
un simple prolongement de l'abstrait occidental. Mais, a-t-il souligné,
l'œuvre d'art se définit par le mode de sa genèse
et les recherches de Adel Saghir ne peuvent que signifier l'enracinement."
En fait Adel qui a abouti à ce gendre d'abstraction, s'était
mis des le départ à étudier la decoration allemande
qui est influencee par l'arabesque tout en restant en dehors de
son symbolisme et de sa signification. Ce sont des "images
pour la contemplation" qui ont recours aux belles formes arrondies
de la calligraphie arabe. Ces images sont abstraites car les lettres
qui les composent ne servent pas à former des mots.
Or Adel Saghir, en renonçant aux "belles formes arrondies"
pour adopter les lignes brisées, s'est de plus en plus rapproché
de l'abstrait occidental. Seules ses sculptures, surtout celles
en métal, restent plus proches du dessin calligraphique oriental.
Adel Saghir a commencé récemment à revenir
à la composition figurative qui était à la
base de ses premières œuvres scolaires. Ceci se manifeste
dans son insistance à peindre le nu et à représenter
le cadre de sa vie intime comme, par exemple, son studio.
►► Some
of the artist's paintings
►► Some
of the artist's sculptures
Contact: editorial@onefineart.com
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