Biography:

Mohammad el Rawas, painter and printmaker, was born on the 26th of May 1951 in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 1971 he joined the Institute of Fine Arts at the Lebanese University in Beirut, Lebanon, and graduated with a BA in painting in 1975. At this time the civil war in Lebanon broke out, and el Rawas fled the country.

The war had a drastic effect on el Rawas and he stopped painting for two years.

In 1977 he traveled to Morocco, where he worked as an art instructor at the Ecole Normale des Institutrices, Rabat, until 1979. It was at this time that he started painting again.

In 1979 he returned to Beirut, and held his first individual exhibit. Benefitting from a scholarship from The Lebanese University, he enrolled at The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, United Kingdom, and graduated with an MA degree in printmaking in 1981.

In 1981 he returned to Lebanon and started teaching in 1982 at the Lebanese University, Institute of Fine Arts in Beirut.

From 1983 until 1992 he served as Secretary General of the Association of Lebanese Artists.

From 1992 until 2000 he taught at the American University of Beirut, Department of Architecture and Design, and founded the etching, engraving and silkscreen studios.

He is currently living in Beirut, where he paints and works as a full time professor at the lebanese University, Institute of Fine Arts in Beirut.

List of exhibitions

One-Man Exhibitions:

2010 Art Sawa, Dubai UAE
2007 Aida Cherfan Fine Art, Beirut
2004 Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut
2000 Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut
1997 Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut
1995 Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut
1991 Platform Gallery, Beirut
1990 Kufa Gallery, London
1979 Rencontre Art Gallery, Beirut

Selected International Group Exhibitions:

2007 Exhibition of Lebanese Art, Algeria the Cultural City of the Arab World, Algeria.
2007 24th Alexandria Biennale of the Mediterranean Countries. Alexandria, Egypt. (Prize of the Biennale)
2006 Word into Art, Artists of the Modern Middle East. The British Museum, London, UK.
2003 First Beijing International Art Biennale, China.
2002 Tokyo Mini Print Biennale, Japan.
2002 Southern Graphic Council Conference, New Orleans, USA.
2000 93e Salon de la Société Internationale des Beaux-Arts (SIBA), La Mairie de Paris, France.
1998 Nine International Graphic Artists, Trondheim Art Center, Trondheim, Norway.
1998-2000 Art Beyond Borders, UNESCO and TIMOTCA (The International Museum of Twentieth Century Art).
- UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, 1998.
- Mitra Municipal Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 1998.
- Las Vegas Art Museum, USA, 2000
1997 Eighth Asian Art Biennale, Dacca, Bangladesh.
1997 Krakow International Print Triennale, Poland.
1996 Contemporary Lebanese Artists, Sharjah Art Museum, UAE.
1995 Second Qarin Cultural Festival, Kuwait.
1993 Eigtheenth Alexandria Biennale, Egypt.
1993 & 96 First and Second Egyptian International Print Triennale, Cairo, Egypt.
1993 First International Print Biennale, Maastricht, Holland.
1992 & 95 Tenth and Eleventh Norwegian International Print Triennale, Fredriskstad, Norway.
1989 Liban, Le Regard des Peintres, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France.
1989 Lebanon, The Artist's View, Concourse Gallery, Barbican Center, London, UK.
1989 Ninth Norwegian International Print Triennale, Fredrikstad, Norway (Honorable Mention).
1988 Presence de la Gravure, Centre d'Art Vivant de la Ville de Tunis, Tunisia.
1988 Contemporary Lebanese Artists, Kufa Gallery, London, UK.
1986 Contemporary Arab Art, The Mall Galleries, London, UK.
1985 Arab Art Biennale of Kuwait.
1985 & 97 Eleventh and Nineteenth International Independent Exhibition of Prints, Kanagawa, Japan.
1985 Cabo Frio International Print Biennale, Brazil (Prize of Honor).
1984 The First Contemporary Arab Art Exhibition, Centre d'Art Vivant de la Ville de Tunis, Tunisia (Third Prize).
1984 & 86 Eigth and Ninth British International Print Biennale, Bradford, UK.
1983 World Print Four, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA.
1982 & 84 Sixth and Seventh Norwegian International Print Biennale, Fredrikstad, Norway.
1983 Contemporary Arab Graphics and Works on Paper, Graffiti Gallery, London, UK.
1982 Contemporary Arab Graphics, Graffiti Gallery, London, UK.
1981 Slade Folio Show, Greenwich Theatre Art Gallery, London, UK.
1981 West Surrrey College of Art & Design, postgraduate students from Royal College of Art, Slade School of Fine Art and the Royal Academy Schools
1980 Third World Biennale of Graphic Art, Iraqi Cultural Center, London, UK (Honorable Mention).

Public Collections:

Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon.
The National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq.
Centre d'Art Vivant de la Ville de Tunis, Tunisia.
The British Museum, London, UK.
Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway.
The International Museum of Twentieth Century Art Collection.
Sharjah Museum of Contemporary Arab Art, UAE.
American University of Beirut Art Center Collection, Lebanon.
Darat al-Funun, Amman, Jordan.