Levant Artspace

Georges Doche (1940 - 2018)

Mixed media on paper

Size with frame: 59x47cm

Size without frame: 42x31cm

Samir Abi Rached

Medium: oil on canvas

Size without frame: 60x73cm

Fadi Barrage (1940 - 1988)

Gouache/paper

With frame: 37x29.5cm

Without frame: 25x18cm

William Luker II
Luker is recorded as a painter of genre, portraits and landscape, as well as an illustrator. He was the son of the artist William Luker, Senior (active 1851-89) and exhibited widely from 1885-1939, notably at the Royal Academy and Royal Society of British Artists.

This base of a water pipe (huqqa) was made in India in the first half of the 18th century and belongs to a class of metalwares known as "bidri." Bidri is a technique known only in the Indian subcontinent and takes its name from the city of Bidar in the present-day state of Karnatika, where it is thought to have originated. Surviving pieces date from the late 16th or early 17th century, and it is still being made today. Bidri objects are cast from an alloy in which zinc predominates, though small amounts of lead, copper, and tin may also be found. The decoration may be inlaid with silver, as here, or silver and brass, or overlaid with silver wires hammered onto a cross-hatched surface. The final stage of the process is to apply a saline mud paste over the entire surface, which changes the dull grey of the alloy to a matt black without affecting the decoration.

Size: 17 cm

VICTORIAN PARCEL-GILT ELECTROTYPED EWERS
MARK OF ELKINGTON & CO., 1885

After a Renaissance ewer by François Briot (c.1550-1610), the figural handle terminating in a grotesque mask, the sides with oval panels depicting reclining classical figures, also dolphins, strapwork, winged horses & angel masks.

Size: 30 cm

18th Century Quadripartite Greek Icon.

Size: 80x60 cm

Pair of white Opaline glass (Bonbonnière).

Size: 16x10 cm

19th century Japanese hand carved and painted wooden mask.

Size: 32 cm (face)

Alfred Baccache (1921-1994)

Medium: oil on canvas

Size with frame: 60x46 cm

Size without frame: 51x37 cm

Baccache est né à Alep le 5 février 1921. Encouragé et guidé par son père, Nadim Baccache, portraitiste de renom en Syrie, il se met au dessin. Puis à la peinture. Sa première toile, réalisée en 1937 : un portrait de bédouin. Il croque les portraits de ses frères Edgard et Edmond et de sa sœur Hilda. Il produit ensuite pour la clientèle portraits et paysages. En 1941, il se lance dans la sculpture. Sa première œuvre : le buste du premier ministre syrien de l’Indépendance, Saadallah Djabri. En 1944, Alfred Baccache s’installe à Beyrouth, Bab Idriss. En 1953, il s’attaque à la sculpture monumentale, et son projet du «Prisonnier politique inconnu» est primé au concours de la «Tate Gallery» de Londres. Ses œuvres voyagent d’exposition en exposition : de Beyrouth à Washington, en passant par Berne, Paris et New York. Alfred Baccache a enseigné à l’UL et au «Center of fine arts» de Ras-Beyrouth. De 1953 à 1966, il est attaché artistique chez les Américains et il assume la direction artistique de plusieurs revues publiées. L’année 1958 lui apporte une reconnaissance internationale à travers son œuvre «Gazelle» gravée sur un vase en cristal «Steuben» dont trois copies sont toujours exposées au «Metropolitan Museum» de New York, au «National Gallery of Arts» à Washington ainsi qu’ au Musée national de Damas. Sa dernière œuvre a été le buste de son ami le peintre Rachid Wehbé, et son pinceau s’est arrêté le 17 juin 1994.

Michel Kurché (1900-1973)

Medium: oil on canvas

Size with frame: 66x47cm

Size without frame: 47x28cm

Born in Damascus, Michael Kurche (1900–1973) graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and participated in a number of exhibitions with his French peers. In 1925, Kurche returned to Damascus and taught at high schools until his retirement in 1949. One of his most well-known students, Elias Zayyat, described Kurche as “revolutionary in relation to what preceded him in Damascus.” Working swiftly and full of emotion, Kurche would sometimes complete a painting in a few minutes, capturing the essence of a moment. Using watercolours or oil, he adopted bright and cool hues to depict the effect of sunlight on subjects.

Contributing to the establishment of artistic associations in the 1940s, Kurche continued to paint and exhibit until his death in 1973. His works have been acquired by institutions in Damascus including the Syrian Ministry of Culture, The National Museum, Republican Palace, The Hospitality Palace and the Arab Scientific Complex. A prolific artist, he is credited with completing over 1,000 paintings in his lifetime which can be found in private collections in Syria, Lebanon, Europe and the US.

Wajih Nahlé (1932-2017)

Mixed media

Size with frame: 56x71cm

Size without frame: 33x48cm

Wajih Nahlé (وجيه نحلة), (February 1, 1932– February 21, 2017), born in Beirut, Lebanon, was a Lebanese postwar and contemporary master painter, calligrapher and sculpture who has created new and original forms of expression, a pioneer in his generation. He studied painting in the workshop of the Lebanese painter Moustafa Farroukh. Nahlé's work shows an interest in the decorative aspect of calligraphy.