Featured Artist
Alfred Basbous
Biography
Born in Rachana, Alfred Basbous was a central figure in the development and advancement of Modernism in the Middle East during the latter part of the 20th century. The sculptor’s first exhi- bition was at the Alecco Saab Gallery, in Beirut in 1958. Basbous was the recipient of a scholarship from the French government in 1960 and the student of renowned French sculptor René Col- lamarini at ‘Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts’, Paris. In both 1961 and 1966, Basbous’s works were included in the International Sculpture Ex- hibition at the ‘Musée Rodin’, Paris.
He participated in the ‘Atelier de Collamarini’ ex- hibition in 1974 at Musée Rodin. Basbous exhib- ited extensively across the MENA region and beyond, notably in France, England, the US and Japan. The artist’s philosophy, grounded in sim-
plicity, prioritised aesthetic principles of shape, movement, line and material. In the tradition of sculptors such as Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși and Henry Moore, Basbous’s sculptural works – predominantly in bronze, wood, metal and stone – express a lifelong appreciation of the purity of the human form, in particular the fe- male body, and its abstract properties.
His art forms part of several international public and private collections, including the Ash- molean Museum in Oxford, the Hakone Open- Air Museum in Japan and the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as Villa Audi, Sursock Museum and Parliament in Lebanon.
