Les Femmes de Madi

Madi’s joyful experiments in colour and form have resulted in a unique body of work that relates to modern artists like Matisse and Picasso, as well as to the principles of divine harmony that inform the abstract designs of Islamic art. His intensely personal fusion of European and Islamic influences presents itself with a force that is both arresting and subtle. Combining meticulousness and sensuality, Madi’s lines sing with a spontaneous freedom that belies the careful, even exacting, calculations that the artist invests in each work.

“…here’s the mystery of creation that inspired my art. There is a unity at the beginning that reproduces with differences, type, number, colour and dimension. All things that are born and die respond to these four categories. The repetition in my paintings is there on purpose and is a way to honour the creator.” (H. Madi. in L’Orient du Jour 2019)

Les Femmes de Madi has been made possible through our partnership with Teal Editions whose Lebanese founder, Mazen Soueid, is passionate about the importance of art. “Art came to me as the answer. Art is the accumulation of a cultural heritage that has been developed over the last years and decades, and that has reflected these great ambitions. And even though almost nothing adheres anymore, this art that has been created is real. This art reflects the best of us. It therefore deserves to be rediscovered, defended and disseminated. It deserves to be a source of pride. Because this art is a living proof that, despite all, something here was genuine. Something here is still beautiful.”

Hussein Madi (b.1938 Chebaa, Lebanon) studied at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts in Beirut and after working in Baghdad as an illustrator and cartoonist for a short period, he moved to Rome in 1963 to complete his studies at the Accademia di belle Arti and the Academia di San Jacomo. Based between Rome and Beirut during the 1970s and 1980s, he was inspired by his research into the cultural heritage of the Levant and Egypt, and by the Old Masters’ techniques in frescoes, mosaics and bronze sculpture. Madi went on to research the history of the Arabic language and taught sculpture and engraving at the Lebanese University and the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts.

Madi’s works have been featured at the British Museum, and he has participated in Biennales in Venice, Alexandria, Cairo and São Paulo. His works can be found in major international institutions including the British Museum, The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, the Dalloul Art Foundation and the Sursock Museum, Beirut, L’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris and the Sharjah Museum.

Since 1964 Madi has been living between Beirut and Rome.

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