Alfred Basbous “Femme Assise” at Art Dubai 2016

The “Rodin of Middle East” showcases work that glorifies women in all stages of life

Dubai, UAE (March 14, 2016): Alfred Basbous Foundation and ARTSPACE-Dubai-DIFC are pleased to announce their participation in the 2016 edition of Art Dubai Modern where one of the Lebanese master’s collection called “Femme Assise” will be showcased from 16^th to 19^th March at Madinat Jumeirah.

Now on its third year, Art Dubai Modern is the only curated programme of its kind in the world featuring works by masters from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. The works presented have rarely been seen before, with drawings, paintings and sculpture that are from the 1970s – 1980s with an emphasis on minimal abstraction.

The works of Alfred Basbous glorify women in all stages of life: single or coupled, from birth to motherhood. He sculpted voluptuous and feminine forms in stone, bronze and marble. In a pure and modern style, his sculptures capture the grace of the female figure.

“Alfred Basbous believes that the aim of art is to discover the shape, therefore, he must overcome thought and imaging to detect the shape up to the ultimate expression. He refuses to give attention to direct expression and in the best conditions, he rejects the external movement. He believes that his role is not in finding solutions and answering questions but in presenting these issues and asking new questions or even raising old questions in a new language,” according to C.N., a historian.

The conservative artist believes that honesty towards life and nature makes the best art (he refuses the saying that the best poems are just lies). He thinks that the role of the artist is to be pioneer in his society. He is idealistic; he preaches showing the right way with confidence, because he has clear vision to his values, he perseveres in transferring the world even if he fails to do so completely. The art is the reflection of the thought, an image of the reality, and a tangible translation of the values, therefore, it imposes the thought on the material. He eventually hopes that the stone would feel as it has a spirit. (The artist tries to make the stone speaks).

The curator, Fadi Alfred Basbous stated: “The art of Alfred Basbous is rich in modulation, because in his work he always tries to avoid the decoration, the cute and the stylish and go towards combining the aesthetic harmony in conflict and struggle in the same artwork. He presents his artworks to us impressed by reality but not depicted to it. Beauty is the perfect harmony between the various elements of the work with their different material, substance, shape, lines and space. Through such harmony, our unconscious is revealed and we are astonished by the sparkled secrets of the universe.”

Alfred Basbous sculpted slender shapes, with no sharp angle. Even in his cubic and rectangular structures, joints are always rounded. Sensitive and demanding, he polished the surfaces in the extreme, making them soft and sensual, when he allowed the stone to remain rough; the relief is more welcoming than disturbing. The curves come into dialogue with each other, flirt, intersect, defy or protect themselves. Without suffering from any symmetry, the works of Alfred Basbous breathe nevertheless the balance. They are often provided with openings that take the eye beyond the surface, inside the material itself.

Alfred Basbous master pieces are being collected by international and Middle Eastern collectors. His works such as the Vision masterpiece is displayed at Villa Audi Beirut as main piece of Mr Raymond Audi collection and the Echo is the main sculpture of the Pan Arab private collection of Dr Ramzi Dalloul. His work was recently auctioned at Christie’s Dubai and sold last October. Alfred Basbous work is on permanent display at Rodin Museum since 1974 and at Oxford Museum since 1993.

Other artworks of Alfred Basbous will be on display at ARTSPACE DIFC such as the Seated Women, Bust, Accolade and Taureau. For more information about the artist, please contact ARTSPACE at 04 323 0820 or send email to sossy@artspace-dubai.com.

About Alfred Basbous:

Born in Rachana, Lebanon, in 1924, three years following the birth of his brother Michel, Alfred Basbous had a peripatetic childhood. His family moved around, living among different communities, as his father was a parish priest. Alfred worked with stone early on, and began carving works in wood and metal too, primarily to represent animals and female nudes. In 1960, he received a scholarship from the French government and became a pupil of the sculptor René Collamarini at L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1961, his works were included in the International Sculpture Exhibition at the Musée Rodin, Paris. Returning home, Alfred drew inspiration from the Modernism of Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore and Jean Arp, as well as the nature of Lebanon, reflected in his work on the human body and feminine curves.