BASSARA
signed in English and Arabic - M. Farroukh - lower right
oil on canvas
50 x 40cm; 19.6 x 15.7in
54 x 45cm; 21 1/4 x 17 3/4in (framed)

Painted in 1945

Property from a Private Collection, London

Provenance
Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, 2012

Moustafa Farroukh was formally trained in Rome and graduated from Accademia di Belle Arti. He proceeded to Paris and continued further studies under the guidance of Paul Emile Chabas, the president of the Society of French Artists. During his successful but short career, he exhibited in Paris, Venice, New York and Beirut. In his studio in Beirut, he established a permanent exhibition of his work. Farroukh travelled through Spain in the early 1930s where his appreciation of Arabic art and architecture had a long-lasting effect on his artistic touch.

Farroukh became highly regarded as a Lebanese national painter at a time when Lebanon was asserting its political independence. His work was applauded for its representation of real life in Lebanon through pictures of the country, its people and its customs, capturing their spirit and character.

Farroukh wrote five books and taught art at the American University of Beirut and lectured in various academies. He joined the group of philosophers, thinkers, and literati who lectured in the renowned Al Nadwa gatherings or Le Cénacle Libanais. In 1954, he was awarded the 'Order of Merit', and the 'Order of the Cedar' by the Lebanese government. In 1974, he was featured posthumously on a Lebanese airmail postage stamp in recognition of his work.