HEAD OF A WOMAN
signed and dated S. Sinevi / 1940 centre right
gouache on paper
39.5 x 30.5cm; 15 1/2 x 12in
60.5 x 51cm; 23 3/4 x 20in (framed)

Property from a Private Collection, London

Provenance
Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, 2012

The son of a magistrate in the Ottoman Empire, Saadi Sinevi was born in Istanbul. Due to his family situation and the start of the First World War, he moved to Beirut, where he studied until 1916. Two years later he moved to Paris, where he trained as an architect from 1918 to 1922.

Returning to Beirut, he started to work in advertising as well as at an enamel and print studio. During the 1930s, he founded Les amis de la peinture , 'Friends of Painting' association, to help and encourage the many artists of the time. Appointed by the Lebanese government as President of the Association for Lebanese Sculptors and Painters, he was the organiser of several large exhibitions held at the Unesco Palace (1949) and in the Hall of the Lebanese Parliament building between 1936 and 1942.

In 1942 he founded his magazine La voix de l'artiste, ' The painter's voice', which he used as an advertising medium, and a way of expression. There, he published reports from his studio and his artistic practices, presenting new painters and creative projects, which constituted a large and important part of his personal and professional life. Known as one of the survivors of the Lebanese artistic renaissance, his work is characterised by bringing to life landscapes and nature through painting, reminiscing on childhood memories full of colour and folklore.