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Eclectic Wonders: The Collection of Timothy Egert

6^* — Louay Kayyali (Syria, 1934-1978) The Young Lovers (Al Ashiqan Al Saghiran)

£50,000 - £80,000

7^* — Naim Ismail (Syria, 1930-1979) Hayy ibn Yaqzan (Alive, son of Awake)

£40,000 - £60,000

8^* — Saliba Douaihy (Lebanon, 1915-1994) Mar Gerges Church, Ehden

£20,000 - £30,000

9^* — Jewad Selim (Iraq, 1919-1961) Still life with Statuette

£50,000 - £80,000

10^* — Mamdouh Kashlan (Syria, 1929-2022) Before The Light Fades (Kabl An Yazoul Al Djaw)

£12,000 - £15,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

11 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Study of a Rural Family

£15,000 - £25,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

12 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Mother and Child

£100,000 - £150,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

13 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Public Bath

£40,000 - £60,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

14 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) H20 + AG + AiR (From the Quantum Realism Series)

£50,000 - £80,000

15^* — Sliman Mansour (Palestine, born 1947) Woman From Bethlehem

£60,000 - £80,000

16^* — Etel Adnan (Lebanon, 1925-2021) Belles Creatures

£60,000 - £80,000

17^* — Saloua Raouda Choucair (Lebanon, 1916-2017) Untitled (from the Repetitive Dual series)

£30,000 - £50,000

18^*,AR — Chaouki Choukini (Lebanon, born 1946) Equation Existentielle

£30,000 - £40,000

19^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Al Shamr

£40,000 - £60,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

20^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Arabic Image II

£30,000 - £50,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

21^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Drawings Consecrated to Love

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

22^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Horse

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

23^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Composition

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

24^AR — Shafic Abboud (Lebanon, 1926-2004) Le Cafe a Gien

£2,000 - £3,000

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Lot 32^*

Aref Al Rayyes
(Lebanon, 1928-2005)
A New Hope

Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art

24 November 2020, 15:00 GMT

London, New Bond Street

£25,000 - £35,000

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Aref Al Rayyes (Lebanon, 1928-2005)

A New Hope
acrylic on board
signed "A.RAYESS" (lower left), executed between 1997-2000
120 x 112cm (47 1/4 x 44 1/8in).

Footnotes

TWO LARGE AND IMPORTANT WORKS BY AREF EL-RAYYES FROM A DISTIUNISHED LEBANESE PRIVATE COLLECTION

Provenance:
Property from a distinguished private collection, Beirut

Exhibited:
UNESCO, Aref El Rayess solo exhibition, Beirut, Lebanon

Born in Aley, Mount Lebanon in 1928, Aref Rayess started his career as a self-taught artist He lived in Africa for many years during which he travelled between Senegal and Paris. In Paris, he joined the studios of Fernand Léger, André Lhote, Marcelle Marso and Ossip Zadkine while studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.

In 1957, he returned to Lebanon, but left again for Florence in 1959 with a scholarship from the Italian government. From 1960 to 1963, he lived in Rome where he went on studying and exhibiting.
In 1963, he returned to Lebanon.

Such is the diversity and variation of Rayess output, it is impossible to attach his oeuvre to any given movement or artistic style. A complete and consummate artist, Rayess refused to be bounded by the strictures of artistic classification, instead choosing to experiment, innovate, and pursue his artistic agenda with total freedom.

Deeply devoted to the Druze faith, a syncretic, philosophical religion which emphasizes spiritual knowledge and the oneness of man and the universe above dogma, Rayess work is imbued with a sense of spiritual freedom and mysticism. In abstraction, the artist blurs the boundaries of landscape, shape and geometry, and the present work is a stunning example of the period in which he was manipulating abstract and geometric morphology.

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- Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art