Louay Kayyali

(Syria, 1934-1978)

The Young Lovers (Al Ashiqan Al Saghiran)

Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from the collection of the Artist's family, Dubai
Collection of the Artist's cousins Najwa and Tarif Kayali, thence by descent
Acquired directly from the Artist by the above, Aleppo, 1974

Published:
Tarek Al Sharif, Louay Kayyali: Modernisation in Art, A Human Aspect, Damascus, Ministry of Culture, 2008, illustrated in colour
The Artist's official website ID 167

"In The Young Lovers, Kayyali departs from his usual register of melancholy and social alienation to offer a scene of disarming tenderness. The figures here are stripped of the burdens that weigh down so many of his compositions, revealing instead a quiet innocence, a fleeting, almost childlike intimacy that captures love in its purest, most unguarded state."

Louay Kayyali is remembered as one of the most sought-after Arab artists of the Modernist era. We are honoured to be presenting The Young Lovers, a rare and exquisite example of the artist's tender exploration of intimacy and affection. In striking contrast to the melancholy and solitude that define much of Kayyali's oeuvre, this moving painting captures a moment of connection and warmth, a fleeting embrace between two young lovers.

Painted in 1970's, The Young Lovers stands as a luminous testament to Kayyali's profound empathy for the human condition, here channelled through love rather than struggle. The two figures are locked in a gentle embrace, rendered with the artist's signature economy of form and quiet strength of line. The composition radiates serenity, the softness of their faces and the intertwining of their bodies suggesting both vulnerability and hope. Where many of Kayyali's subjects bear the weight of hardship, here he offers us a vision of tenderness and reprieve - a glimpse of emotional refuge amidst the turbulence of his times.

Kayyali was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1934. He received an art scholarship in 1956 to study at Rome's Academy of Fine Arts and participated in numerous exhibitions during his time in Italy, including representing Syria alongside Fateh Moudarres at the 1960 Venice Biennale. In 1961, he returned to Damascus, taking up a professorship at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts. Following the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War of 1967, Kayyali withdrew from painting for several years. When he resumed in the early 1970s, his work turned to depictions of ordinary Syrians: street vendors, labourers, and dreamers, all rendered with compassion and restraint.

The Young Lovers belongs to this mature period, yet it departs from the sorrowful tone of his social portraits. Instead, it celebrates the enduring human capacity for love and tenderness. The painting's recent publication marks an important contribution to Kayyali scholarship, enriching our understanding of the emotional breadth of his late work and reaffirming his place as one of the Arab world's most humane and perceptive modern painters.