„Artists emerging from Syrian suffering“

 

The exhibition shows works by seven artists who all belong to the movement that dominates the enlightened spirit of the Syrian artist, namely Expressionism in all its diversity: the committed, the socio-spiritual or the psychological.

 

There are four generations representing this direction: The first generation, the sixties, are the founders of the Faculty of Arts in Damascus. The initiative of these artists is also reflected in the time of the artists of the seventies generation who collaborated with them in the teaching activities of the faculty, some of them before their time of study in Europe. The third generation of the eighties worked at the same time as the Homs Group. Edwar Shahda is one of them. The artist group of Lattakia, on the other hand, is made up of several generations, including Layla Noussair and Nizar Sabour. The young nineties generation suffered the most from the war events. Many of them emigrated to Europe or to neighbouring Arab countries. However, the artists represented in this exhibition all live and work in Syria.

 

Despite the considerable time difference of half a century, the influence of German Expressionism, especially on the spiritual level, can be seen in the works shown. For the painting is an epic testimony of human suffering, whether spiritual or physical, especially in times of war. The Syrian painter Marwan Kassab-Bachi, who lived in Germany, is regarded as a bridge between the art of Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Otto Dix, Käthe Kollwitz, Emil Nolde and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the art of his homeland.

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by Dr. Asaad Arabi

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