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Lot Essay
The following paintings, each from three different decades of Abboud's oeuvre, exemplify how the artist explores his feelings and joy in the act of painting in various ways. Déjeuner à l'atelier, 1973 (lot 33), Untitled, 1981 (lot 34) and Premiers Gestes, 1992 (lot 32) are at first sight relatively abstract paintings. The earliest work out of the three from 1973 has an almost constructivist aspect because of the complexity and variety of blue tones and shapes, whilst the 1981 painting has a more fluid composition spreading over the entire canvas and dominated by warm pastel tones. Finally, Premiers Gestes wildly splashes out fiery bright colours throughout the canvas, yet revealing a powerful poetic feeling. The spontaneity of Abboud's brushstrokes in this painting of 1992 reveal to be carefully thought, as proved by the pages from his artist's book, in which he meticulously kept track of the progress of his work. Abboud took photographs day after day as well as notes on the different steps which led to the creation of his painting.
Giving the label of 'abstract painter' to Chafic Abboud would seem incorrect because as some of his predecessors, such as Renoir, Vuillard and Bonnard, he sought to depict light and the essence of it, using organic shapes and unique colours carefully chosen from his palette, prepared by himself from pigments. However, the monochrome planes of colour, the thick impasto and the flecks of pigment which cover his canvases are reminiscent of Nicolas de Stal's works. Yet Abboud's paintings do not depict stories or landscapes but nor are they entirely deprived of narrative. He uses hints and extracts the atmosphere of a precise scene in time through light and colours, such as that in the Déjeuner à l'atelier. His titles do not aim to confuse the viewer into Abboud's abstract world, but they indicate what he has represented and bridge Abboud's abstract colourful forms with clues drawn from reality which he subtly inserts onto his canvases. His paintings do not tell the story of an event or adventure, but focus on modest everyday-life snapshots, which the artist enjoyed and wanted to remember. Abboud communicates to the viewer what he felt when experiencing the moment but also when painting this moment. As Joseph Tarrab states, he describes Abboud's paintings as being his "private diary" and providing "the history of his sensations: the sensations of a pagan in a happy harmony with the world" (Shafic Abboud, Claude Lemand ed., p. 15).
In Abboud's works, it is not the suggested narrative which draws our attention, but rather the voluptuousness and happiness emanating from his paintings through its rich textures, pigments and the beautiful lyrical abstraction, radiating from the surface of his canvases and plunging the viewer into the artist's so called 'abboudian' world.
"That boundless delight at the prospect of painting, I go to my studio with great desire. I go in and look around with the delectation of the lover as well as his fears."
(Shafic Abboud, March 12, 1982)
Giving the label of 'abstract painter' to Chafic Abboud would seem incorrect because as some of his predecessors, such as Renoir, Vuillard and Bonnard, he sought to depict light and the essence of it, using organic shapes and unique colours carefully chosen from his palette, prepared by himself from pigments. However, the monochrome planes of colour, the thick impasto and the flecks of pigment which cover his canvases are reminiscent of Nicolas de Stal's works. Yet Abboud's paintings do not depict stories or landscapes but nor are they entirely deprived of narrative. He uses hints and extracts the atmosphere of a precise scene in time through light and colours, such as that in the Déjeuner à l'atelier. His titles do not aim to confuse the viewer into Abboud's abstract world, but they indicate what he has represented and bridge Abboud's abstract colourful forms with clues drawn from reality which he subtly inserts onto his canvases. His paintings do not tell the story of an event or adventure, but focus on modest everyday-life snapshots, which the artist enjoyed and wanted to remember. Abboud communicates to the viewer what he felt when experiencing the moment but also when painting this moment. As Joseph Tarrab states, he describes Abboud's paintings as being his "private diary" and providing "the history of his sensations: the sensations of a pagan in a happy harmony with the world" (Shafic Abboud, Claude Lemand ed., p. 15).
In Abboud's works, it is not the suggested narrative which draws our attention, but rather the voluptuousness and happiness emanating from his paintings through its rich textures, pigments and the beautiful lyrical abstraction, radiating from the surface of his canvases and plunging the viewer into the artist's so called 'abboudian' world.
"That boundless delight at the prospect of painting, I go to my studio with great desire. I go in and look around with the delectation of the lover as well as his fears."
(Shafic Abboud, March 12, 1982)