Composition

Painted in 1954, Shafic Abboud's intricately constructed Composition is a seminal work from the beginning of his artistic career. A true museum quality piece for its rarity and pivotal art historical importance, Composition is considered as the Lebanese painter's first large abstract work. It marked his break from his early folkloric figurative works and stands out as the founding painting for his artistic research. Composition was exhibited in his first solo show that took place at the Galerie de Beaune in Paris in 1955. The exhibition's introductory text was written by one of the leading art critics of the 1950s and 1960s in Paris, Roger van Gindertael (1899-1982). Dedicated to supporting nonfigurative painters, Gindertael often organised exhibitions to showcase their works. In particular, he put forward Abboud to the Salon des Réalites Nouvelles in 1955, where the painter's works were regularly exhibited until his death. The execution of this striking abstract Composition, combined with Gindlertael's support, brought confidence to the young foreign artist towards establishing his own personal style amidst the Parisian art scene.

Shafic Abboud left Lebanon in 1947 for Paris, where he permanently settled in 1951. There, he attended classes taught by prominent artists Andr Lhote, Jean Metzinger and Fernand Léger, renowned for their complex geometrical paintings fusing Cubism and Orphism. One of his classmates was Romanian artist Alexandre Istrati (1915-1991) who visited Abboud's studio in 1954, the same year the present lot was painted, and introduced him to Roger van Gindertael. The latter had worked closely with one of the main forerunners of twentieth century Abstract art, Nicolas de Stal (1914-1955), whose work had a determining impact on Abboud's oeuvre, as is clearly illustrated in Composition of 1954. The monochrome planes of different warm tones of reds and browns, as well as the thick impasto that cover Abboud's canvas, echo some of the elements present in de Staël's Rouge et Noir, painted in 1950.

In both compositions, the juxtaposition and position of each brushstroke, nuance and shape have been carefully selected. De Staël and Abboud cut out well-defined shapes of colour, through which both painters explore not only their interaction with one another, but also their dialogue with the viewer, inviting them to immerse themselves within the painting. When Shafic Abboud wrote in his artist's notebook in May 1982, he outlined his ambition of creating light through the juxtaposition of two colours, hence distinguishing himself from de Staël. Although the latter also explored the intensity and interaction of colours and shapes, as expressed to van Gindertael 'what creates dimension is the weight of the shapes, their situation, their contrast' (N. de Staël, Letter to Roger van Gindertael, 14th April 1950), his focus was not on grasping light like Abboud, but rather stimulating the viewer's senses through his paintings. Abboud's elaborate game of interlocked shapes create a surface with a deeper complexity, yet at the same time with a more meticulous subtlety, setting out the guidelines for his artistic evolution in his determination to capture the essence of light.