Nasir CHAURA (Syrie, 1920-1992)

Landscape Oil on canvas 77 x 60 cm painted in 1985 signed in Arabic and Latin "N.CHAURA" and dated "1985" at the bottom right, dedicated in Arabic on the back to "the honorable educator M.Abd EL Wahab Al Bawwab", bears the stamp of the gallery of Nasir Chaura and Bahyia Chaura (the artist's wife). Considered the father of Syrian impressionism, Chaura's career lasted more than fifty years and went through three crucial stages: the initial impressionist stage, the abstract phase in the late 1960s, and later a "new realism" phase, in which he returned to nature. The two works presented here, Landscape, are from the third period of his career. It was during this period that he depicted the unusual scenes of a part of his childhood. His warm and nostalgic paintings bear witness to the place where he grew up; in an east-facing room, with the Mediterranean sun shining through his window every day from which he contemplated the vast views of Damascus and the orchards that surrounded him. Landscapes that will occupy an important place in his work. The two proposed works reflect the Syrian countryside with a lively warmth, a mastery of plans and perspective. Chaura opens a window on this luminous natural world, flanked by willows where fluidity reigns, scrutinizing a kaleidoscopic view full of light, shadow, texture and purity of form. At the time, Nasser Chaura was leading the impressionist movement in Syria. He was relatively similar to other impressionist artists in his treatment of subject matter and palette, but the clear contours and nuances he took advantage of allowed him to stand out in his own interpretation of the practice. A well-known figure in the Syrian art scene, his painting styles evolved over time while the theme of nature and landscapes remained his favorite subject. "My love for nature was the main source of inspiration as we lived in an old wooden house surrounded by a small vegetable garden. Born in Damascus, Nasser Chaura (1920-1992) began drawing in school and moved to Italy in the late 1930s to study fine art. During the turbulent period before World War II, he left Italy for Egypt, finally graduating from the Department of Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1947. After his return to Syria, he worked as an art teacher in schools and taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus when it opened in 1960 until his retirement in 1990. Very active in the artistic debate, he was a founding member of many associations, including the Atelier Veronese. Along with artists Hammad, Elias Zayat and Fateh Moudarres, he created the Damascus Group (also known as Group D) in 1965, calling for a new form of modernization in art - namely abstraction. All of them exhibited at the Siwann Gallery in Damascus the same year, and some works were also later exhibited at the Sao Paolo Art Biennale. These artists met regularly to discuss contemporary issues in art and politics and planned group exhibitions together. Joining the Faculty of Fine Arts as a founding faculty member of the institution, he influenced no less than two generations of artists and worked alongside Nazem Al-Jaafari, Mahmoud Jalal, and Adham Ismail, among others, during a thirty-year tenure.