Nazem AL-JAAFARI (Syrie, 1918-2015)

In a garden in Damascus Oil on canvas 67.5 x 53.5 cm signed and dated in Arabic on the left "N. Jaafari 5.1958". Private collection, London Nazem Al Jaafari has devoted much of his life and work to the city of Damascus. Documenting the people, activities, architecture and trends, he sought to protect its history from modern construction by painting scenes and portraits through the use of realistic painting techniques with elements of impressionism. A scrupulous witness, he explains, "I have not left a small or large street without drawing it [in] its every detail. I have drawn its churches and mosques, its domes, its markets, its houses, its rooms and its doors (...) I document and constitute an archive that preserves it in the memory of generations." Born in Damascus, Nazem Al Jaafari (1918-2015) graduated from the Department of Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1947, as part of a group of students sent to pursue their studies in Egypt under the French mandate. After his return to Syria, he worked as an art teacher in the capital's high schools and eventually at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus.