Mark Hachem is delighted to present a collection of rare paintings and sculptures by Hussein Madi. An exceptional opportunity to discover the work of the Lebanese Modern Master, 30 years after his 1989 solo show at the IMA in Paris.
Hussein Madi, painter, sculptor and engraver, born in 1938 in Lebanon, is one of the Middle East’s most famous artists.
Between 1958 and 1962, he studied painting at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut before joining Rome in 1963 to continue his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti. Left for two months, he ends up staying in Rome for 22 years! He learns everything from frescoes and mosaics to the work of bronze. It is precisely in Italy that he develops his approach to sculpture and proposes a method to create volume from folded, seamless forms. His Toros, Birds, Women and other human silhouettes combine the radical geometrical plan with the elegance of the curve, thanks to which Madi gives them a remarkable individuality. In his paintings, closely related to his sculptures - with the same vocabulary, by adding the color - Madi depicts the variations of a subject in its multiplication and reaches an exceptional depth and harmony. Elected by his peers, he stands as President of the Lebanese Artists Association between 1982 and 1992.
...here’s the mystery of creation that inspired my art. There is a unity at the beginning that reproduces with differences; type, number, colour and dimension. All things that are born and die respond to these four categories. The repetition in my paintings is there on purpose and is a way to honour the creator.
(H. Madi. in L'Orient 2019.)