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Lot Essay
"She created not an object but an emergence, a movement, an essential movement, the one that separates the human species from the animal world to which it is nevertheless related." – Etel Adnan (Galerie Tanit, Gres et Porcelaines, 2014).
Les Portes II (The Doors II) exemplifies Simone Fattal's engagement with archetypal form and material simplicity. Drawing on historical, literary and philosophical sources, Fattal creates contemplative works that explore time, memory and existence.
Formed from chamotte stoneware cooked over a wood fire, the sculptures’ variation in size and width establishes a measured rhythm between solid and void. Working primarily in terracotta, Fattal explores the expressive potential of clay, giving "mute earth a voice." A defining quality of the work is its quiet gentleness, its forms appearing to obey an inner law through their balance and inevitability. Rather than imposing narrative or symbolism, Fattal allows simple forms and the adopted media to carry meaning, creating a constellation that is at once architectural and anthropomorphic. The interplay of terracotta and the intervening space transforms the sculptures into a contemplative threshold, embodying what Etel Adnan, her partner, described as works that "are what they are, yet they offer invented 'appearances' that persuade us they embody the world of life itself" (Galerie Tanit, Gres et Porcelaines, 2014). The title of the work, Les Portes II, (The Doors II) perhaps alludes to the different lifeworlds that lie beyond this threshold, each emerging and disappearing with their opening and closing, offering movement between modes of thinking and states of being.
Les Portes II (The Doors II) was exhibited at Galerie Tanit’s 2014 exhibition Grès et Porcelaines in Beirut, which presented Fattal's ongoing exploration of the possibilities of life through her organic sculptures.
Born in Damascus in 1942, Fattal grew up in Lebanon. She first studied philosophy at the École des Lettres of Beirut and then at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1969, she returned to Beirut and started painting. She participated in numerous shows during the ten years when life in Lebanon was still possible. In 1980, fleeing the Lebanese Civil War, she settled in California and founded the Post-Apollo Press, a publishing house dedicated to innovative and experimental literary work. In 1988, she returned to artistic practice by doing ceramic sculptures after enrolling at the Art Institute of San Francisco. Since 2006, she has produced works in Hans Spinner’s prestigious workshop in Grasse, France. In 2013, she released a movie, Autoportrait, which has been shown worldwide in many film festivals.
Fattal has been the subject of major institutional exhibitions at Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia; Musée du Louvre, Paris; Secession, Vienna; and Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare, Bolzano. She participated in both the 59th and 60th Venice Biennale, exhibiting in the Central Pavilion and the Vatican Pavilion respectively. Her work is held in various prestigious institutions internationally, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; mumok, Vienna; and the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis. In autumn 2026, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (MAM) is devoting a major retrospective to Simone Fattal, marking the first retrospective of her work in a Parisian museum.
Les Portes II (The Doors II) exemplifies Simone Fattal's engagement with archetypal form and material simplicity. Drawing on historical, literary and philosophical sources, Fattal creates contemplative works that explore time, memory and existence.
Formed from chamotte stoneware cooked over a wood fire, the sculptures’ variation in size and width establishes a measured rhythm between solid and void. Working primarily in terracotta, Fattal explores the expressive potential of clay, giving "mute earth a voice." A defining quality of the work is its quiet gentleness, its forms appearing to obey an inner law through their balance and inevitability. Rather than imposing narrative or symbolism, Fattal allows simple forms and the adopted media to carry meaning, creating a constellation that is at once architectural and anthropomorphic. The interplay of terracotta and the intervening space transforms the sculptures into a contemplative threshold, embodying what Etel Adnan, her partner, described as works that "are what they are, yet they offer invented 'appearances' that persuade us they embody the world of life itself" (Galerie Tanit, Gres et Porcelaines, 2014). The title of the work, Les Portes II, (The Doors II) perhaps alludes to the different lifeworlds that lie beyond this threshold, each emerging and disappearing with their opening and closing, offering movement between modes of thinking and states of being.
Les Portes II (The Doors II) was exhibited at Galerie Tanit’s 2014 exhibition Grès et Porcelaines in Beirut, which presented Fattal's ongoing exploration of the possibilities of life through her organic sculptures.
Born in Damascus in 1942, Fattal grew up in Lebanon. She first studied philosophy at the École des Lettres of Beirut and then at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1969, she returned to Beirut and started painting. She participated in numerous shows during the ten years when life in Lebanon was still possible. In 1980, fleeing the Lebanese Civil War, she settled in California and founded the Post-Apollo Press, a publishing house dedicated to innovative and experimental literary work. In 1988, she returned to artistic practice by doing ceramic sculptures after enrolling at the Art Institute of San Francisco. Since 2006, she has produced works in Hans Spinner’s prestigious workshop in Grasse, France. In 2013, she released a movie, Autoportrait, which has been shown worldwide in many film festivals.
Fattal has been the subject of major institutional exhibitions at Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia; Musée du Louvre, Paris; Secession, Vienna; and Fondazione Antonio Dalle Nogare, Bolzano. She participated in both the 59th and 60th Venice Biennale, exhibiting in the Central Pavilion and the Vatican Pavilion respectively. Her work is held in various prestigious institutions internationally, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; mumok, Vienna; and the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis. In autumn 2026, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (MAM) is devoting a major retrospective to Simone Fattal, marking the first retrospective of her work in a Parisian museum.