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Lot Essay
Syrian Modern master Fateh Moudarres has continued to dazzle and inspire both art appreciators and collectors alike with his own distinctive style that combines elements of the East with mythologies of the Levant. His success has sprung from his ability to link the past with his present, from connecting tragedies that took place at the beginning of the civilisation with Syrian and Arab political and economic events using a wide range of references from sculpted Assyrian faces to carved tombs from Palmyra.
The Last Supper, from 1974 is a seminal example from the artist's oeuvre that captures his deep rooted longing to provide a personal commentary on current affairs in his native Syria. Following the 1970 'Corrective Movement' by the newly implemented Socialist Baa'th Party and 1973 whereby Syria had lost its battle to Israel over the Golan Heights and the utopian ideals of Pan-Arabism began to unravel, the subject matter of the infamous scene of the Last Supper between Jesus and his disciples serves poignantly to capture a sense of betrayal. With an inability to express personal opinion during a regime that was harsh in its ideological dictatorship, Moudarres would often turn to religious scenes as a way to provide a sharp and sarcastic commentary without being overtly blatant. Moudarres used the iconography of the Last Supper several times throughout his artistic career, each at significant turning points in Syrian history. In this scene, Christ can thus be interpreted as a representative of Syria and each of his disciples the surrounding Arab states that had not come to Syria's rescue in its battle against Israel despite the call for a national and progressive front toward unifying the instrument of the Arab revolution within a unified political organisation. It is however unclear which of the characters corresponds to Christ and each of the different disciples leaving some level of ambiguity. A similar work can also be found at the National Museum in Damascus, although much larger in scale and more traditional in format.
Captured with square-shaped heads and exaggerated features, each of the characters resurrect Assyrian, Sumerian and Babylonian figurative styles in a unique artistic language that can only be attributed to Moudarres. Each of these iconic faceless figures are featured without clear mouths and with their eyes closed, the heavy dark lines a nod to Mamlouk architecture, exemplifying the artist's wish to highlight the problems with the Syrian regime where there was the inability to express one's personal opinion or values and everyone was expected follow what has been put forward blindly.
Although The Last Supper appears to be a work that is underlyingly dark in its nature, it also holds within its composition a suggested sense of optimism and goodness, exemplified by the artist's colour palette. Unlike a similar work Last Supper painted in 1965 now in the Kennedy Collection, which is awash with an aggressive and violent red, in this composition each of the characters are enriched with warm and vibrant colours, replicating earthy tones that are reminiscent of the North-Eastern desert where Moudarres spent many long summers during his childhood and a deep sense of nationalistic pride for an ancestry he was keen to highlight. The oranges and blues are a nod to optimism and life, the fragmented composition a reference to beautiful stained glass windows and Christian icons that were quintessentially Syrian and thus offered a glimmer of hope for the omnipotence of the Syrian character that had lasted over several centuries.
The Last Supper, from 1974 is a seminal example from the artist's oeuvre that captures his deep rooted longing to provide a personal commentary on current affairs in his native Syria. Following the 1970 'Corrective Movement' by the newly implemented Socialist Baa'th Party and 1973 whereby Syria had lost its battle to Israel over the Golan Heights and the utopian ideals of Pan-Arabism began to unravel, the subject matter of the infamous scene of the Last Supper between Jesus and his disciples serves poignantly to capture a sense of betrayal. With an inability to express personal opinion during a regime that was harsh in its ideological dictatorship, Moudarres would often turn to religious scenes as a way to provide a sharp and sarcastic commentary without being overtly blatant. Moudarres used the iconography of the Last Supper several times throughout his artistic career, each at significant turning points in Syrian history. In this scene, Christ can thus be interpreted as a representative of Syria and each of his disciples the surrounding Arab states that had not come to Syria's rescue in its battle against Israel despite the call for a national and progressive front toward unifying the instrument of the Arab revolution within a unified political organisation. It is however unclear which of the characters corresponds to Christ and each of the different disciples leaving some level of ambiguity. A similar work can also be found at the National Museum in Damascus, although much larger in scale and more traditional in format.
Captured with square-shaped heads and exaggerated features, each of the characters resurrect Assyrian, Sumerian and Babylonian figurative styles in a unique artistic language that can only be attributed to Moudarres. Each of these iconic faceless figures are featured without clear mouths and with their eyes closed, the heavy dark lines a nod to Mamlouk architecture, exemplifying the artist's wish to highlight the problems with the Syrian regime where there was the inability to express one's personal opinion or values and everyone was expected follow what has been put forward blindly.
Although The Last Supper appears to be a work that is underlyingly dark in its nature, it also holds within its composition a suggested sense of optimism and goodness, exemplified by the artist's colour palette. Unlike a similar work Last Supper painted in 1965 now in the Kennedy Collection, which is awash with an aggressive and violent red, in this composition each of the characters are enriched with warm and vibrant colours, replicating earthy tones that are reminiscent of the North-Eastern desert where Moudarres spent many long summers during his childhood and a deep sense of nationalistic pride for an ancestry he was keen to highlight. The oranges and blues are a nod to optimism and life, the fragmented composition a reference to beautiful stained glass windows and Christian icons that were quintessentially Syrian and thus offered a glimmer of hope for the omnipotence of the Syrian character that had lasted over several centuries.