Success For Bonhams Second “Paris And The Arab World“ Sale In Paris

Le Paris du Monde Arabe

5 Jul 2023

Paris, Avenue Hoche

Fahr El-Nissa Zeid

(Turkey, 1900-1991)

Etoile Filante (Falling Star)

Le Paris du Monde Arabe sale, which brought together works by artists from Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria and Syria in a diverse variety of mediums, was 65% sold by lot (99% by value) on Wednesday 5 July at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris.
The top lot was Etoile Filante (Falling Star) by Fahr El-Nissa Zeid (Turkey, 1900-1991) which sold for €229,000. The painting had a pre-sale estimate of €50,000-70,000.

The 48-lot sale made a total of €577,010.

The sculpture TOTEM by Lebanese artist Anachar Basbous (born 1969) was sold for €70,250 (estimate :€60,000 - 80,000). He was born in Rachana, Lebanon, in 1969 – his first name an anagram of this city. His mother, Thérèse Aouad Basbous, was a poet and novelist and his father was the sculptor Michel Basbous, one of the major Lebanese artists of the 20th century. The top ten includes Le voilier (The Sailboat) by Michel Basbous sold for €10,240.

A colourful folding screen Untitled (Paravent) executed in 2009 by Dia Azzawi (born in Iraq in 1939) was sold for €44,800, more than three times its pre-sale estimate of €12,000-18,000. Dia Azzawi is internationally recogniszed as one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. Over the span of a 40-year career, Azzawi has explored subjects ranging from the political to the ancient history of Iraq, through painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, and book art.

Assadour (Lebanon, born 1943) is well-known as a master of contemporary engraving and yet he has also produced a rich and prolific oeuvre of temperas on paper and oils on canvas. The latter are rare and sought-after as Assadour executed very few paintings on canvas. This 2010 Untitled (Composition) was sold for €35,840 against an estimate of €20,000 to 30,000.

Nima Sagharchi, Bonhams Group Head of Islamic, Middle Eastern and South Asian Art, commented: "This second sale in Paris paid tribute to the profound impact Paris had on artists from the Arab world, whose experiences in the city transformed their artistic visions. The price achieved by Etoile filante by Fahr El-Nissa Zeid or by Assadour shows how these works are sought after by international collectors"

Other highlights of the sale included:

• Mahi Binebine (Morocco, born 1959), Untitled, wax and pigments on wood panel, executed in 2015 sold for €25,600.
• Abdallah Benanteur (Algeria, born 1931), Le Chant du pré, oil on canvas executed in 1985 sold for €19,200.
• Anas Albraehe (Syria, born 1991), Bab Alhawa - Gate of Exile, oil on canvas, executed in 2021 sold for €14,080.