Remembering Amine El Bacha

A look into El Bacha's life through the CAP Collection... (1932-2019)

Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 1960, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

Untitled (1964) by Amine El BachaContemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait

Early Life

Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 1965, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

Bacha was born in 1932 to a cultivated family in the Beirut neighbourhood of Ras al-Nabaa.

Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 1965, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

Untitled (1967) by Amine El BachaContemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait

Education

He enrolled at Academie Libanaise Des Beaux-Arts in 1954, where he was influenced by the work of Cesar Gemayel and Jean-Paul Khoury, as well as that of Italian painter Fernando Manetti.He received a scholarship to continue his studies in Paris in 1959, first at the National School of Fine Arts, then at the Grand Chaumiere academy, with Henri Goetz.

Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 1968, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

During his time in France, Bacha the figurative artist began to experiment with abstraction. By 1968 he was leaning toward expressionism, while developing Lebanese themes.

The Walkers, Amine El Bacha, 1975, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

Bacha’s career as a visual artist was marked by formal restlessness. He worked in ceramics, tapestry, jewelry, and collaborated with photographer Ghassan Kitmitto on works combining improvised painting upon photographic prints. In the early ’70s he illustrated the poetry collections of Alain Jouffroy, as he did the works of Lebanese poet Nadia Tueni, in 1983, and an Italian translation of Leopold Sedar Senghor’s poetry.

King of deck, Amine El Bacha, 1983, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

In all simplicity, without ever playing the flayed, the tortured, the pretentious, Amine el-Bacha was a complete artist.

Title Unknown, Amine El Bacha, 1985, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more
Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 1986, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

He often turned towards peace and joy, he liked to trace in his paintings the playful poetry of the small details of everyday life. He also excelled in portraying, especially in his watercolors, the charm of a Mediterranean region without borders.

Title Unknown, Amine El Bacha, 1989, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more
Title Unknown, Amine El Bacha, 1994, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

Incurably optimistic, even at the height of the war, Amine el-Bacha had not stopped painting flowers, hearts, palm trees, fruits, white clouds on blue horizons illuminated by a thousand suns and crossed by the free bird. A motif that can be found in almost all his paintings. "It comes spontaneously. I can not say what they(Birds) represent. I just feel it has to be there", he admitted without trying to philosophize his pictorial gesture.

Sur Coin Du Jardin, Amine El Bacha, 1995, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

"Forms without artifice, opening the way to his ultimate, pluralistic, eclectic and tolerant goal; embracing everything of value." - Paul Audi on the artist. Excerpt from 'Les Enluminures De Amine El Bacha'

Blue Composition, Amine El Bacha, 1997, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

"Thanks to Amine El Bacha, colors become libertine, voluptuous, generous. An exciting odyssey, because his talent washed over us, carrying us away almost by accident, without our noticing it, making us see ourselves as we really are." - Paul Audi. Excerpt from 'Les Enluminures De Amine El Bacha'

Title Unknown, Amine El Bacha, 1998, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

One can see musical influences in his work as his uncle and brother Toufic (father of pianist Abdel-Rahman el-Bacha) were both accomplished musicians.

Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 1999, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

Amine El Bacha’s paintings reflect a profound artistic experience that arises from his travels and wanderings through different cities, his time spent in cafés, watching the world go by.

Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 2000, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

The realms evoked in his work are studies of everyday life; through a familiar treatment of Oriental atmospheres and forms, he manages to reveal the unexpected that lurks at their heart.

Title Unknown, Amine El Bacha, 2006, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

The space of his creation thus transforms into a theatrical one, realistic and sometimes fantastical.

Untitled, Amine El Bacha, 2007, From the collection of: Contemporary Art Platform (CAP) Kuwait
Show lessRead more

He went away, like the free bird that he was, towards the blue sky with the white clouds that he loved to depict in his paintings ... This artist always radiant universe, will leave a trace in the history of modern Lebanese painting. - Zena Zalzal

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
Explore more
Related theme
What is Contemporary Art?
Challenging the notion of art itself – explore the art of our recent past, present and future
View theme
Google apps