Saloua Raouda Choucair was an artist with the mind of a poet, the soul of an architect, and the precision of a mathematician. Rhythmical Composition with White Sphinx (1951) was created after her stay in Paris, during which she frequented artists of the French post-war period, most importantly Fernand Léger. The modern landscape is extremely present in this piece, although the subject matter – a mythical creature – hails from an ancient civilisation almost diametrically opposed to that of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, the artist’s study of line and the relationship between motifs gesture towards the principals of Islamic art without employing the aesthetics of arabesque or calligraphy.
This is the first time the work of Saloua Raouda Choucair is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Fadia Antar
