Raymond Audi

ENAR

Standing six meters tall, French artist Jean Dubuffet’s blue, red, white and black sculpture decorates the entrance of the Beirut headquarters of Bank Audi, Lebanon’s largest bank. It is one among many modern pieces that adorn the head office. Old masters’ paintings also feature in Bank Audi’s corporate art collection on display in their offices in Switzerland. The bank’s mosaic pieces are placed at Villa Audi, the bank’s art space. For this month’s special report, Executive visited Raymond Audi, the bank’s chairman and a Lebanese art patron, for an insight on the bank’s art collection. Walking into the Bab Idriss headquarters, one cannot but notice the impressive tower sculpture of Dubuffet. Why did you choose to acquire this piece 12 years ago for the entrance of the headquarters? When we had to find a sculpture piece for the entrance, I wanted to have a sculpture by French artist Bernar Venet,