Syria’s artistic pedigree has long been admired — when the Mongol ruler Tamerlane conquered Damascus in 1401, he enslaved the city’s famed artisans and marched them back to his capital Samarkand. Given the country’s riches of Islamic art, antiquities and carpets, it’s hardly surprising that modern and contemporary art has always struggled for recognition. Modern art in Syria is, however, finally beginning to steal the spotlight. A wave of new galleries promoting modern and contemporary works have sprouted in the country’s main cities in the past few years and Syrian artists are quickly cementing a reputation as among the most collectable in the Middle East.
Prices of 20th century Syrian art have hit record highs in recent years, with the value of some modern works rising five-fold in the past two years alone. The works of deceased 20th century Syrian artists Nasser Chaura (1920-1992), Louay Kayyali (1922-1978), Fateh al-Moudarres (1922-1999), Mahmoud Hammad (1923-1988) and Abdul-Latif Smoudi (1948-2005) have all had strong showings in recent international auctions, doubling and tripling pre-sale estimates. At the same time, living Syrian artists including Safwan Dahoul, Sabhan Adam, Abdullah Murad and Khaled al-Saai are all commanding ever increasing prices.
“Really, you could describe the market akin to something like the gold rush,” Yazan al-Atassi, from Atassi Galley in Damascus, said. “A lot of people have suddenly become interested in Syrian art and art from the Middle East in general. We’re taking phone calls and e-mails from all over the world.”
Middle East art en vogue
A new passion for modern and contemporary art in Syria — and the impressive dollars it is commanding — mirrors a similar trend throughout the Middle East. The depth of the region’s 20th century art market has attracted the attention of the world’s two most prestigious auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Both have launched dedicated auctions of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art. In 2005, Christie’s became the first major auction house to open an office in the Middle East, while Bonhams, the top second-tier international auction house, is in the process of setting up shop in Dubai.
Fuelled by cash rich Gulf residents looking for investment opportunities, contemporary Middle Eastern art auctions continue to break records each time they are held. The strength of the market was best illustrated by the sale of “Yek Donia” by in-demand Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri. The work, which depicts a map of the world executed in thousands of crystals, was expected to fetch between $60,000 and $80,000. When the hammer finally fell it took $601,000.
Khaled Samawi, owner of Ayyam gallery in Damascus, said Middle Eastern art — Syrian art in particular — has long been undervalued and lacked proper marketing and representation. The entrance of international auction houses has finally given the region a central forum in which to test prices. “Syrian art and art from the Middle East has been closed, shut off from the international market,” Samawi said. “Before Christie’s and Sotheby’s started auctions the art market was very localized. Now the Middle East has a central market for art and we are finding out what the real price is. I don’t like to say we are seeing high prices — we are seeing a devalued commodity being floated and its true value emerging.”
The first major modern and contemporary Arab and Iranian art auction was organized by Christie’s in May 2006. The $2.2 million in sales almost tripled pre-sale expectations and heralded a new area for modern art in the region. The auction’s highpoint was the sale of Moustafa’s “Where the Two Oceans Meet” (Variant No 3) which sold to a private buyer for $284,800, the highest sale price obtained by an Arab artist at the time. Deceased Syrian artists Kayyali, Moudarres and Hammad received posthumous recognition, with three works by Kayyali selling for an average price of $40,000, while Hammad’s painting “Allah Nur al-Samawat” fetched $36,000.
Eight month’s later the auction house took more than $4 million in sales from a comparable selection of Arab works. Syrian artists were again heavily represented, with 18 works by the country’s artists going under the hammer for $571,200. Dahoul’s painting “Rêve” fetched $38,400, while Murad, one of Syria’s best known contemporary abstract artists, saw his arabesque-style “Night” sell for $21,000. An untitled painting by Fadi Yazigi and “Box” by Youssef Abdelke both sold for $12,000 each.
Breaking world records
Christie’s third sale last October established 62 new world records
and generated a jaw-dropping $15,235,725 in sales. The sale of Moustafa’s “Qur’anic Polyptych of Nine Panels” for $657,000, the highest price ever achieved for a painting by an Arab artist, stole headlines. The result more than doubled the previous record for any work by an Arab artist, also set by Moustafa. Syrian artists continued to cement their reputation as among the most sought after in the Middle East. Leading the way was the $250,000 sale of “Head” by the German-based Bachi, making it the most expensive work by a 20th century Syrian artist and more than doubling Christie’s pre-sale estimate. Six paintings by Moudarres and Kayyali collectively sold for $403,750. The top-selling work from the collection was Moudarres’ “The Last Supper” which sold for $145,000, nearly three times the low estimate. Smoudi’s “Soul of the East” fetched $70,000.
Sotheby’s entered the market in the same month, generating $3.14 million in sales from an auction in London, more than $1 million in excess of the high pre-sale estimate. The highpoint of the auction was the $216,000 sale of Iranian artist Mohammad Ehsai’s “Oo Bakhshandeh Ast,” close to three times the pre-sale low estimate. Other major sales were Kayyali’s “Shoeshine Boy” for $80,000 and al-Saai’s “Samarkand” for $45,000, both works selling for twice the high pre-sale estimate. Dahoul’s “Rêve” again went under the hammer, selling for $70,000, close to double the price it fetched when it was auctioned eight months earlier.
“Sotheby’s first dedicated sale was a tremendous success and exceeded all our expectations,” Sotheby’s art specialist Lina Lazzar said. “It represents a very exciting start for modern and contemporary Arab and Iranian art. Sotheby’s sees this area of the market as relatively young and becoming more international. We expect to witness enormous growth over the coming years.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by others working in the industry. Samawi expects price increases of 50% annually over the next three to four years. He draws similarities between the Middle East’s modern art market and that of India’s. “The big auction houses like Christie’s became involved in Indian art around seven years ago and today Indian art is up 30-fold,” Samawi said. “Christie’s became involved in Middle Eastern art a year-and-a-half ago and we are up five-fold. We are tracking a similar course and the collectors with petrol dollars, the collectors with real estate dollars, are not going anywhere.”
The region’s high liquidity is no doubt pushing prices higher. But oil booms are nothing new. While traditional Islamic art and collectables such as antiques and carpets have always been highly prized, many see a new appreciation for modern and contemporary art emerging, along with a new breed of investor willing to spend money on it. “There is a lot more interest and a lot more respect for modern art among Syrians,” Mustafa Ali, artist and owner of Mustafa Ali Gallery in the old city of Damascus, said. “This is a trend we are witnessing not just in Syria, there is a new appreciation emerging throughout the region and throughout the world.”
At the same time, the intense global focus on the region following the 9/11 attacks is trickling down into the region’s arts community. “More and more people are focusing on Syria and the Middle East in general and I think this makes people more curious about what comes out of Syria and the region in general,” al-Atassi said. “People are asking, what do their artists have to say?”
All of which bodes well for the region’s young artists. “Seeing this trend, perhaps more young artists will decide to devote their professional life to their art, instead of taking a monthly salary as a graphic designer or something else,” Samawi said. “That can only be good for art.”
