Fateh Moudarres (Syrian, 1922-1999)

This is by far the largest work by the Syrian artist Fateh Moudarres to have appeared at auction, at over 3 metres long. Annually Syria holds the Damascus International Fair. Each year the Ministry of Culture commissions artists to produce large paintings which serve as backdrops during the fair. Fateh Moudarres was commissioned to create these painting for several years running, and from these commissions, four or five of these large scale paintings exist. Of the others which are known, all are in the collections of the Ministry of Culture and the Damascus Fairs Authority. The present work is the only known example in private hands.

Growing up Fateh Moudarres spent much time in the countryside. The agricultural crisis of the 1960s forced him to relocate to Damascus, and the city at that time was experiencing a period of unprecedented growth and fast becoming an increasingly cramped and hostile environment in which to live and work. Memories of the countryside and the life of ordinary people therein remained strong, and idealized landscapes of Northern Syria became a recurrent theme throughout Moudarres's career.