Samia Halaby (Palestinian, b. 1937)

Samia Halaby is known for her deep knowledge of the science of colour and her innovations in using colour and optical illusion. During the late 1960s she was influenced by constructivism, but Halaby's interest in geometrical abstractions, and the potential of using them to produce striking visual effects, began in the 1970s. The basic elements were squares, circles, and triangles, and horizontal and vertical parallel lines; the kind of shapes found on Palestinian embroidered dresses. By drawing lines at varying distances from one another and introducing undulations, and changing the tones. The present lot, for example is extremely intricate, creating an almost hallucinatory optical effect which creates the sensation of movement within a three- dimensional space. Such precision undoubtedly strained the artist's vision, and she moved away from this style in her later works.