Mamdouh Kashlan (Syrian, b. 1929)

Mamdouh Kashlan is the oldest living artist from his generation in Damascus today at age 90, producing very detailed large body of works depicting daily scenes about daily life of ordinary people. He is referred to as the artist of the people, always looking at the nature and identity of Syrians in a well distinct vibrant colourful mosaic. The artist creates real scenes with a fairy-tale element to them, capturing everyday village and city life, and its children, mothers and men at work on his bright and cheerful canvases.

Since he started exhibiting more than six decades ago, he held and participated in more than three hundred exhibitions within Syria and different countries around the world. His work is found in many museums in Bulgaria, France, Finland, Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, to name a few. In 1996 he was awarded among many other prizes the Pioneer Prize from the Syrian Ministry of Culture. He graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome between 1952 and 1957 and was one of three from his generation, together with Mahmoud Jalal and Mahmoud Hammad to study in Italy. Once back in Syria, he held his first exhibition in 1958 at the National Museum of Damascus and established in 1969 the Fine Arts Syndicate of Syria while working and teaching in Egypt and Syria. He was also commissioned by the UNICEF to produce specific works about women’s education.