Wajih NahleModern Arab Abstract Islamic Calligraphy Modernist Painting, 1994

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Wajih Nahlé (1932-2017), born in Beirut, Lebanon,was a Lebanese Arab abstract painter and calligrapher. He studied painting in the workshop … Read more Wajih Nahlé (1932-2017), born in Beirut, Lebanon,was a Lebanese Arab abstract painter and calligrapher. He studied painting in the workshop of the Lebanese painter Moustafa Farroukh. Nahlé's work shows an interest for the decorative aspect of calligraphy.
Wajih Nahle has gained an international stature as an oriental artist. He started his career painting realist oil paintings in an impressionistic manner. His works moved into linear, two-dimensional style when he went back to his oriental roots and started creating decorative Islamic bas-reliefs. Nahle then acquired gradually a broader nervous brush stroke when he plunged into Arabic calligraphy in an expressionistic manner, and he became a forerunner of this school. Since 1962, Wajih Nahle had more than sixty solo exhibitions in the Arab World and beyond and participated in numerous group exhibitions. He was awarded more than twenty prizes, decorations, certificates of appreciation and honouring ceremonies, the last being an honorary doctorate from the Lebanese American University in Beirut. His works can be found in many museums around the world. He received the Ministry of Education’s award in 1965, the Sursock Museum Award, the Biennale Alexandria Award, the Arab Biennale Award in Kuwait, the Grand Palais Award in Paris, The Metropo Lebanon Museum Award in New York, the Lebanese Order of Merit for Artists, the Arab World Institute in Paris Award, Award of Modern Art Museum in Tunisia, the Golden Palm Medal from Belgium, and the Supreme Award in the 66th Visual Art Exhibition in Paris. his paintings can be found in museums, like the Grand Palais in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tunisia. His creations are to be found in many famous buildings, the Palace of Congress Riyadh, at the Dubai World Center, at airports in Jeddah, Riyadh and Bahrain, in many palaces of the Middle East including that of President Rafik Hariri in Saudi Arabia.

Bibliography
Wajih Nahlé: rétrospective 1952–1977: lettres rebelles: 1re exposition à Paris, 6–28 octobre, Wally Findlay galleries (in French). Wally Findlay galleries. 1977.
The Islamic Art of Wajih Nahle – Retrospective Exhibition 1953–1978. Wally Findlay Galleries.
Parinaud, André; Rizk, Joseph Abou (1978). Wajih Nahle : Pour Un Nouveau Graphisme Arabe 1952–1977. Contemporary Art of Lebanon. See less