Saliba Douaihy
Lebanon, b.1915- 1994
One of the pioneers of modern art in Lebanon and abstract art in the Arab world, Saliba Douaihy first trained in the studio of Habib Srour in Beirut for four years. He attended École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris (1932-36) before going to and Rome. From 1950 t0 1975 he lived in the United States, relentlessly experimenting in his work. He took the shape of the traditional shalwar worn by the people in the Lebanese mountain, and turned it into an abstract shape that he represented in his compositions embodying Greek myths as well as folk tales, using pure coloured surfaces void of any shading.
