Aref El-Rayess

Born Aley, Lebanon, 1928 (d.2005)

El-Rayess started his career as a self-taught artist. Between 1950 and 1957, he moved to Paris where he worked in the ateliers of Fernand Léger, André Lhote and Ossip Zadkine, while taking classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Montmartre. He travelled extensively between Paris and Senegal where he learnt stone and wood carving. He returned to Lebanon in 1957 and, having received a scholarship from the Italian government, pursued his training at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, 1960-3. Back in Lebanon, he taught at the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Beirut, and, in 1973 was appointed president of the Lebanese association of painters and sculptors. His work includes paintings and drawings as well as commissions from the Lebanese government among them a tapestry to be displayed at the UNESCO, Paris, and two sculptures to represent Lebanon at a World Fair in New York. Following the Civil war in Lebanon, he moved to Jeddah where he became an art consultant and earned further commissions from the Saudi government including a twenty seven meters high sculpture for Palestine Square, Jeddah.

Not featured in Dubai 2008