Courtesy of Google.
In celebration of what would have been Louay Kayali’s 85th birthday today (January 20), Google Doodle has unveiled an artistic ode to the late Syrian artist. The Google Doodle is an illustration that depicts the Aleppo-born painter, who is known for his powerful portraits of bakers, fishermen, and seamstresses, sitting cross-legged on a bed of flowers and sketching what appears to be a portrait of a woman. Upon clicking on the illustration, readers are redirected to a virtual tour of everything about the artist, who passed away in 1978.
Kayali first picked up the paint brush at the tender age of 11 before enrolling at the Al-Tajhiz School in Damascus to study art. It was there where his work was first exhibited in 1952. He would go on to pursue an art degree at Florence’s Accademia di Belle Arti, where he met fellow Syrian artist Wahbi al-Hariri, who would go on to become his mentor and life-long friend.
After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1961, Kayali returned to Syria where he kicked off his career as a fine arts professor at Damascus University. That same year, he saw a major exhibition at the International Modern Art Hall of Damascus, where over 50 of his oil paintings and sketches were being showcased. The contemporary painter, who also presented his work at the 1960 Venice Biennial Fair, went on to become one of the pioneers of modern art in the region.
Immensely talented but deeply troubled, Kayali suffered with depression throughout the course of his short-lived career. In the late ’60’s, the artist introduced the medium of charcoal into his work in a traveling exhibition entitled Fi Sabil al-Qadiyyah, which featured a series of politically-charged paintings that depicted human suffering in the Arab world. Following scathing reviews, Kayali sought to destroy all of the work. The artist would fall in and out of depression over the course of his adult life, before tragically dying in a fire at the age of 44.
Kayali’s influence had a wide-reaching impact, even after his death. In 2008, Christie’s auctioned off several of his paintings, including Motherhood, which sold for US $157,000. Meanwhile, Fisherman in Arwad, which sold for US $194,500 remains one of Christie’s Dubai highest auction sale price.
