Written by Liam Sibai

Born in 1901, Moustafa Farroukh was brought up in a humble Beiruti household in Hai Al-Basta. He received encouragement and technical instruction from the Lebanese modernist Habib Serour in the artist's studio before pursuing a formal training at the Regia Accademia di Belle Arti denominati di San Luca. He graduated in 1927 and went to Paris to continue his studies and further immerse himself in the artistic trends of the era, which he did under Paul Emile Chabas and Jean Louis Forain. During his time in Europe, Farroukh displayed his works in the Parisian Salons and traveled to Spain to explore his interest in Andalusian architecture. 

In 1929, an exhibition of Farroukh’s work launched at the American University of Beirut; it was the first solo exhibition Lebanon had ever seen.

Upon his return to Beirut in 1932, Farroukh established a permanent exhibition of his work in his studio, becoming a fixture in the Beiruti art scene as well as at AUB, where he lectured.

Farroukh's work is an exemplary product of its time. As the French mandate replaced Ottoman rule in Lebanon, public patronage replaced personal commission. More support went to art concerned with the intellectual, personal, or aesthetic than with the demonstration of power, “civility,” or legitimacy, as had been popular under the Ottomans. Painters began to explore more pastoral, humanistic subject matter, and to play with light and medium specificity. Much like his contemporaries Cesar Gemayel and Omar Onsi, Faroukh brought self-aware modernism to Lebanese imagery. Farroukh's rhetoric and spirit influenced several artists that came after him, including Saloua Raouda Choucair, whom Farroukh trained personally.

Farroukh's subjects can be found laboring, nude, or in contemplation. Most importantly, they always express human tenor, even when nonhuman or inanimate. The use of blunt hastened brushstrokes, and gestural figuration endows his paintings with organic warmth and emphasizes the hand of the artist, imbuing the painting and its subjects with a glow of humanity. Though of an urban background, Farroukh often found himself painting Lebanon's lakes and vineyards, enthralled by the natural beauty of his country. He also painted the built environment, including vistas of villages, Beiruti architecture, and individual structures in different areas such as Deir Al-Qamar, Ain Saide, or Abadiyé. Even his beloved Andalusian design was rendered in Cordoba, The Grand Mosque (1930).

Farroukh helped bring the nude tradition to Lebanon, believing, as many of his contemporaries did, that the subversion of cultural taboos was vital to the modernization of art in the region. In The Two Prisoners (1929), we can see Farroukh’s frustration with tradition at play; not only does he paint a woman with her arms, legs, and breasts exposed, but she is likened to the caged canary by her side, criticizing societal norms that kept women isolated from public life. His depiction of such subjects derived from a larger project of edification and modernization that Farroukh felt affiliated with, and which met with significant resistance in Lebanon: at the time, nudes were initially received with a mixture of offense, intrigue, and excitement.This dynamic period of change is encapsulated in Omar Onsi's Women at the Exhibition(1932), which shows Lebanese women – veiled, but in Western-style stockings and heels – crowding excitedly around a painting of two nude figures. In keeping with his commitment to bettering his society, the artist often engaged with nationalist symbols and narratives, such as in a Mother Sewing the Lebanese Flagin Front of Her Daughter (1950), which later became an iconic postcard.

Like many artists of his time and locality, Farroukh's use of color is vibrant yet soft and slightly muted, as if showing restraint. For the most part, Farroukh used watercolors and oil on canvas in his practice, though at times, he chose to flirt with sanguine conte and oil on plywood. He often produced two renderings of the same scenery, such as in Treehouse in Dhour Choueir(1934). He used watercolors to depict the treehouse in one rendering and used oil on the other.

Farroukh passed away in 1957. 

Sources

Ammoun, Sami. "Mustafa Farroukh." Kadmousorg. Accessed May 22, 2019. https://kadmous.org/wp/mustafa-farroukh/

Ghandour, Tha'ir. "Beirut Remembers Mostafa Farroukh." Al-Akhbar, January 11, 2017. Accessed May 23, 2019.

Goldie, Kaelen Wilson. A Damaged Painting, A Shard of Glass: Discovering Saloua Raouda Choucair.

Scheid, Kristen. "Necessary Nudes: Hadatha and Mu'asira In The Lives of Modern Lebanese." In International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 42, No. 2, 203-25.

"Mostafa Farroukh." Kaftoun. Accessed May 24, 2019. http://www.kaftoun.com/compone... 

"MOUSTAFA FARROUKH." One Fine Art. https://www.onefineart.com/art... 

National Order of The Cedar. Accessed May 24, 2019. http://www.theinfolist.com/php/SummaryGet.php?FindGo=National_Order_of_the_Cedar.