Saliba Douaihy was born in 1915 in Ehden, northern Lebanon, and showed artistic talent from a young age, developing his career between Lebanon, Paris, and New York. Church commissions in Beirut played a role in the abstract works that Douaihy would develop and paint at a later point in his career. Regeneration (1974) is a prime example of the flat, Minimalist style Douaihy arrived at after a few years living and painting in New York City. Inspired by Joseph Albers, he reduced all forms to simple yet strong lines. His paintings from the early 1960s onwards are characterised by lines that meet neatly and precisely, and focus on the exploration of the themes of form and space, alluding to the landscapes of his home country in the lines and horizontal bands of colours that ran across some of his paintings. Sky, distant fields, trees, and mountains are alluded to but never explicitly drawn. He is said to have also been inspired by the linear form of church architecture and Christian iconography.
This is the first time the work of Saliba Douaihy is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Heba Elkayal
