Nasser Chaura is an artist who played an important role in Syrian art history. He was born in 1920 and grew up with a deep interest in art and music. Despite his parents’ discontent at his pursuing art as a career, he quickly made a name for himself in the Arab art scene. Over the course of his career, he migrated from impressionist landscapes for which he was most known for, to abstraction, and back to Impressionism but this time, with more freedom from the confines of figuration. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, Egypt from 1943 to 1947, and eventually moved back to Damascus where he founded several art initiatives and collectives which drew artists from all over the region as well as Europe to attend art discussions and showcases, and take part in an exciting cultural exchange. 

Chaura received the Order of Merit, in Damascus, Syria in 1982, and his works have been acquired by prestigious collections such as the Contemporary Art Platform (CAP), Kuwait, the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar, and the Atassi Foundation, Dubai.

Dating from 1962, this stunning painting by Chaura could represent the artist’s transitional phase into abstraction, a change which the artist officially announced a few years later (1965). This work features less depth and perspective than seen in Chaura’s previous pieces. The depiction of machinery was also rarely seen in his work before the 60s. In fact, the scene painted by the artist here holds such mundane yet glorious Realism that one can draw a parallel to American Realism. The lighting in this scene is striking. It gives a spirit of heroism to the men in it, who simply seem to be struggling to get their vehicles moving on an icy road.