Born in 1926, Shafic Abboud would grow up to become one of the most renowned and collected Lebanese abstract artists. After graduating from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Art in 1947, he moved to Paris to be trained under a handful of great French artists namely Fernand Leger, to later enroll at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris in 1952. 

Throughout Abboud’s painting career one can observe two main directions: at the start of his career he had painted in the figurative style, drawing inspiration from Lebanese folklore and daily life. He then moved on to Abstract Expressionism, a movement that took off in the 1950s, although unlike mainstream Abstract Expressionists, he did not totally abandon the structured composition. He did however experiment with the use of vibrant and muted colors together, and a dynamism in his process that remains apparent in his works. 

Abboud has been exhibited in countless exhibitions worldwide, the latest being a retrospective at the Institut Du Monde Arabe in Paris. He has also won a list of prizes, and his works have been acquired by prestigious institutions such as the Tate Modern, Qatar’s Mathaf (Museum of Arab Art), the Centre Pompidou in Paris, etc. 

In this work, to the left of the canvas, one can observe a Rothko-esque style, with broad smears of different tones of the same color. The slow meditative flatness on that side of the canvas is interrupted by a trunk of quick strokes of blues, greens and browns with reflections of red and orange as if to mirror what is on either side of the trunk. On the right side, there is a translucent iridescent white layer with windows of different dimensions embedded into it. This wonderful work by Abboud showcases exactly how he stood between Color Field Expressionism and Action Painting Expressionism, a note of vague, deconstructed figuration still being present in his work.