George Chemeche (Iraqi-American, 1934-2022) - Flowers, Oil on Canvas, 1966.
Signed, dated.
65x54cm.
Minor paint peels.

Born in Basra, Iraq in 1932, George emigrated with his family to Israel in 1949 at age 14. He attended a kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee, and later the Avni Art School in Tel-Aviv. Taken under the wing by such illustrious patrons as Lady Fergusson, great niece of Lord Balfour, a former Prime Minister of George-chemeche-chelsea-by-amanda-chemeche England, and Baroness Alix de Rothschild, George traveled to Paris in 1959, where he was admitted to the prestigious Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts. Not that he lived like royalty, by any means: renting a small Garret in Montparnasse, he frequented the bars and cafes when he was not painting, living la vie de boheme. One wonders if his legendary beret and sandals date to that era, or if they were a later addition. He arrived at the Chelsea, intending to stay only a few days or weeks until he found a suitable studio, but how Stanley Bard, impressed by his art, convinced him to stay on at the hotel, renting him the large, unused space behind the check-in desk. Several years later, when Stanley needed the space back for offices, George made no bones about it, moving his canvasses to storage and doing his painting, from then on, in his large apartment upstairs.
Stanley was not the only one impressed by Georges art, as his paintings are in the permanent collections of The Guggenheim, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Israel Museum, and The Denver Fine Art Museum to mention a few.
He had been in declining health for some time, and he died of heart failure on January 11, 2022.
Source: https://www.chelseahotelblog.com/living_with_legends