Fahr El-Nissa Zeid (Turkey, 1900-1991)
Etoile Filante (Falling Star)
oil on canvas, framed
signed 'FAHRELNISSA ZEID' (lower right) and on the verso, executed early 1960s
160 x 95cm (63 x 37 3/8in).
Footnotes:
Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Paris
Property from the family collection of Baron Jacques Maurice Despeaux (1896-1967)
Acquired directly from the artist by the above circa early 1960's

Note:
The present work is accompanied by copies of correspondence in the hand of the artist relating to the sale of paintings to Baron Jacques Maurice Despeaux

The present work is a highly significant abstract painting by Fahr El-Nissa Zeid from the early 1960's, her paintings from this period is widely considered to be her most mature body of work. An artist with one of the most diverse repertoires in the Middle East, Fahrelnissa oscillated between abstraction, expressionism, portrait art and landscape painting. Her monumental abstracts are considered the purest synthesis of her work; an amalgam of Islamic geometric influences and European abstract modes of representation colour and shape Zeid's abstract works.

The French writer and art critic, Charles Estienne, with whom Fahrelnissa collaborated several works, wrote: 'Her paintings portray the parade of strange nations that migrate from one place to another; they expose -- in strange lights turning to crimson-reds, blues of huge glass cases, heavy as lead coils, enveloped in violent blacks. This light resembles the fabulous lights of Gothic stained glasses. Let this thick and impenetrable wall of Eastern stained glass, which grasps one in an unknown and transparent way, be a boundless and free line conveying the latest messages of Islamic arts to French art...'

Profusely creative and astoundingly versatile Fahr El Nissa Zeid was an artist par excellence. One of the first women to attend the Fine Arts Academy in Istanbul, Fahr El-Nissa went on train at the Academi Ranson in Paris under Roger Bissiere. After marrying into the Hashemite Royal family of Jordan Fahr El-Nissa participated in a spate of international solo exhibitions in London, Paris, and New York and the Middle East before settling in Amman in 1976, after the death of her husband Prince Zeid.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * W
* VAT on imported items at a reduced rate of 5.5% on the hammer price and the prevailing rate on buyer's premium if the item remains in EU.

TVA sur les objets importés à un taux réduit de 5.5% sur le prix d'adjudication et un taux en vigueur sur la prime d'achat dans le cas où l'objet reste dans l'Union Européenne.
W Lot is located in the Bonhams Warehouse and will only be available for collection from this location.