Alfred Basbous

Alfred Basbous was born in 1924 in Rachana, Lebanon. He was a central figure in the development and advancement of Modernism in the Middle East during the latter part of the twentieth century. The sculptor’s first exhibition was at the Alecco Saab gallery, in Beirut in 1958. He was the recipient of a scholarship from the French government in 1960 and the student of renowned French sculptor René Collamarini at Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris. In 1961 and in 1966, Basbous’s works were included in the International Sculpture Exhibition at the Musée Rodin, in Paris.

He participated in the "Atelier de Collamarini" exhibition in 1974 at Musée Rodin. Basbous exhibited extensively across the MENA region and beyond, particularly in France, England, the USA, and Japan. The artist's philosophy, grounded in simplicity, prioritised aesthetic principles of shape, movement, line and material. In the tradition of sculptors such as Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși and Henry Moore, Basbous’s sculptural works - predominantly in bronze, wood, metal, and stone - express a lifelong appreciation of the purity of the human form, in particular the female body, and its abstract properties.

The art of Alfred Basbous is part of several international public and private collections including the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan, the Musée Rodin in Paris, as well as Villa Audi, Sursock Museum and the Parliament in Lebanon.