Alfred Basbous

Alfred Basbous (1924 – 2006) is one of Lebanon’s best-known and most successful artists. A leading pioneer of modernist Arab sculpture, he was born in Rachana, a village in the north of the country. 

Today, Rachana is home to the Alfred Basbous Museum, an open-air space that houses an extensive and diverse permanent collection of Basbous’s work, alongside pieces by many other renowned artists, including his two highly talented brothers, Michel and Youssef. 

The three siblings are noted for their successful efforts to make their birthplace an artistic hub, rather than forge careers elsewhere. A UNESCO-protected site, Rachana is also the headquarters of the Alfred Basbous Foundation, which runs the artist’s estate and organises initiatives that range from international exhibitions and symposiums to the distribution of grants and research, continuing and building on the work begun by the brothers.

Starting out in stonemasonry, Alfred Basbous initially learned his craft with Michel, before taking courses at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA). His first exhibition, which was held in 1958 at the Alecco Saab Gallery, Beirut, was a sellout, bringing him immediate recognition and a scholarship from the French government, enabling him to further his studies under the sculptor René Collamarini at the National Fine Arts School in Paris. Here, he met and befriended the Egyptian sculptor, Adam Henein. The following year - 1961 - his works were shown at the International Sculpture Exhibition at the Musée Rodin, Paris.

Influenced and inspired by the great European artists such as Auguste Rodin, Jean Arp and Henry Moore, Basbous worked with fine materials, such as bronze, wood and marble, with the aim of capturing and conveying the sensuality and purity of the human form. His outstanding sculptures are devoid of embellishments, focused, instead, on the aesthetic principles of line, shape, movement and material, revealing his search for the essence of beauty. This approach echoed his own philosophy of simplicity and earnestness, which, in turn, gave his pieces a deeply ingrained sincerity. 

Basbous’s sculptures also celebrate his Lebanese heritage, while additionally recalling elements of Greek mythology and ancient Phoenician forms. The female figure, in particular, was a dominant subject that Basbous regularly revisited, alongside others that ranged from familial groups and experimental animals to abstract pieces.   

Basbous’s works can be found in numerous prestigious public and private collections worldwide, including the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Musée Rodin in Paris, the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan, Villa Audi, Beirut, the Sursock Museum, Beirut, the Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut and the Guggenheim Museum, UAE. His sculptures can also be found in public areas of Beirut and other Lebanese cities.

His work has been exhibited extensively over the decades in his native Lebanon and abroad, including in Paris, Saudi Arabia, the US, the UK, the UAE, Kuwait, Japan and Oman. Alongside numerous solo shows, Basbous’s work has featured in several collectives and other exhibitions with the work of his two brothers.  Most recently, his sculptures were exhibited in 2024 at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, on the picturesque French Riviera, for the ‘Cap Sur l’Art’. 

Basbous was the recipient of several accolades in his lifetime, including the ‘Prix de l’Orient’ in Beirut (1963) and the Biennale Prize in Alexandria (1974). He was awarded the National Medal of the Order of the Cedar for his contribution to the world of arts in 2005 and honoured with the Medal of the Lebanese Order of Merit in Gold when he died in 2006. The Alfred Basbous Foundation published a book, titled ‘Alfred Basbous: A modernist Pioneer’ on the artist in 2022.