The late Lebanese painter, who died in 2019, was — according to the exhibition brochure — “an ardent observer of people and places and a master colorist who always managed a synergistic ensemble of light and hues.” This particular piece was inspired by — and an homage to — his brother, Toufic, a respected musician and composer. (The brothers’ uncle was also a composer and a painter.
) El-Bacha is quoted in the exhibition notes as having once said, “One can hear music while looking at my artwork.” This is a fine example of the veteran Emirati artist’s abstract takes on the natural landscape of her homeland — a constant theme of her work, along with local folklore. Makki is a true pioneer; she was the first Emirati woman to gain a government scholarship to study art abroad (which she did in the late 1970s).
She studied at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo, and has been heavily influenced by Egyptian artists including the Alsader brothers and Mahmoud Mukhtar. In 2018, Makki spoke to the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation about her fascination with color. “When I was a child, my father owned a herbal medicine shop.
It was full of boxes of herbs as well as indigo dye and alum-block. I used them all to paint on paper bags. That’s when I started to love color .
.. I learned about light and shadow from watching my mother fold our clothes.
My relationship with color didn’t just come; I worked on it by learning from everything I saw.” This is one of several c.