Lot 72: Untitled

MOHAMMED KACIMI (MOROCCAN, 1942-2003)
Untitled
signed 'KACIMI' and again in Arabic (lower right)
acrylic and charcoal on canvas
101½ x 77½in. (258 x 197cm.)
Painted circa 1990

Mohammed Kacimi's work was often influenced by Arabic poetry, and can be seen as both a continuation of the heritage of traditional Arab poetry and the "shattered mysticism" when this is juxtaposed with modernity .

Kacimi often worked on large scale canvases, in the manner of the Action Painting of Abstract Expressionist. In the compositions from his final years white figures are often thrown against a dark background. These figures are nudes, but they are bodies without faces or gender, are often haloed and seeming slightly angelic or saintly. The figures are reduced to their essentials, platonic and somewhat surreal- creating a mystical, dreamlike atmosphere.