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Fayez Barakat

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Fayez Barakat (born 1949) is a Palestinian, naturalised American artist, and a collector and dealer of ancient art.[1][2]

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Fayez Barakat was born in 1949 in Hebron, the son of Sadi Barakat. He is of the fourth generation of the Barakat family. Towards the end of 19th century, the Barakat family had begun amassing a sizeable collection of items found in the surrounding hills of their Jordanian farmlands. From these beginnings the Barakat Collection, for over a century, has dedicated itself to acquiring the finest masterpieces of ancient art from around the world, while becoming a viable business venture with art Galleries in London, Los Angeles, Seoul, and Hong Kong.  

As a boy Barakat worked with the renowned British archaeologist Dame Prof. Kathleen Kenyon, sorting and identifying shards from her excavations in the 'City of David' to the immediate south of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem between 1952 and 1958.[3] Through his collaboration with Dr Kenyon, a seminal expert in excavation technique and ceramic methodology, Barakat became familiar with pottery classifications and with the basic principles of field archaeology. This interest, coupled with a photographic memory, allowed him to quickly acquire a deep knowledge of Mediterranean, Eastern, and Biblical material culture and archaeology. Throughout the last few years of this venture he became Kenyon's most trusted assistant.

At the age of 14 Barakat was offered a Fulbright Scholarship to study medicine in the United States. As his father wanted him to stay with the family and build on his interests in ancient art, Barakat instead attended courses in biblical and Middle Eastern archaeology at the Hebrew Union College under the prominent archaeologists Nelson Glueck and William Denver. He familiarised himself with archaeological journals, excavation reports, and sources in art history, developing also a keen interest in ancient coinage.[4] His involvement in the family business gave him opportunity to match the experience acquired from the study of literary and scholarly sources with the continuous direct handling of artefacts. At the age of 18 he became a self-made millionaire. Throughout the next 10 years he acquired a large range of objects from Hebron, creating a wide-ranging personal collection.

Rise to prominence[edit]

In 1967 Barakat opened his first major gallery Jerusalem's Old City in partnership with his family. His Gallery became the first non-touristic private antiquities collection recognised by the Israeli ministry of culture and tourism. In the same year he was responsible for curating the private collection of antiquities of Moshe Dayan. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he was responsible for numerous acquisitions for the Getty Collection. He moved to Los Angeles in 1983, where he opened an art gallery. He was shortly afterwards naturalised as a US citizen. 20 years after the opening of Barakat Los Angeles, a new gallery was opened in 2003 in Mayfair, London.

In 2007 he opened a gallery in Abu Dhabi, heralding the sale of museum-quality non-Islamic antiquities in the United Arab Emirates for the first time.[5] In 2016 the opening of Barakat Seoul was celebrated, followed in 2017 by the opening of Barakat Hong Kong.

Painter[edit]

Barakat started painting as a teenager, inspired by Pablo Picasso, whom he met briefly in 1960s Jerusalem. In adult life, however, he stopped painting for his wife, who did not like the smell of paint. For decades his works were kept in hiding, until his decision to go public with his first exhibition in 2010, an event described by Godfrey Barker as "a dramatic moment".[6] He was urged to release his art to the world by critics and scholars who were amazed by the variety of style and quality of execution; his works have been classified as abstracts, but he states they are a form of realism. He uses a range of techniques, known for a dozen or more recognisable styles, that astonish critics: he paints loosely and energetically, allowing ideas to flow through him.

Barakat defies the concept of abstract art itself, since every canvas is an impression of his thoughts, feelings, and soul.[5] He seeks to break away from traditional representations of physical objects by exploring form and colour. His style is characterised by a triumph of chromaticism, being based on a palette of 30 to 40 colours. Some critics have seen in the dense combination of colours the influence of Marc Chagall, whom Barakat also befriended in Jerusalem in the 1960s. His paintings are mostly completed between 02:00 and 05:00, or in free time he makes from managing his galleries, and are inspired by visions he has at night.[7]

For Barakat, painting has come to represent a form of meditation upon the world and the artist's role in figuring it. He is obsessed with painting as the one thing that enables him to engage with issues that are greater than himself. He believes that art enters the soul to rouse a sense of "the ideal" within the viewer. The themes of his paintings are as varied as the techniques: they encompass subjects such as fantasy, meditation, ecstasy, and nirvana.

Published catalogues[edit]

  • "Fayez Barakat: Paintings", ed. by Hend El Saket (ISBN 987-0-9567936-1-4)
  • "Fayez Barakat Beyond Fantasy", ed. by Olivia Tait and Laura Di Nicolantonio (ISBN 987-0-9567936-2-1)

References[edit]

  1. "[Eye Interview] A feast for the eyes, mind". koreaherald.com. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  2. Bradley Hope (19 November 2010). "Fayez Barakat: 'Something powerful is overflowing'". thenationalnews.com. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  3. "Bygone Empires". Wall Street International. 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  4. Smith, Scott (8 May 2018). "Barakat Gallery's Treasure Trove Of Antiquities In Los Angeles". The Chattanoogan. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Punj, Rajesh (2013-07-16). "Private Passions: An Interview with Artist Fayez Barakat". Culture Trip. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  6. El Saket, Hend (ed.). Fayez Barakat: Paintings. pp. 9–10. ISBN 987-0-9567936-1-4 Check |isbn= value: invalid prefix (help).CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link) Search this book on
  7. by. "Fayez Barakat – Circle Foundation for the Arts". Retrieved 2021-11-23.

External links[edit]

https://fayezbarakat.art

http://www.barakatgallery.com



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