Nazem al-Jaafari () (born 1918 in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

– 2015) was considered the founder of

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

in Syria. Al-Jaafari studied at the

Faculty of Fine Arts Faculty or faculties may refer to: Academia * Faculty (academic staff), professors, researchers, and teachers of a given university or college (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a large department of a university by field of study (us ...

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from 1944 to 1947, after which he returned to Syria and worked as an art instructor for high school students, then moved to teach at the Faculty of Fine Arts upon its opening in 1960 in Damascus One of his greatest achievements as an artist is the documentation of the old quarters of Damascus as it existed at the turn of the 20th century; subjects included architecture, lifestyles, designs, and fashion. His body of work consists of over 7,000 portraits, all still part of the artist's collection as he rarely sold his work.

Nazem Al Jaafari was one of the pioneer impressionists of Syrian painting. Impressionism remained the most popular style in Syria both before and after the Second World War. Al Jaafari was a recluse and seldom sold any of his work because he was hoping to preserve his work in a museum for the
future generations Future generations are Cohort (statistics), cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity. The Moral agenc ...
.

His work was eventually collected by the Museum of Damascus and by several private collectors. His works were auctioned at Bohnam's Dubai in 2008 and at Ayyam Auctions in 2010 (Beirut).Nazem al Jaafari (Syrian, born 1918) — Artworks, Artworks for Sale & Auction Results
at ''artnet.com''. Retrieved July 28, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaafari, Nazem 1918 births 2015 deaths Syrian artists 20th-century Syrian painters