DUBAI.- Works from eight important family collections from across the region, led by a comprehensive group of the Lebanese modernist pictures by Shafic Abboud from the Viviane and Robert Debbas Collection, are at the heart of the 122-lot sale of Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art to be held by Christie’s at the Emirates Towers Hotel on October 21. These include works from a prominent Private Iranian Collection, the Dr. Farsi Collection, works from the Tobler family, the Hamed Ewais, Elie Kanaan and Mahmoud Hammad Estates as well a group of Modern Iraqi works from the Private Collection of the late Dr. Al-Qassab. In addition the sale will feature masterpieces by Mahmoud Saïd, Paul Guiragossian, Fateh Moudarres, Parviz Tanavoli and Sohrab Sepehri and contemporary artists Ayman Baalbaki, Hayv Kahraman, Rokni Haerizadeh and Farhad Moshiri.

Hala Khayat, Associate Director at Christie’s and Head of sale, commented: “The sale includes many works that have the most powerful combination for sale at auction; exceptional quality, impeccable provenance and freshness to the market.”

Three spectacular paintings by the father of modern Egyptian art, Mahmoud Saïd (1897-1964), are led by the exquisite and rare Bergère à Alamein which was originally in the private collection of Dr. Tharawat Okasha, Egyptian Minister of Culture from 1959 to 1964. Using a luminous yellow pigment soaked with sunlight for the ground, heightened by an immaculate white for the hills in the background, Saïd manages to reflect the distinctive colours of El-Alamein, the Mediterranean town in the Matrouh Governorate in Egypt. The ‘bergère’ or ‘shepherdess’ embodies one of Saïd’s recurring subjects, that of the Egyptian ‘fellaha’ or ‘peasant’. It is expected to sell for $400,000-600,000. The other two works include one of Said's most spectacular 'Cezannesque' Lebanese landscapes Après la pluie au Liban from the same collection (estimate: $200,000-250,000) and a jewel-like panel from another private collection, Le Chat Blanc (esquisse), which is a preparatory oil sketch for one of Said's most iconic large compositions of the same title (estimate: $80,000-120,000).

One of the principal pioneers of social realism in Egyptian art, the painter Hamed Ewais (1919-2011), is represented by two works, sold from the artist’s estate. No other works by the artist have ever been offered at auction before so these works are exceptionally rare. His rousing portrayal of Nasser and the Nationalisation of the Canal, showing Gamel Abdel Nasser, Egypt’s leader who on the date depicted in the painting, 26 July, 1956, addressed a huge crowd in Alexandria to express his opposition to the British and French influence on Egyptian affairs. To immortalize this significant moment in Egyptian history in paint is a manifestation of Ewais’ socialist principles and his support for Nasser. The picture will be one of the sale highlights with an estimate of $150,000-200,000.

From the exceptional Beirut collection of Viviane & Robert Debbas (1926-2004) are a series of large compositions in Shafic Abboud’s (Lebanese, 1926-2004) distinctive, abstract hand. Each work is an example of his 60-year experiment in the search for the essence of light through colour which he described: “I only stop when both colour and light match. I cannot escape from colour, it is my fate and nature – my eyes have been dazzled forever”. The collection of 10 works is expected to realize around $2million and is highlighted by Grand Chambre 3 (estimated: $150,000-200,000).

Collected in the early 1960s by the Tobler’s, an American diplomatic family based in Damascus, are four works by Louay Kayyali (Syrian, 1934-1978) including touching portraits of the wife and son. The second work they acquired from the artist was his 1963 rendition of the village of Malula, shown in an unusual white monochromatic palette (estimated: $60,000-80,000) marking it out from his other Malula compositions.

Ten works from the Collection of the late Dr. Khalid Al-Qassab, a doctor who was one of the founding members of the Pioneers or Al Ruwad group, offer an insight into the art scene in Iraq in the 1950s. They are led by an untitled bronze panel (showing below) showing women and children by Mohammed Ghani Hikmat (Iraqui, 1929-2011) who was a pupil of the great Iraqi sculptor Jewad Selim, and is estimated at $40,000-60,000.

From a private Iranian collection are eight works which track the art history of Modern Iranian art, particularly between 1960-70 with a work by female artist Leyly Matine-Daftary (1937-2007), Ghasem Hajizadeh (b. 1947), Bahman Mohassess (1931-2010) and the great sculptor Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937).

Mahmoud Hammad (1923-1988), a Syrian master of abstract art and the first Syrian to incorporate Arabic calligraphy into his work, is represented by two works, both offered for sale by the artist’s family. Rythme Bleu – mauve en 5 temps, is a cubist composition across 5 panels and is estimated at $30,000- 40,000.

Born in Beirut in 1926, Elie Kanaan (1926-2009) studied in Paris where he exhibited his work and won several prestigious art awards. The three works, all offered from the artist’s estate, reference different periods from his career. Rêveuses from 1965, shows three female figures beside the sea in a style which shows the influence of Impressionism with its pale, Mediterranean colour palette concentrating of the effect of sunlight on the figures (estimate: $20,000-30,000).

The second work, L’Attente, is from 1993 and shows a single figure against an ice cold background, a reflection of the Civil War in Lebanon (estimate: $25,000-30,000). Au Revoir from 2003 is from his last, abstract expressionist period and has large patches of vivid colour with an estimate of $20,000-30,000.

The contemporary works in the sale are led by Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri’s (b. 1963) Toothpicker, showing a well-dressed man picking at his teeth and wearing a pair of diamond encrusted glasses – crystals glued onto the canvas - in Moshiri’s highly collectable pop art style. Moshiri questions the rise of the nouveau riche in the region by showing the sophisticated man wearing flashy sunglasses. A list of world cities mimicking an advertising strap line runs across the bottom of the picture. Painted in 2008, it is estimated at $180,000-220,000.