Saleh Barakat (born in 1969 in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

) is a Lebanese art expert, gallery owner and curator. He studied at the American University of Beirut and was nominated as a

Yale World Fellow Yale World Fellows is an international fellowship program at Yale University for rising global leaders. World Fellows come from around the world and from diverse disciplines. They are selected through a competitive application process. Each year ...

in 2006. He runs Agial Art Gallery and Saleh Barakat Gallery in the

Ras Beirut Ras Beirut ("Tip of Beirut") is an upscale residential neighborhood of Beirut. It has a mixed population of Christians, Muslims, Druze, and secular individuals. Ras Beirut is home to some of Beirut's historically prominent families, such as th ...

area.

Profile

Saleh Barakat inaugurated the Agial Art Gallery in 1991, in the immediate aftermath of the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

. Since then, he expanded, becoming a leading advocate for Modern Arab painters in the art market, with high expectations to see them enter the museums. Being responsible for building major art collections in the region. Saleh Barakat deals with works from established Modern artists from Lebanon and the Arab World, such as

Saloua Raouda Choucair Saloua Raouda Choucair ( ar, سلوى روضة شقير; June 24, 1916 – January 26, 2017) was a Lebanese painter and sculptor. Life and career Born in 1916 in Ain el Mreisa, Beirut, Lebanon, Choucair came from a family of doctors, lawyers, ...

to whom he organized a retrospective exhibition at the Beirut Exhibition Center. He also has a team of younger talents including Oussama Baalbaki, Mohamad Said Baalbaki, Tagreed Darghouth, Abdulrahman Katanani, Tamara Al Samerraei, Chaza Charefeddine and Ayman Baalbaki, his most successful protégé. Baalbaki got extremely high bids at recent auctions. In April 2011, one of his works was auctioned at US$206,500.

Curatorial Practice

Saleh Barakat, who participated to numerous roundtables and educational programs, has participated in the organization of keystone exhibitions for Lebanese and Middle Eastern Art. In 2007, he co-curated with Sandra Dagher the 1st Lebanese Pavilion at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. The Pavilion featured a collective exhibition of Fouad Elkoury,

Lamia Joreige Lamia Joreige (born in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese visual artist and filmmaker. She received a BFA (Painting, Filmmaking) from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island. Since the late 1990s, her works have been widely displaye ...

, Walid Sadek, Mounira al Solh and

Akram Zaatari Akram Zaatari (born 1966 in Sidon, Lebanon) is a filmmaker, photographer, archival artist and curator. In 1997, he co-founded the Arab Image Foundation with photographers Fouad Elkoury, and Samer Mohdad. His work is largely based on collecting, stu ...

. In 2009, he curated the Road to Peace at

Beirut Art Center Beirut Art Center is a space for exhibiting contemporary art in Beirut, Lebanon History Beirut Art Center opened to public in January 2009. It is managed as a non-profit organization whose founders and executive board members were Sandra Daghe ...

. The exhibition featured paintings, photographs, drawings, prints and sculptures by Lebanese artists during the war. Its title comes from a series of prints by Aref Rayess that depict Lebanese survivors of war. The Road to Peace featured

Rafic Charaf Rafic Charaf (Baalbek, Lebanon, 1932 – Beirut 2003) was a Lebanese painter. He studied at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts ALBA and, in 1955, obtained a scholarship from the Spanish government and went at the R ...

, Fouad Elkoury, Paul Guiragossian, Hassan Jouni, Samir Khaddage, Seta Manoukian,

, Mohammad Rawas,

Aref Rayess Aref El Rayess (or Aref Rayess) (25 October 1928 – 27 January 2005) was a Lebanese painter and sculptor. Life Born in Beirut, Aref Rayess started his career as a self-taught artist exhibiting for the first time in 1948. He lived in Africa for ...

and others. Barakat has been appointed to manage a museum project at the American University of Beirut. This project follows a donation by Dr Samir Saleeby, who happens to be a relative of the late Khalil Saleeby (1870-1928), a pioneer of Lebanese painting, and consists of 30 paintings from Saleeby himself and Saliba Douaihy,

César Gemayel César Gemayel (b. 1898 Ain al Touffaha near Bikfaya, Ottoman Empire; died in Beirut, Lebanon in 1958) was a notable Lebanese painter, who helped to lay the foundations of a modern Lebanese art movement. Life and career Gemayel received his ...

and

Omar Onsi Omar Onsi (1901–1969) ( ar, عمر أنسي); was a pioneer of modern painting in Lebanon and Lebanon's most renowned impressionist painter. He was born in Tallet Al-Khayat, Beirut in 1901. His father, Dr. Abdul Rahman El Ounsi, was a prominent ...

. Saleh Barakat is member of the advisory board of the

Lebanese American University The Lebanese American University (LAU) ( ar, الجامعة اللبنانية الأميركية) is a secular and private American university located in Lebanon. It is chartered by the board of regents of the University of the State of New Y ...

School of Architecture and Design as well a board member of the Lebanese National Commission for UNESCO (LNCU).

Artists

* Abdul Rahman Katanani * Anachar Basbous * Ayman Baalbaki * Chaza Charafeddine * Daniele Genadry * Fadia Haddad * Gebran Tarazi * Ginane Makki Bacho * Hady Sy * Hala Ezzeddine * Hala Schoukair * Hiba Kalache * Houmam Sayed * Michel Basbous * Mohammad Rawas *

Mona Saudi Mona Saudi ( ar, منى السعودي) (1 October 1945 – 16 February 2022) was a Jordanian sculptor, publisher, and art activist. Life and career Mona Saudi was born in Amman, Jordan. She grew up in a neighbourhood that was metres away fro ...

* Nabil Nahas * Nadia Safieddine * Omar Fakhoury * Oussama Baalbaki * Rima Amyuni * Said Baalbaki * Samir Sayigh * Saloua Raouda Schoukair * Samar Mogharbel * Shafic Abboud * Shawki Youssef * Tagreed Dargouth * Tanbak * Ziad Abillama

Curated Exhibitions

2014 * Michel Basbous, Beirut Exhibition Center 2012 * Shafic Abboud (with Nadine Begdache), Beirut Exhibition Center 2011 * Saloua Raouda Choucair, Beirut Exhibition Center 2010 * De lumière et de sang, Foundation Audi, Beirut 2009 * Mediterranean Crossroad 2009 * The Road to Peace: Paintings in Times of War, 1975–1991, Beirut Art Center 2007 * Pavilion of Lebanon (with Sandra Dagher), Venice Biennale 2002 * Ateliers Arabes, 9th Francophonie Summit Art Exhibition, Beirut

References

External links

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Website of Agial Art Gallery
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Website of Saleh Barakat Gallery
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Profile on Yale World Fellows
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barakat, Saleh Lebanese art collectors Lebanese art dealers Businesspeople from Beirut 1967 births Living people