NOW AND TEN

PROPERTY FROM
THE ARTIST’S ESTATE
*17
AHMED DRISS EL-YACOUBI
(MOROCCAN, 1928-1985)
Mirage
signed ‘Yacoubi’ (lower right); dated and inscribed
‘MIRAGE 46 x 36’-1982’ (on the stretcher)
oil on linen
36 x 46 in. (91.5 x 122 cm.)
Painted in 1982
US$50,000-70,000
AED190,000-250,000
PROVENANCE:
The Artist’s Estate.
This work will be included in the Ahmed Driss El Yacoubi Catalogue raisonnX
currently being prepared by Carol Cannon.
‘On the timeline of Ahmed Yacoubi’s development in oil painting, the large
canvas that is “Mirage” sits towards the end of his oeuvre where in 1982 instead
of faces, entities, or worlds of his earlier years, he created timeless planes of
numinous space. In the foreground is a horizontal trail of his characteristically
deft palette knife work, defning a frenzy of complexity in refreshing blush to
deep burgundy tones. With each receding plane Yacoubi transitions the viewer’s
eye from front to back, from bottom to top, from a wave form of dark, hot rose
madder to the cool, diaphanous cerulean blue and white-flled sky refracting
pure light. It is a mighty presence that stands silently shimmering in this
“Mirage” – the spirit animating all things glistens from within the canvas– vast,
powerful and as refned as the oscillating particles at the core of creation itself.’
(Carol Cannon, January 2016).
Ahmed Yacoubi with the present work. Courtesy Carol Cannon.
© The Estate of Ahmed Yacoubi.
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