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A remarkably prolific artist whose career spanned over six decades, Basil Alkazzi (1936-2025) left an immense and varied body of work encompassing metaphysical journeys, landscapes, dreams and abstract visions. Most known for his luminous gouache paintings, Alkazzi’s oeuvre overwhelmingly addresses cycles of life, rejuvenation and celestial forms fused with the natural and human world.
A lifelong seeker and student of mysticism, Alkazzi was initially drawn to Christianity, Sufism and Kabbalah before developing his own spiritual beliefs. Motherhood, birth, growth and death were recurring areas Alkazzi explored through multiple themes and styles. However, for Alkazzi, nothing living terminates but continues into another life form and mode of existence. This is evident across his oeuvre, from the early series Birth, Death, Birth (1963-1972) to Beyond the Isthmus (1984-1989) and Ezra & Transmigration of the Soul (2010-2016).
Born in Pune, India to a large Saudi-Kuwaiti family, Alkazzi’s culturally rich home fostered other notable figures; his sister Munira Al-kazi was a significant artist based in Beirut and his brother Ebrahim Alkazi was the eminent New Delhi theatre director. From a young age, Alkazzi was certain he wanted an artistic career, while his fascination with spiritual ideas also developed during his adolescence. After attending boarding school in Beirut, Alkazzi studied at Central School of Art in London in the 1950s.
Alkazzi began exhibiting in London in the 1970s and was championed by the Polish émigré artist and curator Halima Nalesz at the Drian Galleries. Although associated with this London gallery for almost twenty years, Alkazzi lived mostly in Athens during this time. Greece shaped Alkazzi’s sensitivity to light, atmosphere, myth and mythmaking, forming the visual language which would define his practice. Greece directly inspired his artworks; the faceless figures and architectural forms of the series Xania, Sepia (1983-1987) recall theatrical sets and Greek tragedies, whereas the striking series Greek Figures (1980-1981) conveys the musculature of embracing lovers and angels like fallen sculptures of Grecian heroes in mysterious nighttime landscapes.
This period was followed by international success. Travelling solo exhibitions toured the United States throughout the 1980s, in collaboration with another female Polish curator, Eva J. Pape. Alongside visionary paintings, Alkazzi produced collages and photomontage portraits. These portraits include Pape, Everson Museum of Art Director Ronald Kutchta and punk rock singer Patti Palladin.
In 1990, after years of highly successful yet demanding exhibitions, Alkazzi withdrew from the circuit to devote himself entirely to artistic exploration and spirituality. This decision saw the development of abstract compositions of luminous shapes, frequently painted in rich indigos and blues. The critic Donald Kuspit, addressing the series Lovers and Emanation (1993-1995), emphasised the influence of Kandinsky’s Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Malevitch’s Black Square as well as affinities with Rothko. These works also share similarities with the then unknown paintings of Hilma Af Klint. Transfiguration of Dreams (1994), with its brilliant violet streaks of light evoking wings spread across three canvases, recalls the reverence inspired by altarpiece triptychs.
After several years in New York, Alkazzi relocated to Monaco in 1999 and lived there for the remainder of his life. The 2010s saw Alkazzi reimagine earlier series, his interest in the seasons and natural metamorphosis combined with fantastical, otherworldly imagery, while the 2020s saw powerful landscapes and depictions of the natural world.
In addition to his artistic legacy, Alkazzi was respected for his philanthropy. He established scholarships with institutions such as New York Foundation for the Arts and Royal College of Art, London and was a benefactor to museums including the National Museum in Gdansk and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Alkazzi’s scholarships continue to nurture artistic talent and his philanthropy supporting autistic and disabled residents in care.