Marionette 2 (Painting by Syrian Modernist Marwan)

Marwan, Marionette 2 (2007), gouache on paper, 21 x 30.2 cm 2011,6020.2.

Mirrored from [pdf] the British Museum Modern Syrian Art Collection.

Marwan (Kassab Bachi), born in Damascus, Syria, in 1934, did his studies in literature at the University of Damascus and then went to Berlin, Germany, to pursue painting with Hans Trier. He has remained in Berlin, and draws on both Arab and modernist German artistic influences. From about 1970, one of his motifs has been the marionette.

The BM catalog notes: “Here, it is melancholy and downcast. The marionette (above) lies prone on the floor, as if without strings to represent the helplessness of humanity.”

For more on Marwan, see this [pdf] profile.