Hassan Massoudy – Nahla Ink Artist May 2019

Hassan Massoudy was born in 1944 in Najef, Iraq. At the age of seventeen, he began working as an apprentice for various calligraphers in Baghdad for eight years, which formed the solid foundation for his artistic influences and ultimate practice.

In June 1969, he managed to leave his home country to go to France where he attend the Fine Arts School in Paris, wherein his artistic creations began to manifest a unique style in which the past meets the present, the Eastern merges with the Western and tradition stands in relation to modernity.

Massoudy’s work both perpetuates and celebrates the tradition of calligraphic art whilst at the same time breaking its rules. He simplifies lines, tending to purer lines, adding colours and opening on to a wider unlimited world on the canvass. He has also introduced signs, letters, words and sentences throughout his creations to better express himself on the spiritual realm.

The artist’s calligraphies do tend to carry out a rhythm and a musical structure which echoes back to the remotest of times. The emotion is strong when looking at the movement of his lines, their weight, their lightness, their transparency, the balance between black and white, the fullness and the vacuum, the concreteness and the abstractness.

What is also noted in Massoudy’s art is the skilful use of colour in his compositions, with opalescent washes, flows of emerald, monochromes of beiges enriched with deep wood tones and sandalwood fragrances. Then there is finally the profound message of the text used.

An artist who has exhibited internationally in a career that spans decades, Massoudy’s work is also held at museums worldwide as part of their public collections.

The works featured on Nahla Ink: