Google Doodle celebrates Lebanese abstract artist’s 102nd birth anniversary

Saloua Raouda Choucair was a Lebanese painter and sculptor. She is considered to be the first Lebanese abstract artist. Today, Google Doodle is honoring her on her 102nd birth anniversary. Saloua began her career as an artist when she started painting in the studios of the Lebanese painters Moustafa Farroukh and Omar Onsi. She studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

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Her abstract painting exhibition which was held at the Arab Cultural Gallery in 1947 is considered to be the Middle East’s first abstract painting exhibition.

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She is among the first Middle Eastern artists to take part in the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles held in Paris.

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Saloua received the following honors and awards:

• National Council of Tourism Prize, Beirut (1963)
• Appreciation prize from the General Union of Arab Painters (1985)
• Medal by the Lebanese government (1988)
• Honorary doctorate from the American University of Beirut (2014)