Paris – Pythagor and Thot, a large and impressive painting by Ouattara Watts (born 1957) will lead the Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr's Modern & Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art sale in Paris on 26 September 2024. It is estimated at €45,000-65,000. This highly selective sale will offer paintings, drawings and sculptures by celebrated African artists, including Pascale Martinhe Tayou, Aboudia as well as Middle Eastern names, including Fikret Muoalla, Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and Fahr El Nissa Zeid.

Julie Mathon, Junior specialist in Modern and Contemporary African Art at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, commented: "Ouattara Watts is a painter whose work is painterly, gestural, and tactile, focused on the crossover of semblances that we share as humans. Having organised sales of modern and contemporary African art in Paris since 2022, this year Bonhams is paying tribute to artists from the Middle East as part of a partnership with Menart."

Noor Soussi, Head of the Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern art department, added: "Bonhams is delighted to partner with Menart and show to global collectors works by modern masters and young talents from both continents. Notable artists include Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and Fahr El Nissa Zeid for the Middle East and Ouattara Watts and Pascale Mathine Tayou for Africa."

The Menart international art fair in Paris has been highlighting for four years now modern and contemporary artists from the Levant, the Arab-Persian Gulf and North Africa, since its creation in 2021 by Laure d'Hauteville. This year, from 20 to 22 September, Menart Fair will focus exclusively on the women's art scene in MENA (Middle East, North Africa), examining the legacy of pioneering female artists and highlighting contemporary and emerging female creators.

As a partner, Bonhams decided to pay tribute to pioneering female artists, highlighting contemporary female creators, such as Egyptian painter Zeinab Abd El Hamid (1919-2002) with a colourful Cityscape executed in 1998 (estimate: €7,000-10,000). Zeinab Abd El Hamid's use of vibrant colours and dynamic strokes creates a sense of movement and rhythm throughout her painting, drawing the viewer's eye through the busy scenes. The intricate detailing of the architecture and urban scenery adds a sense of depth and texture to the composition, while the absence of solid forms or shadows gives the painting an ethereal, graphic-like quality.

Fahr El-Nissa Zeid (1900-1991) was one of the first women to attend the Fine Arts Academy in Istanbul. Then she came to Paris at Academie Ranson under the direction of Roger Bissière. Then she participated in a spate of international solo exhibitions in London, Paris, and New York and the Middle East before settling in Amman in 1976, after the death of her husband Prince Zeid.

Painted in 1961, Lever De Soleil, a large and abstract composition stands as a testament to Fahr El Nissa Zeid's unparalleled ability to blend colour, emotion, and form (estimate: €50,000-80,000).

Reza Derakshani is a painter, poet, musician and performance artist, born in Sangsar, Iran in 1952. After experimenting with pure abstraction at the beginning of his artistic career in the 1980's whilst being associated with the Neo-expressionists, the artist devised his personal artistic style blending abstract and figurative elements from both Western and Eastern cultures. He explores the nature, as well as emotional states and themes of exile and alienation. Untitled (Série Pomegrante) by Reza Derakshani is a luminous oil on canvas executed on two panels in 2008. (estimate: €45,000-55,000).

The sale, which consists of 74 lots, also offers:

• A very large painting entitled Chalks and Pins V by Pascale Marthine Tayou, completed in 2012 (estimate: €40,000 - €60,000).
• A colourful painting by Abdoulaye Diarrassouba Aboudia (estimate: €25,000 - €35,000).
• Charles Hossein Zenderoudi (born 1937) is one of Iran's most accomplished modern artists, as a founding father Iranian neo-traditionalism Zenderoudi is a master of blending traditional Persian motif's within a distinctly avant-garde aesthetic. Niulakita a 1981 work on canvas from a private collection (estimate: €50,000-70,000)