Samir Müller: Painter of Clay

Opening reception: Thursday 31 May, 18:00 to 21:00.

Samir Müller (1959-2013) was a painter who used clay for canvas, engobe for pigment, and his fingers for brushes. His ceramic paintings include abstract landscapes, dancing figures on globular vases, and urban scenes in which human silhouettes haunt the streets of Beirut. Adept at rendering both harmonious, almost perfect plasticity, and roughness where the material appears almost crude, Müller mastered earth and fire, presenting an art bordering on craftmanship.

Born into a family of potters, Müller studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, and under Jean Hury at the Lycée Technique Auguste Renoir in Paris, where he learnt the techniques of engobe, underglaze and overglaze decoration, and firing. Müller taught ceramics from 1997 to 2013 at the Holy Spirit University in Kaslik, the Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut, and later at Notre-Dame University – Louaize. He also participated in several group exhibitions, including the Sursock Museum’s Salon d’Automne (special mention, 1995; Sursock Museum Prize, 2009), the Sharjah International Art Biennial, the Beirut Decorative Arts Fair, and the Cairo International Biennial of Ceramics.

This homage is part of a cycle of homages to artists featured in the permanent collections of the Sursock Museum.

Exhibition guide

Download the exhibition guide in Arabic, English, and French.