"Detaching his scenes from a homogenous orientalist perspective, Farhat works towards painting a Tunisian society laden with its diverse heritage, rich in its traditions and heavily entrenched in its own history."
Born in Béja, Tunisia and orphaned at the age of five, Farhat was a self-taught painter who began his art career at age fifteen, making charcoal portraits in cafés. Discovered at the 1937 Tunisian Salon by French painters Jacques Revault and Alexandre Fichet, Farhat quickly became one of Tunisia’s most important modern artists.
His first solo exhibition was held in 1940, and he later joined other young artists of his generation in forming the École de Tunis in 1948 and the “Group of Ten”, which was an influential association of Tunisian Artists with intentions aimed at the promotion and development of modern art in the country. The Group of Ten organized exhibitions, workshops and cultural events, bringing modern art to a broader audience, hence contributing to the growth of Tunisia’s art scene.
Farhat’s talent was quickly recognized, awarding him the Prize of the Young Tunisian Painting at the 1949 Tunisian Salon, offering him the chance to travel to Paris. Mahmoud Messadi is quoted to have stated that ‘Not having been shaped by academic learning, he was free of constraint and could be what a painter can dream of…”.
Farhat’s figurative paintings depict vivid scenes from the lives of Tunisia’s rural working class. Detaching his scenes from a homogenous orientalist perspective, Farhat works towards painting a Tunisian society laden with its diverse heritage, rich in its traditions and heavily entrenched in its own history. From tattooed old women, wedding ceremonies, musicians, and dancers; A melancholy of the past exists, yet an undeniable hope in the future remains. In 1984, he won the National Art Prize in Tunis and a cultural center in his hometown of Béja was named after him. Ammar Farhat passed away in Tunis in 1987.