Simone Fattal
Born 1942, Syria
Simone Fattal is widely recognised as one of the most important voices in contemporary art. Raised in Lebanon, she studied philosophy at Beirut’s École des Lettres and at the Sorbonne in Paris before pursuing archaeology at the École du Louvre. Over the course of a remarkable career spanning several decades, Fattal has developed a multidisciplinary practice encompassing sculpture, painting, watercolour, collage, and publishing, with a particular mastery of ceramics and clay.
A decisive turning point in her artistic practice came in 1988 when she enrolled at the Art Institute of San Francisco and discovered ceramics. Captivated by the expressive possibilities of clay, she found a material capable of embodying both memory and transformation. Clay, one of humanity’s oldest artistic mediums, would become central to a sculptural language that draws equally from archaeology, mythology, history, and lived experience.
When Fattal first encountered clay, she instinctively modelled a standing figure. As the artist and writer Etel Adnan observed, “She found her world immediately.” From that first figure emerged a body of work that has remained at the heart of her practice for more than three decades. Her sculptures are populated by warriors, guardians, mythological beings, animals, and archetypal characters that seem to rise naturally from the earth, carrying within them traces of ancient civilisations while remaining unmistakably contemporary.
Occupying a space between abstraction and representation, Fattal’s figures evoke a realm of collective memory. Their forms recall the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Syria, and the Mediterranean, yet they resist specific narratives or historical references. Instead, they possess a timeless quality, appearing less as inventions than as presences rediscovered. Modest in scale but monumental in spirit, they convey resilience, dignity, and a profound sense of human continuity.
This connection to humanity’s earliest histories and mythologies lies at the heart of Simone Fattal’s wearable art project for Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery. Bringing together some of the artist’s most enduring sculptural motifs, the collection includes both her iconic standing figures and a selection of animals. The wearable sculptures are produced as limited editions in bronze, translating Fattal’s distinctive visual language into intimate forms that can be worn on the body.
Whether human or animal, each figure becomes a portable guardian, carrying ideas of protection, memory, strength, and our enduring connection with the natural and ancient worlds. Although modest in scale, these works possess the same quiet authority found in Fattal’s larger sculptures. They evoke ancient idols, votive figures, and archaeological fragments while remaining profoundly contemporary. In transforming these forms into wearable sculptures, Fattal establishes an intimate relationship between object and wearer, allowing each piece to accompany the body as a personal talisman.
As Etel Adnan memorably observed, Fattal’s sculptures possess “the breath of life.” These wearable sculptures embody that same quality. Emerging from bronze and clay—materials as old as civilisation itself—they carry within them the memory of ancient worlds while accompanying their wearer through the present, becoming intimate companions imbued with history, mythology, and enduring human spirit.
Today, Fattal lives and works in Paris. In September 2026, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris will present a major retrospective dedicated to her work, recognising more than five decades of artistic production and affirming her position as one of the most influential artists of her generation.
Her work has been the subject of important international exhibitions, including presentations at the Musée du Louvre, Paris (2024–25); IVAM, Valencia (2024–25); Secession, Vienna (2024); Portikus, Frankfurt (2023); the National Museum of Qatar, Doha (2022–ongoing); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2021); ICA Milano (2021); and MoMA PS1, New York (2019). In 2025, her work was also featured in Diálogos de Vanguardia: Colección Ella Fontanals-Cisneros at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. Her work has been included in major international exhibitions such as the 59th Venice Biennale, The Milk of Dreams (2022), the 12th Berlin Biennale (2022), the Biennale de Lyon (2022), and the 18th Istanbul Biennial (2025).
Fattal’s works are held in leading public collections worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; the National Museum of Qatar, Doha; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Sharjah Art Foundation; mumok, Vienna; Sursock Museum, Beirut; Aïshti Foundation, Beirut; Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech; the Block Museum of Art, Evanston; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Across sculpture, painting, and ceramics, Fattal continues to bridge archaeology and imagination, mythology and lived experience, creating works that feel at once ancient and profoundly contemporary. Her wearable sculptures extend this vision into an intimate scale, transforming figures and animals into personal talismans imbued with memory, resilience, and the timeless power of human presence.
