Tribute to Hamadi Ben Saâd, an Iconic Figure in Tunisian Painting
A ceremony will be held on Tuesday, September 9th at 4:30 pm at La Boîte Charguia, in the presence of his family and friends, to pay tribute to Hamadi Ben Saâd, who passed away on July 25th.
Exhibition and Archives
Some of the works from his last exhibition at La Boîte, "Voyage de l'âme" (June 2022), will be presented on this occasion, as well as visual archives and sound memories captured by Laetitia Kozlova, an artist and researcher on new practices of listening to recorded spoken voice.
A Self-Taught Artist
Hamadi Ben Saâd built an exceptional artistic trajectory, marked by decades of uninterrupted creation. Born in 1948, at a time when the Tunisian art scene was still structured around colonial heritage and local influences, he did not initially intend to become an artist. However, at the age of 18, he embarked on a personal journey that would lead him to invent a unique pictorial universe, both intimate and deeply rooted in the history of Tunisian plastic arts.
A Unique Style
He became known for his large-scale works, often monumental, as he loved to paint in an all-over style, investing the entire space to bring life to his iconic faces with exorbitant gazes and open mouths, which he painted and created tirelessly. From his early exhibitions in the second half of the 1960s, Ben Saâd was often, and wrongly, perceived as a "naive" painter. This misunderstanding was likely due to the spontaneity of his gesture, the freedom of his touch, and the raw energy that imposed itself in his early canvases. However, the artist refused labels, preferring to call himself an "alive artist." His work did not belong to a particular school or aesthetic; it was in perpetual metamorphosis, traversing epochs with the same experimental audacity.
A Pioneer in Tunisian Art
At that time, the Tunisian art scene was undergoing profound transformations. The legacy of the Tunis School was still very present, shaped by major figures who continued to leave their mark through a faithful figurative painting and anchorage in the territory. However, in the late 1960s, a new breath emerged: a young generation of artists emancipated themselves from established frameworks, explored new paths, and questioned dominant codes. New galleries opened their doors, independent collectives emerged, innovative techniques appeared, and unconventional supports became prominent in workshops. Hamadi Ben Saâd naturally found his place in this effervescence. He frequented the masters, sometimes drew inspiration from them, but never merged with them, refusing to be confined to a school or style. His approach was instinctive, his relationship with freedom absolute: this creative independence would become the distinctive mark of his work.
Color and Technique
Ben Saâd's relationship with color was central from the beginning. Color did not just dress his forms; it structured, carried, and transcended them. His approach was instinctive, almost musical, materializing with layered treatments where each layer corresponded to a sum of precise gestures to mix techniques and approach a multitude of supports and mediums: cardboard, kraft paper, packaging paper, advertising posters, fabric waste, paint, pastel, felt, graphite, etc. The rolled, folded, braided, or marouflaged paper was each time put to the test in a game of re-covering and revealing before resulting in an irregular topography, imprinted with tensions between the visible and the hidden. Ben Saâd superimposed, lacerated, juxtaposed, recycled, and created vibrant textures that gave his canvases a unique energy. His palette deployed in vast chromatic ranges, oscillating between spontaneous gesture and carefully thought-out composition.
Evolution and Themes
His work went through different phases with various technical experiences and recurring themes. Figurative art between 1975 and 1980, graphite drawings on poster paper and newspapers from 1978 to 1985, the period of drawings (1980-1990), collages, and other lacerations in the 1990s, the 2000s marked by faces, masks, and portraits, and since 2010, an interest in abstract and monochrome art. In his large abstracts and monochromes, Ben Saâd enjoyed exploring the expressive and material possibilities of collage. In his works with portraits and human figures (these latter are embodied in different states and positions: disarticulated, crouched, lying down, or in a fetal position...), each of the painted characters vibrated with a part of himself. They were his mute doubles, offered souls, raw, deeply human. Through his figuration of striking expressiveness, the unclassifiable artist explored the human face as a symbol both totemic and profoundly emotional, giving birth to figures inhabited by pain, solitude, and latent mystery.
International Recognition
From the 1990s, his influence extended beyond Tunisian borders. He regularly exhibited in Europe, particularly in France, Germany, and Italy, as well as in the United States, where he participated in several collective exhibitions. His work intrigued, seduced, sometimes disconcerted, but never left anyone indifferent. Despite this international recognition, the artist remained deeply attached to his roots. Originally from the Djerid region, he claimed his belonging to this land rich in symbols, lights, and memories. Long settled in the popular neighborhood of Essayda, he drew inspiration from the atmospheres, colors, and materials of his immediate environment. It is this double anchorage — in the local and the universal — that gives his work all its strength and singularity.
Legacy
Hamadi Ben Saâd's life as an artist was also marked by his places of creation. His first studio, at the Achouria medersa, was a space of intense experimentation. Later, he joined the Tahar Haddad club, which became his last artistic refuge. Even when illness and family drama came to disrupt his daily life, he never stopped painting, inventing, and dialoguing with matter and color. Supported by galerists, collectors, and faithful friends, he continued to create, exhibit, and meet his public. His last artistic appointments, organized at the Tahar Haddad club, were moments of resilience as much as celebration. Hamadi Ben Saâd was distinguished several times, notably by the Grand Prix de la ville de Tunis, and received numerous international recognitions. But beyond the prizes and tributes, he will remain in collective memory as a free man, an unshackled creator, and an indefatigable explorer of plastic possibilities. On July 25, 2025, he passed away at the age of 77. His departure leaves an immense void, but his work continues to speak for him. It testifies to a life devoted to experimentation, research, and the love of forms and colors. His practice of recycling, his virtuous use of matter, and his chromatic audacity will remain benchmarks for future generations. Hamadi Ben Saâd was not just a painter; he was a passer, an inventor of visual spaces, a man inhabited by a constant quest for freedom. And it is perhaps this that is his greatest legacy: reminding us that art is never fixed, that it lives, transforms, and reinvents itself, like him, until the end.
