The project concerns the surviving studio collection and archive of Syrian sculptor and teacher Fayez Nahri in Damascus. The material includes approximately 30 sculptures, together with a significant amount of paper material, including photographs, magazines, books, sketches, and other studio material.

The collection was taken into the care of two former students of Nahri with the consent of his family. The first documentation of Nahri’s studio material was preliminary:

• the sculptures and moulds were photographed;
• approximate measurements were taken;
• the works were soft-packed;
• the sculptures, moulds, and associated studio material were transferred to secure storage;
• shelving was built in the storage space, located in a private apartment.

2. Phase

• build secure professional crates for all sculptures and moulds for preservation;
• produce a preservation-surrogate corpus of the sculptures and moulds;
• professional second production of crates for the second corpus and transporting it to secure storage in Vienna while the original works and archive remain in Syria

• complete the documentation and technical assessment of the collection, including high-resolution scanning of paper and photographic material, and establish both a paper and digital archive;
• conduct research into other sculptures and artworks by the artist based on the available material and in collaboration with Syrian and international art professionals and institutions.

This project is intended as the basis for a permanent collection and archive dedicated to the preservation, study, and documentation of Nahri’s work and its related cultural significance. It should provide the foundation for a future institutional structure focused on safeguarding this cultural corpus and on researching Fayez Nahri’s position as what we consider one of the most distinctive and important Arab sculptors of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.