Scientist turned artist unafraid to draw on both faith and reason

Henry Jabbour, who was born in Beirut, worked as an eminent scientist in the field of animal physiology — latterly he was honorary professor in veterinary medicine at the University of Edinburgh

In 2005 he began evening classes at Leith School of Art as a creative foil to a high-pressure professional environment. Soon he was gripped by the passion of painting and printmaking, as well as the study of art history, which was underpinned by the strong practical, academic but supportive ethos at the school. In 2013 he completed a diploma there and went on to gain a masters in fine art in New York, giving up his career — in what can only be described as a leap of faith — and beginning as a full-time painter.

This body of work takes is name from the work of Jalal el-Din Rumi (1207-1273) who wrote: “Who lifteth up the spirit, Say, who is he? Who gave in the beginning, This life to me.” The Persian mystic, theologian and poet is a guiding light to Jabbour, but he also cites the Russian painter Chaim Soutine as a major influence.

Here Jabbour’s paintings and prints bear all the hallmarks of deep academic study. But for all the attention to technique, composition and the use of colour, they are far from clinical exercises of rote learning. These are intensely felt, compassionate works, which speak of the human condition. Although based on actual people, they are not portraiture but are, rather, both intimate and universal.

Morning Ritual (2016), in rich blues and greens, is typical. The oil painting shows a central, solitary, unidentifiable figure. Despite, or even because of, the subject’s apparent anonymity the painting conveys an understanding of the small acts that collectively make up our lives, giving them meaning — in this case, breakfast, pouring coffee.

The fact that Jabbour has used language borrowed from religion is no coincidence. At some level these paintings are spiritual, representing contemporary sacraments. As if to underline this, Jabbour has created a series depicting choirboys, in direct homage to Soutine. Again these are compositional works, in which the subject remains just out of identifiable reach, so that the work dwells on the combination of paint and colour.

Jabbour’s work shows that in the right hands painting is not a static medium, but something alive and vibrant, with something new to say despite contemporary art’s pursuit of the novel and the technological.

Until April 1