Basil Alkazzi

Basil Alkazzi (; April 23, 1938 – June 2025) was a Kuwait-born British visual artist, and philanthropist of Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti heritage. As a painter he is known for metaphysical and spiritual abstract paintings. He was a supporter of emerging painters through numerous awards and scholarships. Alkazzi had lived in London and New York City. His father Hamed Ali Alkazzi, was a merchant and from an Arab family. In early childhood, he was artistic and interested in the arts. Alkazzi attended the Central School of Art in London (now Central Saint Martins, a constituent college of the University of the Arts London).

In the 1960s, Alkazzi worked with the human figure as a mythological and symbolic subject; and after painting for many years, the figure appeared to stretch out into the skyline or became unrecognizable forms.

“pure forms, geomorphic and biomorphic, became emblematic of spirit in action [of Alkazzi's work]— pure spirit in Kandinsky’s sense of being possessed by ‘inner necessity’...” — Donald Kuspit This fund was created by Alkazzi in honor of gallerist , who helped him in his early career.

Collections and archives His work is in museum collections, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis; the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York; and at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. His artist files can be found at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Library and Archives, and the Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library.