Rita Asfour

Rita Asfour (February 9, 1933 – June 29, 2021) was an American modern artist known for her colorful paintings of the human figure. Asfour projected life and movement by the strength of her compositions. Feminine mystique and sensuality were her trademark.

Her high school education was in a French school in Egypt. In 1959, she received a BA from the Italian Art Institute Leonardo da Vinci. After graduation her first job was in Beirut, Lebanon. She started as an illustrator and ended being the art director of a weekly magazine. After five years, she was in search of a bigger artistic challenge.

Asfour immigrated to the United States in 1965 and found a job in Los Angeles at Universal Studio Tours, sketching pastel portraits of visiting tourists. Another major event that same year was her marriage to an aerospace engineer, Jeffrey Asfour. The University of Nevada exhibited her new paintings in 2016. Public Television in 2017 aired a half-hour documentary about her long artistic career.

Two years later, she gave birth to her daughter, Amber, and stayed home to take care of her only child. She continued painting. Dealers went to her house and purchased what she offered for sale.

In 1980, Asfour made a dozen sculptures in plaster, and a few were cast in paper. She made only one in bronze, but did not continue, because the process was too complicated, and involved too many people.

Art Expo 1981 in San Francisco was the first of many Art Expos in which she exhibited and sold her paintings.

Malibu (1982–2012) Asfour exhibited in shows. Sold to dealers. Interacted with the public. Advertised in print magazines. Released serigraphs and lithographs.

In 1991, Asfour had a show at Lumina Art Gallery in Trenton, New Jersey. That gallery was owned by John Salvo, who later became manager of the Martin Lawrence Galleries in Soho, New York. John bought and owns two of Asfour’s paintings

But – Asfour’s passion was somewhere else - so she stopped all that activity, and went back to painting.

Subsequently, her canvases became larger, her style freer, her colors brighter, and her subjects more varied.

To do all that, Asfour had to spend a lot of time in her studio.

Even her ballerinas had a different look after she saw the Pepperdine University ballet students shuffling around backstage before real performances. They were stressed, and that is how she portrayed them in her new ballerina paintings. is a short documentary that shows how Rita started her showgirl’s collection.

In August 2016, the University of Nevada in Las Vegas had a six-month exhibition of Asfour’s showgirl paintings.

One year later, in 2017, Public Television aired a half-hour documentary about Asfour’s life-long journey in the art world.

Academia and public television Photograph of a painting made by Rita Asfour used as the front image for the PBS documentary "Rita Asfour: Art Her Way", which first aired in 2017. In 2016, Dr. Robert Tracy, from the department of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, heard about Asfour living in Las Vegas and painting Las Vegas showgirls. He went to her house, carefully examined the paintings, and was impressed with the way she portrayed the dancers floating in air. He came back, interviewed Asfour again, and noted that she had a large collection of ballet dancers. It was then that he decided to curate Asfour’s collections and have an exhibit for her showgirl and ballerina dancers on the university campus.

In 2017, PBS in Las Vegas aired a half-hour documentary about Asfour’s life, titled, “Rita Asfour: Art Her Way.” Rita Asfour Exhibitions: 2010 - 2019

2016 – Healy Hayes Gallery, UNLV

Rita Asfour Exhibitions: 1990 - 1999

1990 – Artexpo - New York, New York 1990 – Artexpo – Los Angeles, California 1990 – Art To Art Galleries - Studio City, California 1991 – Artexpo - New York, New York 1991 – Connoisseur Gallery - La Jolla, California 1991 – Artexpo – Los Angeles, California 1991 – Atlas Galleries - Chicago, Illinois 1991 – Village Gallery - Breckenridge, Colorado 1991 – Lumina Art Gallery - Trenton, New Jersey 1992 – Rhapsody Fine Art - West Hollywood, California 1992 – Globe Art Distributors, Ontario, Canada 1992 – Modern Art Gallery – Japan 1993 – Allan Art - Singapore 1994 – Vail Fine Art - Edwards, Colorado 1997 – Wentworth Galleries - Nationwide, USA

Rita Asfour Exhibitions: 1980 - 1989

1980 – Wally Findlay Galleries - Beverly Hills, California 1981 – Art Expo - San Francisco, California 1989 – Rhapsody Fine Art - West Hollywood, California

Rita Asfour Exhibitions: 1970 - 1979

1970 – House of Hartford Gallery - Beverly Hills, California 1971 – Galerie Camille - Beverly Hills, California 1973 – World of Art Gallery - Scottsdale, Arizona 1973 – La Pasada Gallery - Sedona, Arizona 1977 – Mejika Galleries - Santa Monica, California