Born in Damascus, Nazir Ismail learned art through self teaching, discovering art at early age from the famous folk artist Abu Subhi Al Tinawi, whose studio was close to his grandfather’s house.

In the 1960s, when Ismail began his practice, he moved to Beirut and held his first exhibition. From its dismal reviews, he began new experimentations and finally settled on his distinctive form of expressionism. In the beginning, he focused on rural mud houses, depicting their simplicity of shape and life. Evolving over time from the houses to elongated figures and faces, his work used distinctive geometric and stylised forms: expressive elements in the brushwork, colours and faces of the figures create an emotive quality, with his canvases full of symbols. His style is expressive and surrealist, mainly portraying human figures, roosters, and portraits. Ismail’s works consist of drawings and paintings, using pastel, ink, watercolor, and oil. He blends figuration and abstraction to convey his emotional and psychological state through his earthy colors and symbolic lines, addressing themes of confusion, anxiety, and loss. Ismail also creates religious-inspired works as well as paintings tackling contemporary issues of Syria.

Ismail has taken part in many exhibitions since 1966 in Syria, Beirut, Oman, Cairo, Paris, Zurich and Geneva. Additionally, he won the 3rd prize at the exhibition for Young Artists in Damascus in 1971, the Graphic Prize in Berlin in 1980, and the 3rd prize in the Sharjah Biennale in 1996.  Ismail held over 50 solo exhibitions in cities such as Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Beirut, Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Paris, Poitiers, Sharjah, Doha, Geneva and Vienna. His esteemed work has been on display in many institutes, and galleries. In addition to being part of private collections, some of his work adorns museums and ministries in Damascus.

The artist passed away in 2016.