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A Fire that Consumes Ink and Paper (1883-1931)

Katharine Gordon

The art of Gibran is symbolic in the deepest meaning of the word because its roots spring from ahlil Gibran is perhaps the most those basic truths which are fundamental for all ages and all experiences –Alice Raphael, 1919 widely read and translated writer of the twentieth century. K Too often overlooked, his work in the visual arts preceded and was inextricably linked to his literary career. Described as ‘mystical’, ‘ethereal’, or ‘spiritual’, Gibran’s artworks give form to the universal ideas and fundamental truths deeply embedded in his parables and poems, or in other words, his writing fed his drawing as much as his drawings illustrate his texts. His work varies from portraiture to mystical compositions, but themes of humanity, spirituality, and the divine pervade his entire oeuvre. East West Question Historians position Gibran between ‘East’ and ‘West’. As an Arab man who spent most his life in the United States, Gibran, born Gibran Kahlil Gibran in Bcharré in 1883, maintained a deep emotional connection to his place of birth. In their 1998 book ‘Man and Poet’, biographers Suheil Bushrui and Joe Jenkins describe him as “an oriental who wrote his most celebrated work in the major language of the Western world… His constant inspiration was his own heritage, which colored his English and exercised an inescapable hold over his mind.” At the time, in the cultural sphere, ‘East’ represented the mystical and spiritual, while ‘West’ was synonymous with illustrative and literal. Although these distinctions are problematic today, it is true that Gibran’s work stands between these two realms. His work is rooted || Self-portrait of young Gibran, Oil on canvas, Soumaya Museum 21 retrospective

Portrait of Al-Mustafa frontispiece 1923 Charcoal, of , | in the twentieth. was He totally out of Modernism. that I believe as a philosopher, wasSymbolism important for him because all his books are full of metaphor and symbolism. didn’t find himself He (1840-1916), Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Carrièreand(1824-1898) Eugene (1849- 1906) were important artist, to the young who drew upon their visual language and technique. wasHe present in Boston, a very cosmopolitan and cultural city at that time,and during later Paris and York New the peak of cultural production in the twentieth he was not century. However, permeable to the artistic movements around him. was “He a Symbolistin a there where moment was Surrealism His artand Cubism. had roots much more in the nineteenth century than | Gibranwrite: to is the god-man.”“Blake The Symbolists French Odilon Redon observing da Vinci’s works. References Sistine (1475-1564) to Michelangelo’s Chapel also appear in Gibran’s later compositions. his most However, prominent influence, and a kindred spirit, was (1757-1827). Both William Blake poets and painters in equal measure, mysticismBlake’s and symbolism led Vinci (1452-1519), introduced to him as child.a While studying in Paristhe at private Académie between Julian 1908 and 1910, he spent countless hours with his friend, and well-known Lebanese artist, (1883-1962), Howayek Youssef art is rather to understand Nature and to reveal her meaning…the mission of art is to bring out the unfamiliar from themost familiar, from nature to the infinite.” His earliest influence was Leonardo da wrote: “Some people think the business of art to be a mere imitation of nature. But Naturefaris too and sublime too subtle to be successfully imitated. No artist can reproduceever the even least of Nature’s creations and miracles.…The purpose of exhibitAestheticism, in thatthey existfor their beauty and symbolic meaning, with no didactic purpose. Countering rampant industrialism, Gibran strove for art that extended beyond the limitations of mere imitationthe of externalworld. As he of Classical forms to represent spiritual and mystical major concepts. Two themes shape his body work. of The first, stems Symbolism, from Gibran’s lifelong desire to give form to dreams, visions, stories, and parables. His works also universal themes forgiveness, of love, and morality, that can be found across the boundaries between ‘East’ and ‘West’. and Symbolism Aestheticism What sets Gibran’s oeuvre apart is the use in multiple religions and traditions,in multiple religions the distinctions of whichhe attempted to transcend, seeking instead to represent 22

in these new tendencies, and in all his paintings, you will not find one where he is very Modern,” says Alexandre Najjar, lawyer and author of several biographies of Gibran.

Academic Works For the earliest parts of his life, Gibran was an autodidact. When his family immigrated to Boston in 1895, Gibran was exposed to his first academic training under the guidance of photographer Fred Holland Day (1864-1933). His talent was nurtured and refined, as were his sensibilities towards appreciating other artists. Unfortunately, not many works survive from this time due to a fire in Day’s studio that destroyed Gibran’s entire portfolio. However, it is possible to see how Gibran’s training had a significant impact on his work. His academic drawings and sketches, which he continued to produce his entire life, emphasize portraiture and the human body. There is a clear foundation of anatomical correctness that is then manipulated to || The Beholder, Oil on canvas, 54.5x65, 1912 capture emotional or internal qualities within the confines of the materials. Temple of Art Gibran By Alexandre Najjar One of Gibran’s earliest and most lasting Published by L’Orient des Livres projects was an ongoing series of portraits 237 pages of accomplished artists, writers, political French and Arabic figures, and intellectuals. It began in Paris $100 in 1909 with a portrait of sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett (1865-1925), whose One of the most comprehensive volumes on the life and work of Kahlil Gibran, this volume combines bronze nudes show similarities in form to an accessible biographical text with high quality images and archival material. The text, drawn from a Gibran’s renderings of the human body. 2002 biography written by Najjar, is updated to allow readers to grasp the full extent of Gibran’s oeuvre Gibran sat with many influential figures that was, in equal measure, comprised of literary and visual art. Najjar drew upon the three largest to capture their likeness and distinct collections of Gibran’s artworks, the Telfair Museums in Savannah (Georgia, USA), Soumaya Museum personalities. He developed an aptitude in Mexico, and the in Bcharré. He also accessed resources from Harvard University in for seeing into the souls of his subjects and order to portray the poet and painter’s life. Some of these works, particularly those from the Soumaya translating their personality into visual Museum, were published for the first time, an exciting contribution to the conversation on Gibran. In language. The likes of Claude Debussy Najjar’s words: “It’s a comprehensive approach of Gibran but in a simpler way. I went straight to the (1862-1918), Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), point to make people discover his writing, his painting, and even his philosophy.” The text looks at and Edmond Rostand (1868-1918) sat Gibran’s life chronologically, highlighting the people and moments in which he was most influenced. It for the young Lebanese artist. Later he is not only a must-read for those interested in Gibran, but also a well composed, approachable story would add Thomas Edison (1847-1931), that everyone can appreciate. philosopher Carl Gustav Jung (1875- 1961), actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844- 23

|| Gibran in his studio in New York, Telfair Museums || Four members of La Plume in New York Nassib Arida, Kahlil Gibran, Abdel-Massih 1923), William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Through Haskell, Gibran was introduced Haddad, and Mikhael Naimeh and General Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807- to Charlotte Teller (1876-1953), a 1882) in New York City. His friend Ameen journalist and author, and Emilie Michel, Rihani (1876-1940), a fellow Arab, and known as ‘Micheline’, a French teacher. author of The Book of Khalid, was Unlike portraits of Haskell, Micheline is likewise the subject of several portraits. almost always in a state of contemplation, her hand often supporting her head as Lovers, Friends, and Family she looks at a point outside the canvas. Gibran’s life was shaped in part by the Even though they had a romantic and relationships he formed with women. understanding relationship, in the few The most significant was Mary Haskell works that are more confrontational, she (1869-1953), who Gibran encountered at appears suspicious, with no sign of the his second exhibition in 1904, organized serene smile with which Gibran depicted Countering the by Holland Day in Boston. The young Haskell. Teller is a different story. She would Lebanese artist was taken with Haskell, at remain an inspiration and friend to Gibran rampant industrialism first sight. Their subsequent relationship for many years, and sat for him often. Her was emotional, financial, educational, portraits are often layered, with a shadow of the United States in and, at the beginning, romantic in nature. of another figure over her shoulder. Her Gibran’s portraits of her over the years long neck and full hair is the object of the twentieth century, reveal a deep understanding of her many sketches and paintings, including spirit. Classically beautiful and refined, several nudes. Hints of Teller’s face can be Gibran strove for art Haskell’s portraits are serene, almost seen in later portrayals of mythological angelic. She is consistently portrayed figures. In his home life, Gibran was that extended beyond with a soft smile on her face, eyes often closest with his sister Marianna. His two closed. She is even featured in one of other siblings and mother had died within the limitations of Gibran’s self-portraits from 1911, a their first years in Boston from disease. peaceful presence that counters his more So much loss at a young age brought the mere imitation of the serious, half-concealed face, a tribute to two even closer and Gibran’s portraits of the trust and devotion Gibran felt for her her are intimate and tender. One painting, external world throughout his life. circa 1908, shows her portrait emerging 24

from the darkness, her body fading into the murky background. Parallel to her face is the echo of another portrait. This play on foreground and background light, as well as shadowy nature of the subject’s features is a reoccurring trophe in Gibran’s work. Universal Mother The most indirectly present female figure in Gibran’s life was his mother, who, despite her untimely death, would later influence his concept of universal motherhood. Kamileh was the strongest figure in Gibran’s youth and even in her last days she was a source of fortitude for her whole family. One of the artist’s most important first works was a ‘memory portrait’ of his mother. When Haskell saw it, she was struck by the faces of the whole family staring out at her. Gibran called it “a portrait of my mother’s soul-done without tricks, without artistry. I have done what I wanted to. The soul is there, || Four faces portrait of Leonora Speyer, the simple majesty.” In a later portrait of in Bcharré and cares for a collection of Charcoal, 1925, Gibran Museum his mother, there is an inclination towards over 400 artworks and other artifacts, reincarnation, a concept Gibran discussed recalls another work that reveals Gibran’s often with Teller, Haskell and Mikhail sentiment towards motherhood: “The Naimeh (1889-1988), another Arab literary Family, which is actually Gibran’s own figure. In this particular portrait, his family and himself embraced by his mother, dressed in white, leans back, her mother’s hands as a baby. In particular, eyes closed in relief. Behind her, embossed this painting reflects Gibran’s longing to in the wall, is a white tiger roaring. Here be a new born again, free of the world the tiger represents the soul of his mother, anxiety and troubles. It reveals Gibran’s and her forthcoming rebirth. longing to live in peace, in a united family where the mother is the world itself and Kamileh was a catalyst for a life-long life protector.” fascination with the ‘universal mother’ a concept that appears in many religious Twenty Drawings and cultural traditions. Later works The earliest publication dedicated suggest a more mystical comprehension exclusively to Gibran’s visual art is of the universal mother as Mother Nature a collection of drawings published or Mother Earth. She is often depicted in 1919 entitled ‘Twenty Drawings’. Gibran’s life was surrounded by nude bodies grasping at Alice Raphael’s accompanying essay is her hands. the first contextualization of Gibran’s shaped in part by visual artwork: “Kahlil Gibran is one Joseph A. Fenianos, President of the of the artists who are engaged in the the relationships he Gibran National Committee, the active struggle between the old and new or, as body that oversees the Gibran Museum in other times the conflict was termed, formed with women 25

the oscillation between the classic and the romantic tendencies in art. Gibran is also caught in the struggle which is the besetting problem of the world today, the reconstruction of an era which will adjust the imperishable legacy of the ancient world, the classic traditions, with the ever evolving, fluctuating tendencies in art which constitute the essence of true Romanticism.”

In these drawings, figures representing various allegorical and symbolic concepts float in a non-space, the composition || Portrait of the Artist’s Mother, Oil on canvas, 59.7x73 of their bodies and the combinations of figures taking precedent over any narrative aspects. There is a lyricism and flow to the bodies, their features and sexes often concealed or blurred. As symbolic figures, it is the interaction and pose of the bodies which precedes their individual characteristics. Gibran draws less from a tradition of academic nudes, || Mary Haskell, Charcoal on laid paper, which focused primarily on the sensual 45x30.5, 1908 and anatomical aspects of the body, but Alive was instead cognizant of what the body shoulder of the larger. The second is a By Joumana Bou Fakhreddine could symbolize if rendered in a specific similar composition, but the embrace is Published by Dar Al Moualef configuration. These bodies were the more intimate, the ‘larger self’ enveloping 2 volumes, 1,200 pages ultimate reflection of his philosophical the ‘smaller self’ in a more protective $220 beliefs about Nature, and the relationship embrace. These two drawings mark a between man and God. “He explained shift in Gibran’s understanding of the This thoroughly researched two volume that it’s the mirror of God, the mirror relationship between the layers of the tome is a tribute to the author’s dedication of beauty. He was very sensitive to Self in relation to the spirit. This evolution to uncovering the richness of the life and Nature…you know it’s a Romantic theme, also reflects the close relationship art of Kahlil Gibran. In partnership with in Rousseau, but also because you can between Gibran’s intellectual pursuits Dar Moualef and the Gibran National find God in the Nature…it’s not only a and his visual artworks. Of his work, Committee, Fakhreddine’s 19 chapter book Romantic tendency but also a philosophic Gibran wrote to Mary saying “When I follows the artistic journey of Gibran through tendency,” says Najjar. paint a picture, I try to give the picture high quality images and documents, tracing a presence. It is the coming together of the creation of each artwork from sketch We can see the evolution of his work certain elements in a certain way, as if to masterpiece, as well as highlighting key in two sketches, one from ‘Twenty they made a sort of path along which God moments in the poet-painter’s life. Almost Drawings’, and the other from a year can come through to our consciousness.” encyclopedic in nature, there are hundreds after the book’s publication. Both of never-before-seen paintings, letters, and entitled ‘The Greater Self’, these works Illustrations archival documents. A three year project, reveal changes in Gibran’s mentality. The One of Gibran’s major accomplishments the book is a labor of love and committed first, a watercolor and graphite piece lies in having illustrated the majority of his research that was duly bestowed multiple from 1916, features two nude figures, own books. He did not literally illustrate, awards in and abroad. one large figure holding the other, the but rather transposed the universal face of the smaller figure hidden in the themes and mystical concepts in his 26

writing into a visual language informed The pinnacle of Gibran’s career was by Classical forms and Aestheticism. He the publishing of The Prophet in 1923, develops a porous relationship between one of the most successful books ever the foreground and background, while published. The drawings that illustrated manipulating the proportions of the body Gibran’s seminal text include the ever to represent conceptual themes. Of the recognizable frontispiece entitled ‘The themes in these works, Najjar comments: Face’ (1923). Of the 12 drawings in The “In the background you always have Prophet, only the ‘The Face’ and another Lebanon, you have the landscape of the drawing entitled ‘Creative Hand’ are black Qadisha, the valley and the rocks… and and white, the others are more vibrant you have centaurs, this is like the double wash drawings. These drawings have often nature of man. He’s a beast and also a been considered some of Gibran’s most man. And the Winged Self, people have important artworks. According to Medici, wings because he believed that man it was “[Mikhail] Naimeh, who once, should rise to reach to be a god. He said commentiing on Gibran’s twelve drawings that man must elevate to become a god that illustrate The Prophet, wrote that they and unite with Him. This is also from ‘are either interpretive of some thoughts, Sufism, this idea of unity.” or represent new thoughts not expressed in words.’” In other words, “If words are not In his these works, pale, nude figures enough, art can help, and vice versa.” intertwine on backgrounds of cool and earthy colors. Watercolor lends a rather Mystical and || The Greater Self from Twenty Drawings, subtle, yet poignant quality that is soft Mythological Paintings Watercolor and graphite on paper, and dreamlike. Larger figures clutch Although he drew with pencil, charcoal, 46x36.5, 1916 smaller ones in embraces, or hold them and painted often with watercolors, aloft. According to Italian literary critic, Gibran only used oil paint intensively over Francesco Medici, although Gibran most a period of about six years. He executed often painted nude bodies, his “intention was not to give scandal: there is no trace of sensuality or eroticism in his subjects. He himself gives us an explanation: ‘Life is naked. A nude body is the truest and the noblest symbol of life.’”

Figures representing joy might be gendered as female and sadness as male, but there is an androgyny that pervades the entire collection. Introspection and solitude are represented by bodies folded in on themselves, their limbs in fetal positions or wrapped around their torsos, while another entitled ‘The Dance’ (c.1920) features a bold woman, her hands outspread above her as she moves forward, a bright pink garment extending from her hand behind her back. In each work there is only the figures and what they represent, with no external symbols || The Dance, Illustration from The Prophet, || Interpretation of Joy and Sadness, Watercolor, or objects to distract. Watercolor, 1923, Gibran Museum 28x21.5, c.1920, Gibran Museum 27

portraits of Teller, Micheline and Haskell in oil, but in a more impressionist style. It was not a medium he felt completely comfortable manipulating, perhaps lending to this more experimental quality. One of his earliest successes was a painting entitled ‘Autumn’(1909) featured in the Salon de Printemps, held by the Société Nationale de Beaux-Arts in Paris. It features a nude bust of a woman, her hair encircling her serene face in a torrent of fiery oranges and reds. With one arm lifted and folded across her head she appears in a state of repose, with only the background indicating turbulence. The palette and swift brushstrokes indicates a new found interest in the nature of color. It was during his time in Paris that Gibran expressed this new found passion: “Each colour seems to have a ‘spiritual’ nature by itself, and it also seems that no artist can || ‘The Autumn, Oil on canvas, 81.5x54.5, 1909 teach the other how to find or understand that spiritual nature.”

Other paintings produced in oil are || The artist in his studio at the end of his life stunning tributes to his technical skill and sensitivity for human expression. Two the facial expression of the head, rather paintings exhibit Gibran’s fascination with than the background. Three white doves Greek mythology and Biblical stories. flying above Orpheus’s severed head Both are curiously related by subject recall Gibran’s interest in reincarnation; matter, if indirectly. ‘Rose Sleeves’ from these doves likely represented the soul of 1911 and ‘The Head of Orpheus Floating the deceased poet. Down the River Hebrus to the Sea’ circa 1908-1914 were intended to be the same Final Years subject: the mythological poet Orpheus. Kahlil Gibran died in 1931 in a hospital However, circumstances prevented in New York. His paintings and drawings, Gibran from finding a male model for which come to an amassed collection ‘Rose Sleeves’, resulting in a painting that of over 700 works, reflect his lifelong depicts the female counterpart, Sappho. interrogation into universal themes and This painting, according to curator at the the representation of dreams, visions, and Telfair Museums Tania June Sammons, concepts through physical figures and was inspired by the work of J.M.W. Turner forms. According to Medici: “Gibran’s “whose work he [Gibran] returned to artistic production is nothing but a gift again and again at the Tate Gallery on a for others, a means of spiritual elevation visit to London in 1910.” and evolution for those who are not blind- hearted, or better, unable to see, realize The painting of Orpheus’s decapitated and understand the divine truth.” head is more akin to Gibran’s typical || Rose Sleeves, Oil on canvas, 64.4x45.7, 1911 style. The work is rougher with a focus on Veiled Face Veiled | | Guardian Angel, Graphite, 34.5x24.5, 1903, Gibran Museum Guardian | | Charcoal, Head of a Woman, Gibran Museum | | Jesus Son of Man from Jesus, Son of Man, Jesus Son of Man from 120x45.7, 1928 Graphite on paper, The Burden | | | | 28

Kahlil Gibran Drawings Kahlil Gibran Watercolors 29 Rising Towards Purified Humanity 35.5x25.5, Watercolor, Infinity, c.1923, Gibran Museum | | Watercolor and pencil on paper, 21.5x14, 1916 and pencil on paper, Watercolor | | Illustration from The Archer, 28x21.5, 1922, The Prophet, Gibran Museum | | The Summit from Sand and Foam, The Summit from and graphite on paper, Watercolor 27.9x21.6, 1925 | | Rhythmical Dance on the Summit, 28x21.5, c.1922 Watercolor, The Three Levels of Humanity, Watercolor, 1923, Watercolor, Levels of Humanity, The Three Gibran Museum The Prophet, illustration from | | | | Thinker, Oil on canvas, Telfair Museum Oil on canvas, Telfair Thinker, | | Let Us rise Together, Oil on canvas, 74x56, 1912 Let Us rise Together, | | Centaur, Oil on Centaur, canvas, 1913, Gibran Museum Yesterday Yesterday and Oil on Today, canvas, 68.5x81.3, 1914, Gibran Museum Woman Discovering Nature, Oil on canvas, 46.2x65.2, 1912, Gibran Museum Oil on canvas, 46.2x65.2, 1912, Discovering Nature, Woman | | | | | | 30

Kahlil Gibran Mystical aintinP gs 31 Kahlil Gibran T he Universal Mother

|| Portrait of Kamileh offer by Gibran to poet Witter Bynner, Charcoal, 1920, Archives of Witter Bynner, Houghton Library, Harvard University || Mother Nature, Oil on canvas, Gibran Museum

|| Mother Earth from , || Kamileh Rahmeh, Mother of Gibran, || The Comforting Motherly Spirit, Oil || Mother and Child, Oil on canvas, Watercolor and graphite on paper, Gouache, 35x25, 1916 on canvas, 65.5x45.7, c.1914 1914, Gibran Museum 28x21.6, 1931 Charlotte Teller, 30x45.7, 1908 Graphite on paper, | | Probably Micheline, Graphite Probably 42.5x28.9, 1908 on paper, | |

Portrait of Micheline (Emilie Michel), Oil Portrait of Micheline (Emilie Michel), Oil on canvas, Soumaya Museum Her Body), Oil on canvas, 66x50, c. 1908-1910 Portrait of Charlotte Teller (The Essence of Portrait of Charlotte Teller | | | | Mary Haskell, Graphite on wove paper, 55.9x47, 1910 Portrait of Mary Haskell, Soumaya Museum, 1910 Portrait of Mary Haskell, Soumaya Museum, | | | | 32

Kahlil Gibran Women Kahlil Gibran The artist’s Family 33 Sultana, sister of Gibran, Oil on canvas, 73.2x51, 1910, Gibran Museum Kamileh and her two daughters in Boston, Kamileh and her two daughters in Boston, 1901 Holland Day, photographed by Fred | | | | The Family of the Artist, Oil on canvas, 65.5x91.5 The Family of the Artist, Oil on canvas, | | Portrait of the Artist›s Sister Marianna Gibran, 44.8x37.1, c. 1908-1914 Oil on academy board, | | Henri Rochefort | | William Butler Yeats | | Elinor Wylie | | Claude Debussy | | Ameen Rihani Giuseppe Garibaldi | | | | 34

Kahlil Gibran Temple of Art 35 Kahlil Gibran P ortraits o f Gibran

|| Lilla Cabot Perry, Portrait of Kahlil Gibran, || Fred Holland Day, Photo of Gibran as an adolescent, 1897 Oil on canvas, c.1898, Telfair Museums

|| Self protrait, Oil on masonite, || Self Portrait, Charcoal, 1908, Gibran Museum || Self Portrait, Graphite on wove paper, 44.4x36.8, 1911 55.8x47, 1910