The 'Golden Artists' of Lebanon

Lebanon has always been called the cultural capital of the Arab World, the go-to destination for most tourists in the region. So, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that Lebanon has produced some of the most gifted artists in the region. In this post, I'll bring up the works of 8 Lebanese artists, renown as being the 'Golden Artists' of Lebanon, so let's get started!

 Habib Srour (1860-1938):

Habib Srour , while in Rome as a child,studied at the Institute of Fine Arts and in 1890, he returned to Beirut after a long stay in Egypt. He taught art at the Imperial Ottoman School of Bashoura and had his own studio.

A self-made portrait of Habib Srour

The Patriarch El Hage

Saliba Douaihy (1910-1994):

The Lebanese government took an interest in him (because of his artistic talent) and sent him to Paris in 1932, where he completed his training and developed his contacts with the new European schools. In 1936, as a graduate from the National School of Fine Arts, he left for Rome. (You can read the biography here)

Ahmad Al Safi Al Najafi

Conversation

 Later in his career, he drifted towards more abstract work.

Paul Guiragossian (1927-1993):

Born in Jerusalem in 1926, Paul Guiragossian's early education was strictly religious.In 1944 he began his artistic training at the Italian Academy Pietro Iaghetti, then between 1946 and 1949 at the Institute Yarcon.
He completed his formative period by attendingthe Florence Academy of Fine Arts in 1956. After that, he widened his circle of contacts with the West and spent three years in France and as many in the USA.

The Old Bridge

Rhythme

 (Visit the official website for more paintings and information)

Cesar Gemayel (1898-1958):

Flower in a vase

Artist's house

Chafic Abboud (1926-2004):

Chafic Abboud was born in Lebanon in 1926 to a wealthy middle-class Lebanese family and his youth was an idyll of summers in the mountains, and winters in Beirut.

Having moved to Paris after graduating from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in 1947, Abboud frequented Andre Lhote’s workshop and was a pupil of the Cubist Master Fernand Leger.

With the end of the Second World-War, the Parisian art scene had moved towards Abstract Expressionism and Abboud’s style characterized by loose brushwork and a lack of figurative subject matter, reaffirmed the artist as an unmistakable child of the movement.

In 1952 he enrolled at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he studied drawing and engraving. In 1959 Abboud participated in the first Biennale to be held in Paris. He was awarded the Prix Victor Choquet in 1961, and consequently was granted solo exhibitions in France, Lebanon, Italy, Germany, Holland and Denmark. His works are found in the permanent collection of the Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris and hanging on the walls of French government buildings. A catalogue raisonne of Abboud’s work has recently been published by Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris.

Abboud lived in Paris until his death in 2004. 

Post card

La boîte à images

Couvent Mar Elias, Chouya

 Rachid Wehbi (1917-1993):

For the biography.

Portrait

The palm

Road to Sidon

These artists were believed to have been the pioneers of art during their time, their works are testament to that.