Nabil Kanso
Encyclopedia
Nabil Kanso is a Lebanese
-American
painter
born in Beirut
, Lebanon
.
His works deal with contemporary, historical and literary themes, and are marked by figurative imagery executed with spontaneous and vigorous handling of the paint and often done on large-scale formats. They reflect movement and tension embodying intense colors and symbolic forms addressing social, political, and war issues. The Vietnam War
and the Lebanese Civil War
have profoundly affected the development and scope of his themes dealing with violence and war. His long-running Split of Life
series encompasses an extensive range of enormous paintings depicting scenes of human brutality and suffering.
where his family lived in a house adorned with Italian and Oriental art. In 1961, he went to England
, and attended the London Polytechnic studying mathematics
and science
.
In 1966, Kanso moved to New York
, and enrolled at New York University
where he received BA
and MA
in art history
, philosophy
and political science
. 1968, he committed himself to painting, acquired a studio in Manhattan
, and embarked on developing his ideas and method of painting.
influences. Between 1971 and 1973 he held a series of solo shows that included the Wanderer, Danse Macabre, Birds of Prey, Place des Martyres
, and Expressions. Although the exhibitions drew attention and reviews, the lack of sufficient subsistence forced the closing of his studio whose contents including hundreds of works were placed in storage, and, eventually, lost or destroyed.
Between 1974 and 1979, Kanso took studios in different locations in the Carolinas
, Atlanta, and New Orleans producing a large number of paintings. Among the works of this period are the series Vietnam
(1974), Lebanon
, which he began in 1975, at the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War
, One-Minute
(1978–79) on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
, the Jazz
suite (1978-79) on jazz music, and Faust
(1976–79) comprising over 100 paintings on Goethe's drama
.
where his works were shown in Maracaibo
(1985), Caracas
(1987), and Mérida
(1987–88). The exhibitions were an invaluable stimulant in initiating the Journey of Art for Peace through which his works were shown under the auspices of art museums, cultural institutions, and peace centers in extensive solo exhibitions that traveled internationally and particularly in Latin America. Kanso displays his works by covering the entire walls of the exhibition space with his paintings. The installation surrounding the viewer aims to convey the intensity between the reality of the subject matter and the actuality of painting, and reflect the artist's engagement with the canvases whose contents represent his visual life and relationship to conflicting Eastern and Western cultures and traditions.
Among the works of this period are the series South Africa
(1980), Apocalyptic Rider
s (1980), DreamVision
(1980-81), Lebanon
(1982-83), Apocalypse
(1984), Warring Wings
(1984–85), Othello
(1985), the Cluster Paintings
(1986–88), Leaves from the Theatre of War
(1980s), The Dance of Salome
(1988), America 500 Years
(1989–91), Kuwait
1990–91, Living Memory
(1993–94), Bosnia (1995–96), Portraits (1997–99), Iraq (2004–06).
Lebanese people
The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
born in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
His works deal with contemporary, historical and literary themes, and are marked by figurative imagery executed with spontaneous and vigorous handling of the paint and often done on large-scale formats. They reflect movement and tension embodying intense colors and symbolic forms addressing social, political, and war issues. The Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
have profoundly affected the development and scope of his themes dealing with violence and war. His long-running Split of Life
The Split of Life
The Split of Life is a series of over 80 mural size oil paintings by Nabil Kanso. The paintings span a period from 1974 to 1994, and deal with contemporary and historical issues of war and violence.-Development and description:...
series encompasses an extensive range of enormous paintings depicting scenes of human brutality and suffering.
Life and work
Nabil Kanso grew up in BeirutBeirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
where his family lived in a house adorned with Italian and Oriental art. In 1961, he went to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and attended the London Polytechnic studying mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
.
In 1966, Kanso moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and enrolled at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
where he received BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. 1968, he committed himself to painting, acquired a studio in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and embarked on developing his ideas and method of painting.
1970–1979
In 1971, Kanso held his first one-man show at the 76th Street Gallery exhibiting 80 paintings that included portraits and nudes in compositions reflecting in varying degrees expressionist, romanticist and symbolistSymbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
influences. Between 1971 and 1973 he held a series of solo shows that included the Wanderer, Danse Macabre, Birds of Prey, Place des Martyres
Place des Martyres (paintings)
Place des Martyres is the title of a series of over 250 watercolors and drawings executed in New York and Beirut between 1971 and 1974 by Nabil Kanso...
, and Expressions. Although the exhibitions drew attention and reviews, the lack of sufficient subsistence forced the closing of his studio whose contents including hundreds of works were placed in storage, and, eventually, lost or destroyed.
Between 1974 and 1979, Kanso took studios in different locations in the Carolinas
The Carolinas
The Carolinas is a term used in the United States to refer collectively to the states of North and South Carolina. Together, the two states + have a population of 13,942,126. "Carolina" would be the fifth most populous state behind California, Texas, New York, and Florida...
, Atlanta, and New Orleans producing a large number of paintings. Among the works of this period are the series Vietnam
Vietnam (Kanso)
Vietnam is a mural-size painting made by Nabil Kanso in 1974 in response to the Vietnam War. It is done in oil on canvas measuring 3.65 by 7.30 meters .-External links:*...
(1974), Lebanon
The Vortices of Wrath (Lebanon 1977)
The Vortices of Wrath is a triptych painted by Nabil Kanso in 1977. It is part of the Lebanon series began in 1975 in response to the Lebanese Civil War. The triptych is done in oil on canvas measuring 3 X 7.60 meters...
, which he began in 1975, at the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
, One-Minute
Hiroshima Nagasaki One-Minute
Hiroshima Nagasaki One-Minute is the subject of two mural-scale paintings made by Nabil Kanso in 1978-79. One is titled 49-Second done in oil on canvas measuring 3 X 5.50 meters , the other 11-Seconds oil-on-canvas triptych measuring 3 X 4.60 meters center, and 2.75 X 1.32 meters each...
(1978–79) on Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
, the Jazz
Jazz (Kanso series)
Jazz is a series of 20 paintings made by Nabil Kanso in 1978-79. The subjects of the works are based on the jazz music and the entertainments night life in New York and New Orleans. The paintings are done in oil and acrylic on canvas measuring 224 X 182 cm each. Their compositions reflect...
suite (1978-79) on jazz music, and Faust
Faust (paintings)
Faust is a series of approximately 100 paintings created between 1976 and 1979 by Nabil Kanso. The paintings depict figural compositions in a sequence of scenes whose subjects are loosely based on Goethe’s Faust Part One and Part Two...
(1976–79) comprising over 100 paintings on Goethe's drama
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
.
1980–2007
In 1980, Kanso settled in Atlanta where he established a studio and held several exhibitions. In 1984, he went to VenezuelaVenezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
where his works were shown in Maracaibo
Maracaibo
Maracaibo is a city and municipality located in northwestern Venezuela off the western coast of the Lake Maracaibo. It is the second-largest city in the country after the national capital Caracas and the capital of Zulia state...
(1985), Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
(1987), and Mérida
Mérida, Mérida
Santiago de los Caballeros de Mérida, Venezuela, is the capital of the municipality of Libertador and the state of Mérida, and is one of the principal cities of the Venezuelan Andes...
(1987–88). The exhibitions were an invaluable stimulant in initiating the Journey of Art for Peace through which his works were shown under the auspices of art museums, cultural institutions, and peace centers in extensive solo exhibitions that traveled internationally and particularly in Latin America. Kanso displays his works by covering the entire walls of the exhibition space with his paintings. The installation surrounding the viewer aims to convey the intensity between the reality of the subject matter and the actuality of painting, and reflect the artist's engagement with the canvases whose contents represent his visual life and relationship to conflicting Eastern and Western cultures and traditions.
Among the works of this period are the series South Africa
Time Suspended in Space (South Africa)
Time Suspended in Space is the title of a mural-size painting on apartheid in South Africa painted by Nabil Kanso in 1980. It is oil on canvas measuring 3.65 X 5.50 meters -External links:*...
(1980), Apocalyptic Rider
Apocalyptic Rider
Apocalyptic Rider is a painting created by Nabil Kanso in 1980. It is oil on canvas measuring 7 X 9 feet , and is part of a series depicting horsemen in compositions dealing with apocalyptic themes....
s (1980), DreamVision
Dreamvision (paintings)
Dreamvision is a series of 28 oil paintings made by Nabil Kanso in 1980-81. The subjects of the works in the series are two figures of a man and woman whose characters and relations are reinforced by figurative allusions to their surroundings....
(1980-81), Lebanon
Lebanon (painting)
Lebanon is a mural size painting by Nabil Kanso depicting the Lebanese Civil War in a scene invoking the spirit and character of the people in the midst of horror and violence gripping the country...
(1982-83), Apocalypse
Apocalypse Series (Kanso)
The Apocalypse Series encompasses 125 works consisting of 75 paintings and 50 drawings created between 1982 and 1984 by Nabil Kanso.The subjects of the works in the series are based on the Revelation of Saint John the Evangelist...
(1984), Warring Wings
The Split of Life
The Split of Life is a series of over 80 mural size oil paintings by Nabil Kanso. The paintings span a period from 1974 to 1994, and deal with contemporary and historical issues of war and violence.-Development and description:...
(1984–85), Othello
Othello (paintings)
Othello is a series of paintings executed in 1985 by Nabil Kanso. The subjects of the paintings are loosely based on Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello. The series comprises 60 paintings dealing with themes of love, race, jealousy, betrayal, and evil...
(1985), the Cluster Paintings
Cluster Paintings
The Cluster Paintings are a series of paintings created by Nabil Kanso in 1986-1988. They are characterized by compositions that divide the canvas space into sections reflecting a cluster of irregular shaped planes offering variations of contrasts and viewpoints. These characteristics expanded in...
(1986–88), Leaves from the Theatre of War
Leaves from the Theatre of War
Leaves from the Theatre of War is the title of a series of 250 ink drawings by Nabil Kanso. The series depicts a long sequence of wide ranging images reflecting satiric tonality and expressions on war and the human tragicomedy. The works were done at various intervals between 1980 and...
(1980s), The Dance of Salome
Dance of Salome (paintings)
The Dance of Salomé is the title of a series of 160 works consisting of 85 paintings and 75 drawings created by Nabil Kanso in 1988 and 1995...
(1988), America 500 Years
America 500 Years
America 500 Years is the title of a series of paintings created in 1988-91 by Nabil Kanso in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America...
(1989–91), Kuwait
Kuwait (Kanso series)
Kuwait series is a group of approximately 40 paintings made by Nabil Kanso in 1990-91 on the Gulf War and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The works in the series were first exhibited in Kuwait in March – April 1992 at the Free Atelier Art Center and traveled in June to Caracas for a special exhibit at...
1990–91, Living Memory
Living Memory (paintings)
Living Memory is the title of a series of 9 mural-size paintings on the Holocaust painted by Nabil Kanso in 1980, 1990 and 1993-94.-Works in the series:*Roll-Call at the Black Wall, oil on canvas, 3 X 4.87 meters , 1980...
(1993–94), Bosnia (1995–96), Portraits (1997–99), Iraq (2004–06).
Books
- The Split of Life: Paintings 1974-1994, NEV Editions, 1996, ISBN 1888536217
- FaustFaustFaust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
: Paintings 1976-1979, NEV Editions, 1997, ISBN 1888356152 - OthelloOthelloThe Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
1985, NEV Editions, 1997, ISBN 1888853619