Overview

This scholarly biography traces the life and art of Lebanese-American neo-expressionist, Nabil Kanso (1940-2019). It explores key moments across the artist's transnational career by foregrounding his longest-running, internationally toured exhibition, the Journey of Art for Peace (1985-1993). More specifically, it traces the historical trajectory of his 10' 28' mural-scale painting, Lebanon, from the circumstances of its production at the height of the Lebanese Civil War in 1983, through its short-lived exhibition history with the Split of Life series in the few years that followed. The book scaffolds an understanding of the artist as an activist and works toward offering distinctly spatial readings of his painterly practice, of which the act of bearing witness is highlighted as permeating the entirety of his oeuvre. It concludeswith a contemporary recontextualisation of Lebanon in the country's current social, political, and cultural climate, and emphasises the artist's work as essential to the theorisation of larger traditions of political and protest art.

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9781839989636

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Reviews

“A timely book that sheds light on the incredible work of Nabil Kanso, a unique artist who felt so deeply the pain of the world and rebelled against its injustices with every brushstroke, with every shiver of color.”—Tarek El-Ariss, James Wright Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College, USA. “Taking us into the archive of Nabil Kanso, Meriam Soltan draws a captivating account of his art and activism. From Lebanese to Arab American to citizen of the world, Kanso bears witness to the horrors of war in mural-scale artworks in search of shared humanity, justice, and peace.”—Sonja Mejcher-Atassi, Professor of Modern Arabic and ComparativeLiterature, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. “Author of an immense and prolific work that bears witness to his time, Kanso expresses a universalizing vision of the conflicts of the 20th century and their violence. Being in dialogue with the major aesthetic trends of his century, his work also offers itself as a space for negotiation with the artistic movements of the time. For all these reasons, and because the departure of Kanso confronts us with the need for a better knowledge of the man and his work, this book is of great relevance today.”—NaylaTamraz, Professor and Head of the MA and PhD Programs in Art Criticism and Curatorial Studies, Saint Joseph University, Lebanon.

“A timely book that sheds light on the incredible work of Nabil Kanso, a unique artist who felt so deeply the pain of the world and rebelled against its injustices with every brushstroke, with every shiver of color.”—Tarek El-Ariss, James Wright Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College, USA. “Taking us into the archive of Nabil Kanso, Meriam Soltan draws a captivating account of his art and activism. From Lebanese to Arab American to citizen of the world, Kanso bears witness to the horrors of war in mural-scale artworks in search of shared humanity, justice, and peace.”—Sonja Mejcher-Atassi, Professor of Modern Arabic and ComparativeLiterature, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. “Author of an immense and prolific work that bears witness to his time, Kanso expresses a universalizing vision of the conflicts of the 20th century and their violence. Being in dialogue with the major aesthetic trends of his century, his work also offers itself as a space for negotiation with the artistic movements of the time. For all these reasons, and because the departure of Kanso confronts us with the need for a better knowledge of the man and his work, this book is of great relevance today.”—NaylaTamraz, Professor and Head of the MA and PhD Programs in Art Criticism and Curatorial Studies, Saint Joseph University, Lebanon. Soltan builds a narrative around this creative and deeply contemplative family man who, as an artist, tuned in to the voices of the past and to the torments of history... Soltan writes passionately and sensitively about the artist’s struggles and suggests a new relevance of his work in modern times. - The Markaz Review

Author Information

Meriam Soltan is a writer and editor interested in the design of fictions and how they are manifested in various contexts politically, culturally, and otherwise.

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