KHALIL GIBRAN - A Greater Beauty in Words and Drawings
Welcoming Picture at The Drawing Center New York. The famous photo with a book taken in 1839 of the young Lebanese immigrant Kahlil Gibran at age 14, by F Holland Day who funded and guided his education.
By Oyiza Adaba
Africa-Related New York
An Exhibition
July 11 - September 10 2023
The name Khalil Gibran usually sparks a conversation about his popular 1923 book, The Prophet, but this world renowned Lebanese American author is also known as a powerful artist, poet and essayist. A Greater Beauty: The Drawings of Kahlil Gibran is an exhibition which features over one hundred of his works, and coincides with the 100th anniversary of this world-renowned publication.
Five artists came together to celebrate the art of Khalil Gibran at the The Drawing Center, where a collection of his drawings, writings and poetry are currently exhibiting.
Readings from various writings of poetry by Arab and Arab American artists like Nuar Alsadir, the poet and nonfiction writer who has authored books like “Animal Joy”, and Adam Bakri, a celebrated Palestinian actor and son of a prominent actor who has starred with Keira Knightley in “Official Secrets” and is unforgettable in his compelling performance in the film Omar. Mona Kareem has written three poetry collections, and her works have been translated into nine languages. She is the recipient of several awards including the 2021 National Endowment Grant.
Palestinian-American writer performance artist Fargo Nassim Tbakhi also featured with his provoking pieces, while the award winning Syrian-born New-York-based rapper and spoken word artist Omar Offendum closed out the show with a powerful rendition from his critically acclaimed theatrical performance titled Little Syria. Influenced by the work of Gibran and the Arab light writers, Offendum engaged the audience in a sing along, weaving Gibran’s poems together with his own musical repertoire.
Omar Offendum - The result was a spiritual evening - not in a religious sense, but in a deeply personal interpretation and presentation of Gibran’s works by participating artists.
Curating Conflicts
Curator Claire Gilman delivering her opening remarks
In her opening remarks, lead curator Claire Gilman touched on the conflicts Gibran faced in his life, which caused him to be described as a non sectarian mystic, self oriented writer and visual artist with a foot in both Arab and Euro American culture. He was a proud Arab, Maronite Christian, a Syrian patriot who wrote in English and Arabic, and he continued to be outspoken with his support for great Syrian and pan Arab states until his death on April 10, 1931.
He came to America as a political refugee, and the conflicts that he faced settling into this new world, reflected so deeply in his writings and his works. According to their essay, Gilman and her co-curators, scholar Nika Lanson, Joseph Geagea, Director of the Gibran Museum in Bsharri, Lebanon, alongside three other contemporary artists, explored Gibran’s search for universal truths that transcends cultural religious boundaries, his rejection of modernism for a uniquely egalitarian Universalist aesthetic, his deep investment in the political issues of the day, and his acutely felt responsibility to the homeland while making his way as an immigrant into a new world.
THE PROPHET
by Khalil Gibran
First Publication: 1923
Translations: 100 languages
Sold: 10 million copies worldwide
Artist from Israel Yifat Bazelel sits in front of The Drawing Center, New York
NY-based Sculptor & Designer Ogundipe Fayomi listens intently inside The Drawing Center.
Danielle Aldouby - Art instructor at Columbia University Teachers College leaving the The Drawing Center
The Drawing Center has been a New York City staple for over five decades. It put together this ambitious scale exhibition with several partnerships such as Dominique Levy and the Andy Warhol Foundation for visual arts and several others.