Catalogue d'une exposition conçue autour de l'œuvre de l'artiste et écrivaine Helen Khal, figure influente de la scène artistique libanaise, explorant les thèmes de l'amour, du sexe et de la maternité, de la relation entre les arts visuels et le paysage littéraire du Beyrouth des années 1960-70, tout en contextualisant son travail avec celui d'un groupe d'artistes dont elle était proche.
Helen Khal: Gallery One and Beirut in the 1960s is a reflective exhibition catalogue; part archive, as well as a living testament to the late Helen Khal (1923-2009). A polymath, an artist, educator, and writer, Khal was also the co-founder of Gallery One, the first modern and contemporary art gallery in Lebanon, which opened its doors to the public in Beirut, in 1963.
The catalogue follows on from an exhibition initiated by Carla Chammas and curated by Chammas and Rachel Dedman as part of "Home Works 8: A Forum on Cultural Practices" opening its doors at the Sursock Museum, Beirut in October 2019. The exhibition, like the catalogue, detailed Helen's life and practice as a catalytic lens through which to explore the work of a group of artists whom she was close to, in life and in art, including: Chafic Abboud, Yvette Achkar, Etel Adnan, Huguette Caland, Simone Fattal, Farid Haddad, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Aref El Rayess, and Dorothy Salhab-Kazemi.
From here, the publication seeks to address the exhibition's themes of love, sex, and motherhood, the relationship between visual art and the literary landscape of 1960s and 1970s Beirut, and the galleries and studios in which public collaborations and private kinships were forged. Taking an intimate approach to a fabled period, Helen Khal: Gallery One and Beirut in the 1960s, unfolds a rich picture of the friendships, connections, modes of exchange, common concerns, and differing approaches of some of the best-known and least-remembered artists of the mid-twentieth century in Lebanon.
Publié suite à l'exposition « At the still point of the turning world, there is the dance » au Sursock Museum, Beyrouth, en 2019.
L'artiste peintre, écrivaine et critique d'art américano-libanaise Helen Khal (1923-2009) fut au centre d'une fascinante génération d'artistes au Liban dans les années 1960 et 1970. Peintre prolifique, cofondatrice de la Gallery One (la première galerie d'art moderne et contemporain au Liban, qui a ouvert ses portes en 1963), critique d'art pour The Daily Star et Monday Morning, et autrice d'un livre sur la femme artiste au Liban, Khal a discrètement mais durablement marqué le paysage artistique institutionnel de Beyrouth.
