Untitled

Etel Adnan

Etel Adnan - Untitled, 2021, Courtesy private collection

‘I write what I see, I paint what I am.’ - Etel Adnan, 2012

An ‘unruly subject’ in every element of her being, Lebanese-American poet essayist and artist Etel Adnan is considered one of the most iconic artists in the Arab intellectual diaspora as well as a pioneer of women’s rights all over the world. In her paintings, Adnan refused traditional cultural references, media and techniques, favouring instead a composition representative of the beauty of the universe and the intense bond she had with it.

In this exhibition, we present a small work which Adnan made for a dear friend only a month before her passing. Wanting art to be a dialogue, she painted it while sitting next to her in her home in Erquy. The work is a testimony to their intimate friendship and its transcendence through art. The installation is complemented with a selection of three of her publications: Sea and Fog (2012), Time (2019) and Shifting the Silence (2020).

2021 – ink and brush pens on canvas, 24 x 33 x 2.5 cm
Courtesy Private Collection.

Etel Adnan
°1925, Beirut, Lebanon - +2021, Paris, France

Etel Adnan, a poet, essayist, and visual artist, was born and raised in Lebanon and lived, studied, and worked in France and California. She began painting in the 1960s and continued until her death in November 2021. Her work has received international recognition since Documenta13 (2012). In 2014, she was invited to the biennial of the Whitney Museum (New York). The Qatar museum of modern art, the Mathaf, dedicated a retrospective to her, organized by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Since then, numerous museums (Bern, Luxembourg, San Francisco, Aspen, Lille, etc.) and art centers have devoted exhibitions to her. Adnan's works appear in collections worldwide, including the MNAM-Center Pompidou, Paris; Mathaf, Doha, Qatar; MoMA, New York; M +, Hong Kong; Royal Jordanian Museum, Amman; the Museum of Modern Art, Tunis; Sursock Museum, Beirut; Institute of the Arab World, Paris; British Museum, London; Tate Gallery, London; World Bank Collection, Washington D.C.; National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington DC; as well as in many private collections. Her work is represented by a.o. Galerie Lelong & Co.