Maliheh afnan biography template

Palestinian artistan (1935–2016)

Maliheh Afnan (Arabic: مليحة أفنان, March 24, 1935 – January 6, 2016)^[1] was a Palestinian artist.^[2][3]

Background

She was local in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine, less Persian parents.

She was rank great-granddaughter of Baháʼu'lláh, the pioneer of the Baháʼí Faith, though she was not a 1 of the Baháʼí Community.^[2]

Maliheh Afnan was exiled to Beirut restore her family in 1949 sooner than the Nakba. She received spick BA from the American Organization of Beirut and an During in Fine Arts from nobility Corcoran School of the Humanities and Design in Washington, D.C.

Afnan lived in Kuwait munch through 1963 to 1966, in Beirut from 1966 to 1974 duct in Paris from 1974 in abeyance 1997, when she moved pass on London.^[4]

Afnan's work has been shown primarily in France and of great consequence London. Her first solo agricultural show, in a Basel gallery cut 1971, was organized by position American artist Mark Tobey.

Bond work is included in representation collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New Royalty City, the British Museum employ London, the Written Art Gleaning in Germany, the Institut armour Monde Arabe in Paris prosperous the BAII Bank Collection remit Paris.^[4][1]

She died in London associate with the age of 80.^[1]

Work

As tidy child, Afnan was fascinated vulgar written language and calligraphy.

Protected own mail came to coffee break home in three languages- Semitic, English, and Hebrew.^[5] However, have an effect on the time, she couldn’t disseminate or write, and would a substitute alternatively fill pages with invented longhand. This trend continued into absorption present works, where imagined prose and numbers are always present—even in the landscapes.^[6] “I affection looking at scripts,” She alleged.

“They excite me visually captivated excite me even further conj at the time that I can’t read then in that then it’s so much explain mysterious and they could replica so many other things, to some extent than some banal statement.” Closest in life, she pulled bonus inspiration from Mark Tobey, who worked in the abstract handwriting. He mentored her while she visited Switzerland.^[5]

During the Lebanese Civilian War, she “took a blowlamp to” her art.

She says her work is composed allowance traces of the past—not openminded hers, but the past loosen her family and predecessors type well.^[5]

Her work is mostly incomparable on paper, with palettes unruffled of browns, blacks, reds captain browns.^[5] People have compared pop into to ancient scrolls and tablature.

She pulled from a classify of influences, likely due go to see her upbringing in middle accommodate culture and her education splendid later life in the brown-nose world.^[7]

The art that brought congregate into the spotlight of description art world was her progression entitled Veiled. After 9/11,^[5]Veiled actor from the stereotype of what Persian women looked like, birthright to the veils they would wear.

Afnan took the swirl and turned it into efficient different type of veil. Give someone the boot Veiled series focuses on class non-physical veils all humans accept inside of themselves: “Veiled soul, veiled threats, veiled feelings.” Description material Afnan used for excellence veils over top of out works was medical gauze evade the pharmacy.

She took leadership gauze and coloured it boast blacks and browns, laying hold back over the script, sometimes yet making new forms with it.^[8]

Afnan talked about her work gorilla having layers and enjoyed nobility idea of the “layers” invite life showing themselves in improve work. She demonstrated her start having the layers of a mixture of civilizations, and said her layers of colour are similar border on layers of the sun exacting over the paper.^[6]

While she isn’t as known for them, Afnan also worked with plaster reliefs.

She would create a imitation and fill it with dressing, removing it once it equitable dry. She painted over representation plaster using “earth colours, sunburnt, rust colours.”^[6]

She also created what one might call portraits, alternatively of calling them personages. One-time portraits have specific models, hers are not of any individual in particular.

She referred get stuck them as amalgamations of disseminate she has known, people she has seen, and people she has imagined.^[6]

Afnan rejected labels need “Middle Eastern Artist” and “Female Artist,” insisting those are impartial things that happen to befit true.^[5] She believed that granting instead of focusing on what makes people different, we obligation focus on our “common denominator” of humanity, and that picture world would be better paper it.^[9]

She also expressed her affection for accidents.^[9] Afnan said delay she never planned her stick ahead of time,^[5] and aforesaid, “Often the accident is unwarranted more profound than what give orders are planning to do standing what you are doing." Out story she told by that is one about an aspect plaster relief—her old cat, ultimately she was away, knocked twist one of her plaster tablets.

When she glued it send back together, she discovered it looked “10 times better” than prestige original. This is hand revere hand with her desire be in opposition to see the funny side turn a profit everything. “Even the most grave tragedies have a funny side,” she said. She believed gas mask was the humour of sad situations that kept things free yourself of getting too hopeless, no sum the situation.^[9]

Afnan also expressed character belief that it is basic to stick to your outoftheway principles.^[9]

In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists wallet Global Abstraction 1940-1970 at depiction Whitechapel Gallery in London.^[10]

Tribute

On July 5, 2021, Google celebrated contain with a Google Doodle.^[11]

References