Kahlil Gibran (Lebanon, 1883-1931)


Portrait of Charlotte Teller (The Essence of her Body) oil on canvas, framedstamped "Paul Foinet Fils 21 Rue Brea" on the verso, executed circa 1908-191066 x 50cm (26 x 19 11/16in).
|GIBRAN - HOYEK - RIHANIAL-MAHJAR : THE EXILES A GROUP OF RARE AND EXTRAORDINARY WORKS BY KAHLIL GIBRAN AND YOUSSEF HOYEK INCLUDING PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF KAHLIL GIBRAN'S DESCENDANTSProvenance:Property from the collection of the artist's descendants, San Diego, Originally gifted by the artist to his first cousin Nicholas Gibran, Inherited from the above by his daughter, Susan Miriam GibranThence by descent to the present owners" Every evening my spirit returns to Paris and wanders among its houses. And every morning, I wake up thinking of those days we spent amidst the temples of art and the world of dreams." - Kahlil Gibran, letter to Youssef HoyekBonhams have the rare privilege of presenting perhaps one of the most important and unique discoveries of twentieth century Lebanese art ever to come to market. The first appearance of three seminal oil paintings by Kahlil Gibran at international auction, two of which are from the collection of the artist's direct descendants and one which depicts the renowned Lebanese-American poet and intellectual Amin Rihani.Painted between 1905-12 and archetypical of Gibran's signature portrait style, the present works bear all the hallmarks that propelled the poet-artist to international fame. Together with a rare and enigmatic sculpture by Youssef Hoyek, the present body of works presents a compelling account of two of Arab arts earliest protagonists. Two of the works are backed by a glittering provenance, having been originally gifted to the artists closest cousin Nicholas Gibran, who joined him on his migration to the United States in 1905. Kahlil Gibran, Youssef Hoyek and Amin Rihani were three pivotal figures in twentieth century Arab intellectual movement "Al Mahjar" or "The Exiles". Whilst only Gibran and Rihani were formally members of the Mahjar literary movement, all three were pioneering figures and having left their homeland for a new life in America as early as the late 19th century, are some of the earliest emigre's from the Arab world to have achieved significant global recognition, and would go on to form the literary and artistic backbone of Arab culture in the English speaking world. The primary goals of The Mahajir were, in their own words "to lift Arabic literature from the quagmire of stagnation and imitation, and to infuse a new life into its veins so as to make of it an active force in the building up of the Arab nations". Childhood friends, Kahlil Gibran and Youssef Hoyek were reunited in Europe in 1908 when Gibran set off for two years to study art at the Academie Julian in Paris. Two years later, Gibran would meet Amin Rihani in Paris, forging a deep friendship with him which would see Gibran live with Rihani intermittently during his stays in New York city in subsequent years. Gibran, Hoyek and Rihani's relationship went far beyond mere professional or intellectual affiliation. Kindred spirits, and lifelong companions, the three would form a spiritual bond which permeated their respective literary and artistic output including the works in the present collection-------------------------------------------------------------------------"Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in the mirror" – Kahlil GibranBest known for literary works including The Prophet and The Madman, Kahlil Gibran was born in Besharri, Lebanon before immigrating with his family to Boston's South End in 1895. After completing his literary and artistic education in Beirut and Paris he returned permanently to his adoptive home, The United States, whilst remaining a Lebanese citizen till the end of his life. His magnum opus, The Prophet, made up of 26 prose poems delivered as sermons by a wise seer called Al Mustapha, has never been out of print since it was first published in 1923. A perennial classic, it has been translated into more than fifty language and is a staple of international best-seller list, its success has been so resounding that after Shakespeare and Lao Tzu, Gibran is considered the world best selling poet, with over nine million copies of The Prophet having been sold in America alone. As an artist, Gibrain possessed a talent and sophistication arguably on a par with his literary works, and his fluency in both the art of the brush and the written word is what earned him the accolade, attributed to Rodin, of the "William Blake of the 20th Century" In 1908, Gibran travelled to Paris and enrolled in the popular atelier of Rodolphe Julian, through which Matisse, Bonnard, and Léger, among others, had also passed. He also attended classes at the École des Beaux-Arts and studied under Pierre Marcel Béronneau, a well-known painter and disciple of Gustave Moreau, It is here where he was schooled in symbolism and aestheticism, prominent 19th century art movements that would have a marked influence on much of his subsequent work. In Paris as in later life, Gibran mixed with the intellectual elites of his time, including figures such as WB Yeats, Carl Jung and August Rodin, all of whom he also painted. His artistic work drew many accolades and in Paris, Gibran succeeded in being invited to participate in one of the most prestigious annual exhibitions, the Salon d'automne, which counted Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Paul Gauguin among its alumni. Both a protégée and friend of Gibran's, the subject of the present portrait, Charlotte Teller, was a freelance journalist, writer and active suffragette, having met Gibran through Mary Haskell. Following Gibran's return to Boston from Paris, Charlotte also encouraged him to think of relocating to New York. She sat for Gibran many times in Boston and New York. Charlotte and Gibran ' ... confirmed each other in their belief in reincarnation ... In response Charlotte often speculated that Gibran was "Rossetti and Blake reborn"The present portraits showcase the quintessential elements of Gibrain's artistic practice. Incorporating the stylistic and philosophical underpinnings of the aestheticists, Gibran sought beauty and poetry as an antidote to worldly woes and the transience of existence. The elevation of beauty as an ideal was characteristic of symbolists such as Rodin and Blake, who favoured romance over realism, and in a century inhabited by artists pursuing political, revolutionary and iconoclastic agendas, the soft, romantic grace of Gibrain's work was an affirmation of beauty as a transcendental and apolitical ideal, echoed the inclusive and unifying hue of his poetry. Exhibiting a soft, diaphanous and almost dream-like quality, there is a strong suggestion of his figures inhabiting a purely spiritual realm, unsullied by the fetters of earthly existence. In an artistic style inspired by the mystical paintings of Eugene Carrière, Gibran's dream-like solitary figures constantly remind us of the theme of spiritual unity that flows through his writing. The artist who "kept Jesus in one half of his bosom and Muhammad in the other," believed that a universal "religion of the heart" could create harmony between people of different faiths. Strongly influenced by Sufism, Gibran once wrote, "I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit."Sensuous and free flowing, Gibrain's works are committed to the aesthetic principle of depicting suggestion over statement, of establishing an "aesthetic mood" over making grand visual gestures. It is this form of gentle, sensitive draughtsmanship, which is so arousing in Gibran's works, and which justifies his position as one of the most enigmatic, admired and talented cultural figures of the twentieth century.