|
Mariam:
Doyen of Nudes by Helen Khal
She is not an
artist, but she is a woman. As a woman, she has made a singular
and valuable contribution to the contemporary art in Lebanon: her
body. She is Mariam, Lebanon's first and, for many years, its only
nude model.
Mariam, Oil on canvas, Helen Khal 100 x 90 cm
In a society
where some women are, if not veiled, still kept preciously hidden,
it is difficult for an artist to find a female nude model. Beirut
may have its bikinis and miniskirts, its tight pants and transparent
blouses, but most of the women who wear them would hardly accept
to disrobe completely except under the most intimate of circumstances,
and certainly never for the probing eyes of an impersonal stranger,
respectable artist though he may be.
Thirty-five
years ago, finding a nude model in Lebanon was practically an impossibility.
An occasional prostitute may have accepted, but with strong suspicion
at this strange, undemanding request. Yet in 1938, one artist did
find his model, and one young girl did accept to be one. The artist
was Caesar Jemayel, then Lebanon's dean of painters; the girl was
Mariam.
Mariam was only
13 and a fresh young beauty, when she was first taken to Sheikh
Caesar's atelier. She remembers well her initial entry into that
new and fascinating world. With innocent curiosity, she went; and
as an innocent child she was received... and slowly enticed into
her life as model.
At first she
knew nothing about art and artists or about models, nude or otherwise.
It was simply an amusing, wondrous, happy experience to sit there
quietly in this make-believe, playhouse clutter of pictures and
paint, to sit and watch "El Sheikh", his hands moving
quickly over the canvas, his eyes looking at and beyond her. He
would smile at her from time to time, tell her a funny story, offer
her a chocolate - and then most magical of all, finally show her
herself, the unique lines and colors of her very own image. If at
first this young girl needed to be persuaded, in a very short while
she came of her own volition the atelier, without invitation and
every day.
Caesar Jemayel,
a sensitive man, began with Mariam simply and cautiously, not wanting
to frighten the child and without any planned intention. For a whole
year she modeled, fully clothed in various poses and sundry costumes,
for paintings large and small, for portraits and full figures. All
for no more than piastres and chocolates and because, in her own
words, "I was happy in this atmosphere. It was so different,
so much more gay and exciting than the poverty, gloom and harshness
of my home life."
The disrobement
of Mariam was gradual affair. "Cross your legs and pull up
your dress a bit", El Sheikh requested. The following week,
he suggested, "If you removed your dress, I would see better
the line of your shoulders." Another week or so later and in
no more than her under slip, Mariam was finally only a short and
undisturbing step away from complete nudity. She says today that
she felt no shame or embarrassment when El Sheikh asked her to remove
the slip, and then not so many days later, her bloomers. It was
all so natural; he was such a nice, kind man, and after all she
was so happy there.
Despite her
innocent acceptance, Mariam well knew the terrible condemnation
that would fall upon her should anyone and, above all, her family
knows. So she kept her occupation a closely-guarded secret - with
the help of Sheikh Caesar's mother who claimed to all that Mariam
was her maid... and with the protection (though jealously motivated)
of Sheikh Ceaser himself, who hid her away from all eyes, and most
of all from the eyes of his curious and model-less fellow artists.
For two years,
Mariam remained Sheikh Caesar's private and exclusive model. But
two years older and wiser, recognizing her value and needing money
for a family suddenly left fatherless, Mariam asked for more than
piastres and chocolates... and was refused. She in turn refused
to model anymore and regretfully left.
For five years,
Mariam the model disappeared. Then in 1945, Sheikh Caesar went looking
for her again. The newly established Academy of Fine Arts had appointed
him dean of its painting school, and he needed a model for his students.
There was only Mariam, and for the sum of 150 liras a month, she
was hired.
Every evening,
from 5 to 8, Mariam posed at the Academy - for that first group
of ALBA students, which included Chafic Abboud, Farid Aouad, Michel
Basbous, Yvette Achkar, George Guv, Helen Khal, Mounir Eido, and
for all the others since then. She returned also to Sheikh Caeser's
atelier on frequent free mornings, unpaid but with the respect and
filial obligation of a child to its father, and continued to model
for him until his death in 1958. Meanwhile, she had ceased to be
the exclusive property of Sheikh Caeser, and began to sit for other
Lebanese artists, among them Saliba Douiehy, Georges Cyr, and Yusuf
Hoyek. In the fifties, AUB's Fine Arts Department also turned to
Mariam when they needed a model. But there, a still prevailing American
missionary Puritanism for a while forced a bikini restriction around
her finely formed bottom.
Although there
are others now and to be an artist's model is no longer as chocking
a matter, Mariam is still considered Lebanon's foremost professional
model. The lines and proportions of her body, always aesthetically
structured, have changed little despite the years. She continues
to sit, as patiently unmoving as Cezanne's apple, for yet another
generation of Lebanese artists at the National Institute of Fine
Arts... and still without her family's knowledge. (In 1986)
One
Art Articles - Main
|
