The
Woman Artist in Lebanon by Helen Khal (Copyright Institute for Women's
Studies in the Arab World, 1987)
Evaluation of Accomplishments
For an evaluation of accomplishments, to learn what they were what
their importance was, whether they differed from those of male artists
in Lebanon, we again turned to the opinions of the critics.
As stated in our introduction, it was through consultation with
the critics that the twelve artists who highlight this study were
chosen. In order to establish the position of these artists within
the overall artistic activity of the country, we also asked each
critic to list his or her choice of the twelve leading (male or
female) in Lebanon. Each, without exception, included at least four
of these twelve women artists on his list. Such a proportion of
1:3 is undeniably higher than in most other countries of the world,
where few women artists have been able to achieve equal prominence
with men at the top of the field.
In the interviews, each of the critics pointed out some differences
of motivation, subject matter and approach, which help define the
separate quality of women’s contributions to the contemporary art
of Lebanon.
To summarize those differences, as expressed by the critics:
--Women are bolder, experiment more with different techniques and
materials; do not hesitate to explore new ideas. In this respect,
men are more traditional. Examples: The first abstract artist in
Lebanon: Saloua Raouda Choucair, in 1947, when all other artists
in the country were still traditional impressionists. The first
artist to work extensively in kinetics: Nadia Saikali. The first
artists to publicly exhibit paintings of explicit erotic substance:
Juliana Seraphim and Hughette Caland.
--Men are more politically and socially engaged, are motivated more
by intellectualism, ideology, and problems of the human condition.
They are concerned with the world around them, its events, and its
physical environment, which they interpret, comment upon, or romanticize.
Women, on the other hand, express a private vision, are more personal
and introspective in their creative intention. There are a few exceptions,
like Choucair, whose work is highly intellectual and abstract in
its emphasis on pure aesthetics.
--Some women artists are exploring areas of sensibility that have
not been the concern of men. They are expressing in a very direct
manner the intimate sensual and emotional responses they have as
women toward the male-female relationship - and they don’t hesitate
to communicate this publicly.
--In technique, women artists generally are more meticulous, more
patient, in their attention to detail and finish of work. They are
aware of and have a respect for the physical prosperities of their
medium and seek to investigate all its possibilities.
The critics commented favorably on the overall accomplishments of
women artists, particularly in the past ten years, and believe their
presence has contributed much to the stature of contemporary art
in Lebanon today. They made reservation, however, that they were
referring only to those artists whose work they considered important
and who, in their opinion are “dedicated, talented, and serious”
artists. One of the critics remarked that one of the reason why
these “serious” women artists have been able to achieve so much
is that many of them do not have the problems the male faces in
society, where his responsibilities and status demand that he be
successful and the dependable provider of a family. Without this
economic burden, women are able to concentrate more of their energies
on art and can afford to be less compromising in its practice.
Although these male-female differences of motivation, subject matter,
and technique do exist, one critic insisted that in art such differences
are to be expected and go hand in hand with the expression of an
individual personality. He pointed out that in work by male artists
there are always female overtones, and in work by female artists,
male overtones. “In essence, art is asexual” he said, “and there
is not criterion of male or female; there is only good or bad art,
that is all that must be considered when evaluating any creative
effort.”
When our interviewees were questioned about the importance of women’s
contributions and what influence, if any, they may have on the evolution
of Arab women or on society in general, two main views were expressed:
--Their presence in a profession that receives wide and constant
public exposure and recognition projects a strong image of the modern,
liberated woman, which is likely to influence a responsive female
audience. Any woman, rich or poor, who is oppressed in any way,
finds in this image (conveyed to her through the effective media
of press, television, and radio) an assertion of her own identity
as an equal human being, which she hopes she or her daughters may
eventually attain for themselves.
--As a factor of social change, art in a democratic society today
does not have much influence. Its purpose is not ideologically directed,
as in religious art or in the party-line art of a totalitarian state.
Also there so many other more effective methods of public persuasion
today in the visual of photography, film, and television; and art
does little more than feed the aesthetic needs of a refined elite.
These views, in effect, suggest that the presence of women in the
arts may influence change in the lives of other women, but that
the art they produce, despite any feminist motivation, has no significant
impact.
What the Artists Say
In our interviews with the artists, along with documentation of
biographical data and queries on family background, we asked them
about:
(a) The social or personal influences which may have determined
their choice of career, (b) any determining problems or difficulties
encountered in their lives as women and as artists, and (c) their
individual motivation and creative intention.
Regarding choice of career, most of the artists reported that a
general interest in art began in childhood, either through parental
guidance, through art classes in school, or through the presence
in their lives of artist friends or relatives. With some, the interest
continued without interruption and led to subsequent training and
professional entry into the field. With others, the interest subsided,
and their lives took another direction for a number of years before
they returned to art. Influences which determined choice were essentially
personal, although early family advantages of economic status, cultural
exposure, and education provided the initial encouragement. Only
a small minority faced strong opposition from family in their choice
of career, on the grounds that it would not provide economic security
or that it would interfere with marriage possibilities, and therefore
could not be considered more than an avocation. All others were
encouraged.
In talking about their personal lives, difficulties were reported
in combining with equal effectiveness the role of artist with that
of woman, particularly among those who were married. If economic
security and parental approval before marriage had encouraged them
to become artists, subsequent marriage and its traditional obligations
often forced them into years of minimal or sporadic productivity.
A common problem with most of the artists, whether married or single,
was resolving the duality which existed in their lives, which one
artist aptly described as “the dilemma of the modern Eve.”
Through their art, they had developed a strong and active awareness
of their identity as individuals. They had also acquired the strength
to shed many of the preconditioned attitudes which often insidiously
inhibit intellectual and emotional growth in women. But they found
difficulty now in reconciling this personally acquired and liberated
image with the culturally determined stereotype of woman that confronted
them within their own society. They said they were faced with restrictions,
often indefinable, which prohibited their functioning freely and
honestly as mature women and as equal human beings.
This problem was particularly apparent in the male-female relationship
, where the rules of the game were so deeply ingrained that any
overt attempt at change could prove disastrous .The answer for most,
therefore, was an uneasy compromise. They insisted, however that
it was not an obliteration of role difference that they wanted,
but rather a new assessment of differences based on respect and
equality between male and female, without the ambiguous double standard
which still contaminated this most vital human relationship.
When questioned about difficulties of functioning within their profession,
almost all the artists replied that they found no problems and that
they did not feel that being a woman caused discrimination or restricted
their function as artists in any way. The occasional opinion was
expressed, however, that often their work was not taken seriously
because they were women. Several remarked that they encountered
in the public a reaction of surprise that work of such quality was
produced by a woman - a shaded compliment which they found irritating.
Individual motivation and creative intention, of course, varied
from artist to artist (each artist’s statement included in the study
is quoted verbatim). Obviously there was no one, common, conscious
motivation; or if such common motive existed, it was on an unconscious
level. Like all artists, women artists in Lebanon are individualists,
sometimes even more so than their male counterparts. They do not,
as male artists often do, seek to work collectively or from groups
to promote common artistic aims or ideals. In the Lebanese Association
of Painters and Sculptors , the organization officially recognized
as representing the artists of the country, the activities and influence
of women members has been insignificant – either due to their own
lack of interest or to the reluctance of a male majority to grant
them stronger participation .Given the facts of a more personally
oriented motivation toward which women artists appear to be directing
their energies, one can assume it is lack of interest… although
the few women who have sought elective positions of authority in
the Association (and lost) emphatically deny this.
Some Tentative Conclusions
Very much as in painting, I began this paper with a specific intention
laid out the colors and proceeded to give that intention expressive
shape. But as often happens, the colors and forms which were initially
put down began to suggest other ideas, seemingly irrelevant but
of provocative substance, and the thread of original purpose began
to weave its own conclusive fabric. It was through such avenues
of inquiry that this brief study developed; the material presented
itself and was recorded. Separately, facts and opinions have been
expressed which may be of interest; but together, what do they mean,
what do they say? At the expense of inviting debate, I would like
to propose some conclusions, tie some loose ends of compositional
design together and, in a way, frame the picture.
The woman artist in Lebanon: who is she, where is she now, and what
is her future?
She is by birth Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Iraqi, Egyptian,
Jordanian, Armenian, Turkish, German, French, Yugoslavian, Russian,
and American. She is educated, cultured, and has been economically
secure most of her life, She is young or old, married or unmarried,
sometimes divorced or a widow. She is a daughter, wife, mother,
grandmother; and if she must work to support herself (although a
number are supported by family, husband, or private income); she
is most often a teacher. Only a few of her number totally earn their
living through art. At least four (some claim more) are included
in any listing of the twelve leading artists of Lebanon, and all
of her number makes up about one-fourth of all artists in the country.
To all outward appearances, her life is a conventional one. Though
she is rarely the bohemian artist in behavior or dress, she is nevertheless
sought out by an awed and curious society, not only as an exotic
ornament for its parties, but also for the cultural and intellectual
stimulation her presence provides.
Despite her occasional complaints, she enjoys as an artist a position
more advantageous than most of her sister artists elsewhere. If
traditional attitudes toward women still limit her freedom, they
also provide her with a reassuring protection and special consideration
which inadvertently lend moral support to her professional ambitions.
She is indulged by the men in her life and by society, specifically
because she is a woman and because the occupation she has chosen
is one which, to their minds, is unthreatening to them, keeps her
at home, and somehow befits a woman. Given also the dynamics of
a prosperous and progressive society and the opportunities of a
microcosmic cultural life with its attendant ease of public recognition,
she has had little difficulty in building up her number and establishing
herself securely at the top of her profession. Few other professions
in Lebanon have provided her with the same opportunities for advancement
to equal stature with men.
Aware of these advantages and using them wisely, our woman artist
meanwhile walks a tightrope of divisionalism between the ground
she has gained as an artist and the psychological veil which still
obscures her full emancipation as a woman. Though she benefits from
it, she suspects that the indulgence accorded her is often one of
condescending charity. And while appreciating the protection and
consideration she is given, she chafes at the demanding price of
a compromising submissiveness.
Uniquely, she has been able to utilize the path of “traditional
woman” to arrive at “modern artist”. Uniquely, she plays a liberated,
avant-garde role, while the fetters of tradition, though loosened,
still restrain her, still bruise her spirit and retard her freedom.
And what, we ask, is she doing about this ambiguity in her position,
which now begins to create its own kind of problems? Is she content
to continue adroitly playing a game of compromise in order to safeguard
advantages she doesn’t want to lose?
To my mind, no. I believe there is a method in her compromise, and
that she is emerging as a new kind of feminine revolutionary, a
quiet one, who doesn’t want to use the drastic tactics of force,
of reducing all to rubble. “There are some female attributes of
value,” she says, “that must be destroyed, that must be retained.
They are essential to me, to every Arab woman, and to every woman
everywhere. I want to continue to be a woman – not the old, narrow,
stereotype of woman, but still a woman as distinguishable from a
man. Physically we are opposites, but in the conditions and quality
of our lives we must be equal. I want to be his equal complement,
and not an inferior whose life he tries to control. As that complement,
and biologically made of the same stuff of flesh, bones, and spirit,
I too have needs, hopes, fears, and joys parallel to his. Listen
to me, she says, and in my art I will tell you what they are.”
In her art, our woman artist expresses those needs, hopes, fears,
and joys. They al derive from the attributes of her femininity which
she values and which, if comprehended and accepted in her interpersonal
relationships, she believes will grant her full freedom and identity
as a human person. Her primary creative purpose is to communicate
her responses, as a female human being, to the conditions of her
life and to the elements in it which she considers important. Despite
some outward manifestations in her work to the contrary, she is
not really concerned, as the male artist so often is, with social
or political comment, with retaining links of cultural heritage
or with following new concepts of art. Her work, whether figurative
or abstract (and it is both) reveals an intimacy of expression which
is peculiarly hers as a woman.
What does it say? It says many different things, but all are the
mosaic pieces, similarly textured, with which individually she attempts
to construct a whole identity. I perceive that identity, as it is
revealed in her work, to include:
The sensual and erotic responses of woman, a hitherto forbidden
garden which some artists explore. They want to communicate how
a woman experiences the sensual and erotic manifestations of the
human body and of all physical life.
The philosophical realm, through which other artists seek to define
a human purpose within the larger cosmos of existence. They ask:
Who am I, and what does it all mean?
The lyric poets, who view the world and human life with a romantic
eye. Persistent idealists, they recreate on canvas secure worlds
of remembered or imagined joy.
The intellectual aesthetes, whose female sensibilities speak through
the abstract language of structured form and color.
She is capable of being all of that, she says – sensualist philosopher,
poet, and intellectual. Admittedly not designations which society
has so far readily assigned to women. But there they are in my art,
she says… I am all that, and woman too, if only you will recognize
it.
Individually, through these various routes of expression, she reflects
in essence the deep responses of a private, self-oriented, female
vision. As one of our interviewees remarked, her art is “one of
the few permissible windows in her harem,” through which she projects
her innermost needs and desires. Other revolutionaries would break
down the walls; but our woman artists says no , not yet...I still
need the protection of the harem , and I don’t want to lose its
pleasures.
And what of her future?
I believe she will begin to face difficulty in maintaining the position
she has so quickly (and deservedly) achieved for herself as a professional.
When she relinquishes her traditional privileges as a woman (which
she will have to if she wants an honest equality), she will lose
the advantages which have eased her path. Also, as more women enter
the professions, as contemporary art itself gains a more important
stature in the society, and as public life in Lebanon expands beyond
its present provincial familiarity and easy of recognition, success
will become more difficult to arrive at. The woman artist will then
be in a more balanced competition with male, artists. She will face
problems similar to his, and her success will no longer to taint
by any “because she is a woman” consideration. She will achieve
recognition solely through a strict evaluation of talent and professionalism,
through the aesthetic validity of her work and the energy she applies
in pursuing the golden ring of public success.
I believe that, based on her already proven talents and creative
energies, she will be equal to that challenge and will in the future
earn an even more solid and gratifying recognition . But I believe
also that gradually her number will lessen, and that only the serious
and dedicated artists will persevere. For those of minor talent
and interest who now survive on a societal indulgence, the new rules
of the game will prove too difficult.
In her work itself, meanwhile I believe that her art will continue
to grow out of her sensibilities as a woman, but that it will take
on a less personally motivated expression, as gradually the purposes
of her revolution are achieved and she gains her full freedom and
equality. Some of our artists have already reached this point. Feminine
qualities are no longer expressed through specific subject matter
or approach, but rather through the peculiarities of abstract line,
color, and form structure which are uniquely woman-felt expressed.
In art as in life, woman simply cannot deny her own woman-hood.
Finally does her work or presence in any way affect the lives of
other women in her society?
In her art, I would agree with the observation made earlier that
her influence is negligible. The new linguistics of art today require
an uncommon amount of visual comprehension and cultural sophistication;
this will only happen gradually, as the society progresses in its
artistic and cultural development. Most people today lack understanding
and appreciation of modern art, not only in the Arab world but,
to a greater or lesser degree, everywhere else in the world as well.
The difficulty is compounded by the rapid change and complexity
of art forms with which we are assailed, and which are able to communicate
their meaning only to a select group of initiates. The majority
of people, meanwhile, depend more and more for visual, stimulation
(and influence) on the quick and easy “art” of a machine-made, picture-producing
media. For them, individually hand-made art today often serves no
more than a decorative purpose.
In her art, then, our woman artist speaks only to a limited audience.
Through her presence, however, she does generate wider influence.
Notwithstanding the driving impact of usual revolutionary methods
my belief is that change on a profound and lasting level in any
society remains a slow and evolutionary process. The manifestation
of real change, through this process, can seldom be attributed to
specific or isolated determinants. Sometimes, however, one can perceive
certain contributing factors; and in the evolution of the Arab woman,
I see our woman artist today as one of those factors. As the image
of traditional woman disappears and a new Arab woman emerges, the
woman artist through her presence acts (more so than women in most
other professions) as a direct and strong forecast of that future
woman. The liberated manners and attitudes of her life reach out
and touch, through wide public exposure, those other woman who seeks
a directional pattern for the realization of their own ultimate
emancipation.
The influence perhaps is imperceptible, but, I believe it exists.
Many other social factors will determine the manner of change and
set the pace at which it will occur; but meanwhile, the woman artist
plays her own significant role in forming the progressive character
of the new Arab woman. In her presence, if not in her art, she conveys
hope to that larger legion of women who, in whatever way and to
whatever degree, still bear the marks of interior status. She is,
in a word, their link to the future.
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