In the center of the first room of the exhibition dedicated to Abdel Hamid Baalbaki at the Sursock Museum, there is a symbolic evocation of the library of this painter, poet, and writer. (Credit: Zéna Zalzal)
He personally designed the plans for his house in Odaisseh, south Lebanon. This long-dreamed home, whose construction he began in the late 1990s upon returning to his hometown after three difficult decades of urban life in Beirut. Abdel Hamid Baalbaki envisioned it as a cultural and artistic center shining in his region. Deceased in 2013, this painter, sculptor, poet, and writer, fortunately, did not witness the destruction of his home and the ransacking of his precious library, rich with over 4,000 books dedicated to art history and literature, during the last Israeli war against Lebanon.This is why the Sursock Museum is dedicating an exhibition-tribute, also intended as an “ode to the South,” to this Jabal Amel land whose soul permeates all his painted or written work – and of which “he was actually the first artist,” as his nephew and...
He personally designed the plans for his house in Odaisseh, south Lebanon. This long-dreamed home, whose construction he began in the late 1990s upon returning to his hometown after three difficult decades of urban life in Beirut. Abdel Hamid Baalbaki envisioned it as a cultural and artistic center shining in his region. Deceased in 2013, this painter, sculptor, poet, and writer, fortunately, did not witness the destruction of his home and the ransacking of his precious library, rich with over 4,000 books dedicated to art history and literature, during the last Israeli war against Lebanon.This is why the Sursock Museum is dedicating an exhibition-tribute, also intended as an “ode to the South,” to this Jabal Amel land whose soul permeates all his painted or written work – and of which “he was actually the first artist,” as his...
