Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from the collection of Georges El-Zeenny, Beirut
Thence by descent to the present owner, London

"I wanted to raise the spirit of victory by getting inspiration from the image of the folk hero who is never defeated,, and the waiting in our people for a hero to come and redeem them." – Rafic Charaf

Inspired by Western expressionism and working in a deeply Lebanese cultural milieu, Rafic Charaf was perhaps the one artist among his generation of painters whose art truly reflected the most his own life trajectory

Born in 1932 to a close-knit Baalbek family, the blacksmith's son became a regular personality among the Beirut intelligentsia from the 1960s to the 90s. The tale goes that as a boy he was nicknamed "the black plague" because his face was always sooty from his father's furnace. His pockets bulged with lumps of charcoal which he used to draw on anything that could pass for a canvas. It is said he spared no wall or door in the whole town.

It was by chance that celebrated Lebanese poet Loutfi Haidar stumbled across a drawing on the wall of the first bookshop in Baalbek, and asked who drew it. He was told it was the son of the blacksmith whose forge was next door. "My father found the blacksmith and told him that the then-16-year-old Charaf must go to Beirut to study," says Azza Haidar, who became a close friend of Charaf.

Through Loutfi Haidar's connections with the director of the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, Charaf enrolled at the academy on a full scholarship in 1952. His talent was recognized internationally. In 1955 he was invited by the Spanish government to study for two years on scholarship at the San Fernando Royal Academy in Madrid. This was followed in 1960 by a sojourn at the Piettro Vanucci academy in Perugia courtesy of the Italian government.

Charaf went through a number of overlapping and evolving phases in his career. In the early 50s he was deeply inspired by the struggles of the poor in his native Baalbek. He used to draw many of these in charcoal, and his expressionism evolved out of the poverty he witnessed.

Beginning in the 60s he became influenced by folk poetry and art, orally recounted tales glorifying the hero ¬ this being the source of his interest in Antar and Abla, the mythical pre-Islamic hero and his romantic love.
He simultaneously he mixed Koranic calligraphy with his heroic paintings. In the mid-70s employing calligraphy combined with traditional Arab talismans, charms and symbols became his subject.

The "Antar" phase is one of Charaf's most important. Based on the paintings of Abu Subhi al-Tinawy, a popular artist whose folkloric drawings on glass can still be found in Damascene souks, Charaf was a pioneer in transforming traditional handicraft into high art.

Originating after the 1967 war, they were a response to the Arab world's feelings of defeat. Charaf wanted to show the heroism of past ages."I wanted to raise the spirit of victory by getting inspiration from the image of the folk hero who is never defeated," Charaf said in Direction, "and the waiting in our people for a hero to come and redeem them."

The Love Story of Antar and Abla

Antar was a celebrated sixth century Arab warrior and poet. Stories of his heroic exploits have been circulating for centuries and were eventually written down in the eighth century. Set in pagan Arabia known as the jahiliya, "before the time of the prophet", the events in the stories have their roots in the history of the Arabs.

The slave-son of an Arab prince, Antar fell in love with his high-born cousin Abla. He was born into tribe of Abs, one of the many tribes roaming the great Arabian desert. His mother was an Ethiopian slave and his father was a prince of the tribe. He grew outside the accepted circle of the society and Antar spent his childhood pasturing the tribe's flock of sheep and goats. On the desert plains he learned to ride skillfully, and practiced throwing his spear until he was better accomplished, stronger and more feared than any other slave. His father also did not recognize him as a son but he excelled and distinguished himself in battle. Antar became his tribe's hero and poet – the latter, the highest merit bestowed on a man in the eyes of the Arabs.

The stories recount his heroic struggles to raise himself above the circumstances of his birth to gain his rightful position within his tribe and to become worthy of his beautiful cousin Abla. His poems to her are highly admired and widely quoted in the Arab world.