The History of a Period

My hero pupil (130 x 195 cm - 1976)

Here is a composition, showing a young hero advancing with his weapon in his hand, leaving behind him his family, his village, his peasant father who works the land, a land rendered fertile by the blood and the remains of the dead. The sun burns in the sky and souls soar upwards, while a village is in flames. A gash in the composition divides the canvas into two parts. On the other side is a classroom with an empty chair and desk; the only message is a rope, a warning for all traitors. On the bottom left some creature is urinating on this civilization, while somebody carries a ladder upside down, someone else a flag, a monk a cross, and so on. In the background is Jounieh and its bay.

A martyred nation (140 x 185 cm - 1977)

On the soil of this tortured Lebanon, under a murky sky and among phantom villages, one sees a hermitage and a cosmic crucifixion with even Our Savior under threat, scenes of torture, a mother and her children fleeing in terror. To the right, a tree that serves as a gallows, even for a dog, a holy monk being executed, maidens who are raped, corpses scattered on the ground.

So many details! Here the artist tells the story of all the days of his life. A geometry of circular lines dominates the work, andthe sun illuminates all. Only the hearts that are hard and cruel are haloed by darkness. One individual begs his butcher for mercy.

There is a little girl drawn close to her mother, and there are merchants of skulls, drinkers of blood and cut-throats. Before such a work a man asks where he stands. Only the wide stretch of the blue sea with its touches of green allows a gleam of hope, some chance of evasion.

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