In 2003, the multidisciplinary artist was described as 'arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab-American author writing today'PARIS, FRANCE- OCTOBER 31: The American-Lebanese artist and writer at Home in her Studio Workshop on October 31, 2016 in Paris, France- (Photo by Catherine Panchout / Sygma via Getty ImagesThe American-Lebanese artist and writer, Etel Adnan, at home in her studio in 2016 (Photo: Catherine Panchout/Sygma)author avatar imageBy Joanna WhiteheadApril 15, 2024 9:48 amMonday’s animated Google Doodle celebrates Lebanese-American poet and artist, Etel Adnan, who is considered one of the most accomplished Arab-American authors of her era.She was best known for her diverse and multidisciplinary work, which included poetry, oil paintings, films, sculpture and tapestries.On this day in 1955, she hosted her first solo exhibition in San Rafael, California.Who was Etel Adnan?Today’s Google Doodle honours Etel Adnan (Image: Google)Etel Adnan was born in Beirut, Lebanon on 24 February, 1925.The daughter of a Greek mother and a Turkish father, Adnan spoke Greek and Turkish at home, attended a French language school and lived in a primarily Arabic-speaking country.At the age of 23, she moved to France to study philosophy at the University of Paris, before moving to the US for graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard. From 1958 to 1972, she taught philosophy of art at the Dominican University of California in San Rafael.After settling in Sausalito, Adnan began to make paintings. She said that “colours exist for me as entities in themselves, as metaphysical beings, like the attributes of God exist as metaphysical entities”. This became a key tenet of her work.Adnan eventually returned to Lebanon to work as a journalist and editor for the newspapers Al Safa and L’Orient le Jour, where she helped develop a section dedicated to culture in Lebanon and the Middle East.As time went on, she began to gain widespread praise for her vibrant abstract paintings, which were inspired by the landscapes of California and Lebanon.PARIS, FRANCE- APRIL 8, 2015: An interior view int the home and studio of the American-Lebanese artist and writer on April 8, 2015 in Paris, France- (Photo by Catherine Panchout / Sygma via Getty ImagesAn interior view into Adnan’s home and studio in 2016 (Photo: Catherine Panchout/Sygma)Today, her art can be found in museums and galleries all over the world, from Paris to Beirut, Hong Kong to London, and beyond.Describing her art in an interview with Laure Adler published in the Paris Review, Adnan said that there was “power in colour”.She said: “Mixing colours is very engaging because you witness the birth of a new colour. It’s really a birth, like a child arriving. You put in a particular red, you put in a white, and you have a pink that you’ve never seen before and that helps with the following stage. I play by ear, as they say.”She continued: “I had a purely literary education, very literary. But that helps in doing another kind of art. Whether it be music or poetry, it helps. It trains you. They’re the same problems. They’re problems of composition and of confidence.“When you walk down the street, you don’t think about the next step. You just go for it. It’s the same with work. You begin and you continue. You must have confidence. You can’t have criticism intervening during the work. You have to leave criticism for later on. And then you need a certain modesty. This is what I can do. I’m obliged to accept it. It’s me.”Adnan identified as a lesbian in her later years and spent much of her life with the Lebanese-American artist, Simone Fattal.She died in Paris on 14 November 2021, at the age of 96.What are her most famous works?(GERMANY OUT) Etel Adnan, Painter, Author, Lebanon - at "Akademie der K??nste" Berlin (Photo by Lieberenz/ullstein bild via Getty Images)Etel Adnan in Berlin (Photo: Lieberenz/ullstein bild via Getty Images)In 1977, she was awarded the France-Pays Arabes award for her novel Sitt Marie Rose. It tells the story of a woman abducted by militia during the Civil War in Lebanon and is considered a classic of war literature.In 2010, she was awarded the Arab American Book Award for her short story collection Master of the Eclipse. The collection includes stories about displacement, love, loss, poetry, and war.Read NextWho is James Baldwin? Why a Google Doodle is honouring American writer todayNEWSWho is James Baldwin? Why a Google Doodle is honouring American writer todayRead MoreIn 2013, her poetry collection Sea and Fog won both the California Book Award for Poetry and the Lambda Literary Award in the Lesbian Poetry category.In 2014, she was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.In 2020, the poetry collection Time, featuring selections of Adnan’s work, won the Griffin Poetry Prize.In 2003, she was named as “arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab-American author writing today” by the academic journal MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States.Asked when she understood that she could also write poetry, she replied, “Oh, I’ve never thought that! I have never said I was a poet, for instance, except when I wrote my first poem, when I was 20 years old. It was about the marriage of the sun and the sea. And it’s funny, my most recent poems have nearly the same themes as the first ones, which never became books.”She added: “We need poetry amid this chaos and chatter.”
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