Perhaps our most famous and often quoted artist was Etel Adnan (1925-2021). She was born in Beirut and studied at the Sorbbonne in Paris, then went on to study at Berkeley and Harvard in the United States. She was best known as a writer of poetry, fiction, and journalism. Adnan grew up speaking Greek and Turkish at home, Arabic on the street, and French at school. She didn’t start painting until she was in her mid-thirties, while teaching philosophy. Her reason for not painting sooner: “My mother said that I was clumsy,” Adnan said. She returned to Beirut in 1972 at what has been called “the heart of an energetic artistic community on the brink of deadly conflict.” 

Adnan became the editor of the newspaper Al Safa, where she published editorials and her poetry in Arabic. Her paintings are small in size, and many were displayed in her leporellos—accordion folded books designed to be handheld. Adnans stretched for several meters. 

Folded Books

“Signs” 2018, Etel Adnan, hardback leporello, 9.2 x 28.8 x 4.2 cm (folded); 28.8 x 527 x .3 cm (unfolded)


Adnan’s breakthrough with paintings happened late in life with a show at Documenta 13, followed by a solo show at the Whitney, in New York, then the Serpentine Galleries presented her work in London, followed by a show at the San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art. Adnan continued working in her Paris studio until she was 95. 


To learn more about Adnan, visit White Cube Gallery’s website, www.whitecube.com.