Kahlil Gibran: The Artist, the Prophet and the Man
Regina Sutton the State Librarian and Chief Executive welcomed everyone to the State Library of NSW to the formal launch of Kahlil Gibran: The Artist, the Prophet, and The Man.
"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need." Kahlil Gibran.”
The Lebanese-American writer, poet, philosopher and artist has been translated into more than 20 languages, and is the third bestselling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tzu. The Prophet, published in 1923, has never been out of print.
Special guests included:
• Hon. Virginia Judge, Minister for the Arts and Minister for Fair Trading,
• Mr Anthony ROBERTS, Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Shadow Minister for Volunteering and the Arts
• Ms. Carol Mills, Director-General for Communities NSW
• The Hon. Salim Wardy, the Lebanese Minister of Culture
• Dr Tarek Chidiac, President of the National Gibran Committee, who facilitated the loans of material from the Gibran National Museum
• Dr. Joseph Geagea, the Director of the Gibran National Museum, who helped with the organisation of this exhibition
• Professor Fadia Ghossayn, President of the Australian Lebanese Foundation, who, motivated us with her passion, persistence, and amazing energy.
• Mr. Anthony Sukari OAM Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum and Chair of the Migration Centre of NSW (MC)
Speech by Regina Sutton.
Welcome to the State Library of NSW and to the formal launch of Kahlil Gibran: The Artist, the Prophet, and The Man—I’m Regina Sutton the State Librarian and Chief Executive. Before we begin tonight’s official proceedings, let us all acknowledge the original owners of this land, the Cadigal People of the EORA nation.
We have many special guests here this evening but, in particular, I would like to acknowledge:
• Hon. Virginia Judge, Minister for the Arts and Minister for Fair Trading,
• Mr Anthony ROBERTS, Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Shadow Minister for Volunteering and the Arts and
• Ms. Carol Mills, Director-General for Communities NSW
We have three distinguished guests here this evening that have made the long journey from Lebanon to be with us:
• The Hon. Salim Wardy, the Lebanese Minister of Culture
• Dr Tarek Chidiac, President of the National Gibran Committee, who facilitated the loans of material from the Gibran National Museum
• Dr. Joseph Geagea, the Director of the Gibran National Museum, who helped with the org of this exhibition
I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to Professor Fadia Ghossayn, President of the Australian Lebanese Foundation, who, motivated us with her passion, persistence, and amazing energy.
As many of you may know, the Mitchell Library is about to conclude its Centenary year. This exhibition is the ideal ending to a year that has celebrated the extraordinary richness of the Library’s own collection.
This Library holds many of Gibran’s publications in several languages. We have been fortunate to recently procure a copy of the first printing of the first edition of The Prophet. This is, as far as we know, the only copy of this edition held in any Australian library. Originally published in 1923 in a print run of only 2,000, it hasn’t been out of print since! It now joins the Library's priceless collection of first editions of books that have influenced world views across a wide variety of topics. You will have a personal opportunity to view it on display as part of this exhibition.
What’s particularly unique about this exhibition is that all of you will be introduced to rarely seen original artworks by Gibran. It is the first time that these works have travelled to Australia, on loan from the Gibran Museum in Bsharri, northern Lebanon. We thank them for agreeing to share their treasures with us.
I would also like to acknowledge two people from the Library that worked together, under the guidance of Lucy Milne, our Marketing and BD Director. They were able to seamlessly bridge across many channels and cultures to bring this exhibition to you. They are: Ms. Avyrl Whitnall, and Mr. Phil Verner. Together, they have worked relentlessly for the past several months, to curate and coordinate this project on a very tight timeline, to produce an extraordinary result. Thank you!
And finally, I wish to thank the members of the Lebanese community who have assisted us throughout the process. It has been a rewarding experience for the Library to work with such a committed group of people.
I would now like to introduce Mr. Anthony Sukari OAM, who will be our Master of ceremonies for the evening. Anthony is a Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum as well as the Chair, of the Migration Centre of NSW. He is a friend of arts institutions everywhere so please join me in welcoming him to the podium.
Speech by Mr. Anthony Sukari OAM
Thank you Regina, distinguished guests it’s an honour to be a part of the proceedings here tonight.
There is an old Lebanese saying that says “if people remember you after your death, then you have never really died”. Saying that, Khalil Gibran has not left this world, and that is evident by his works on display and our gathering here tonight.
Towards the end of his life Gibran said of himself: “I came into the world to write a book, just one small book.” And, in fact, eighty years after his death, his main work, “The Prophet”, is forever present and frequently quoted whenever the subject turns to love, marriage or children. It is one of the best-selling books of all time and in its 163rd print edition, has sold over 100 million copies. It has been translated into well over 40 languages and Khalil Gibran is the third most widely read poet in history.
But Gibran was far more than just an outstanding writer and artist. Throughout his life a rebel and never quite fitting in, he outspokenly denounced intolerance, injustice and oppression. He argued for women’s rights and as a devout Maronite Catholic, tirelessly campaigned for understanding and rapprochement between the various religions.
Freedom of thought as well as political and social freedom meant for him the very foundation of life itself. No doubt that Khalil Gibran, characterised by a deep humanism, was one of the great spiritual teachers on our earth. His characteristics are revealed from his works to which we are privileged to see this evening, and I’m sure that when you see this wonderful exhibition, you’ll agree that it’s a splendid tribute to one of Lebanon’s favourite sons.
As a Lebanese Australian and a Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum, I am both proud & excited to see this wonderful exhibition being showcased in Sydney, and we are thankful for the NSW State Government for taking this initiative
To open the exhibition tonight I’d like to introduce the Hon Virginia Judge - Minister for the Arts and Minister for Fair Trading. She is the driving force for Kahlil Gibran exhibition and a strong supporter of the cultural bonds between Australia & Lebanon.
Speech by Minister Judge
Thank you for your kind introduction it’s a pleasure to be here this evening.
Firstly, and most importantly, I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet and whose culture we celebrate as one of the oldest continuing cultures in human history. I welcome,
• Regina Sutton, State Librarian and Chief Executive, State Library of NSW
• Hon. Linda Burney MP
• Hon. David Clarke MP
• Hon. Shaoquett Moselmane MLC
• Hon. Edward Abeid MLC
• Anthony Roberts MP
• Salim Wardy, Lebanese Minister of Culture
• Dr Tarek Chidiac (Shediak), President of the National Gibran Committee
• Carol Mills, Director General, Communities NSW
• Professor Fadia Ghossayn, President of the Australian Lebanese Foundation
If I may, I’d like to start with an extract from Khalil Gibran’s own writings.
Children
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, 'Speak to us of Children.'
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Khalil Gibran has had a phenomenal impact on millions of people around the globe with the beauty of his writings, his teachings and his wisdom.
It’s a pleasure to be here tonight to launch this beautifully presented exhibition here at the State Library of NSW. I first fell in love with this exhibition in Lebanon in July 2009.
Making the long trek to the northern town of Bsharri, I was in awe at this poet, this man of the world. Immediately I felt it would be wonderful if citizens in New South Wales could have the opportunity to share in the sheer beauty of his work and I am delighted that the NSW Government could provide funding for the exhibition and the related free events.
Minister Warde, Regina Sutton and Prof. Fadia Ghossayn
From R: Salim Chidiac, Joe Rizk, John Ajaka MLC,
David Clark MLC and Anthony Khoury
Geoff Wearne of the Commonwealth Bank in
conversation with minister Warde
Peter Indary and Dr. Ahmed Shboul
From R: Sister Marlene Chedid, bishop Abi Karam, Yola and James Wakim
Maureen Rizk, Chadia Gedeon, Gelnar Nader and Joe Rizk
Businessman George Ghossayn, Lebanese Ambassador
Jean-Daniel and Nadin Chaar
Lawyer Rick Mitry and his wife Sandra
Ray Najar with his wife, daughter and other guest
Tony Dreibi with his wife and Geoff Wearne
Many know Gibran for his writings. He is the world’s third best-selling poet after Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu, making him one of the most widely-read, culturally influential poets of all time.
But what I become amazed by at the Gibran Museum was depth of his talent. Not just his poems in manuscript but also his watercolours and portraits, the charcoal sketches from his days in Paris as a student of Rodin (ROW-DARN), photographs of his home town, notebooks from his years in London and Boston, together they show us the essence of the man.
It has been said that his greatest work The Prophet, shaped the souls of so many young Australian students as a counter-culture bible during the 1960’s and 70’s.
This doesn’t include the influence it’s also had throughout Europe, the United States, India and the Arabic-speaking world. It is fitting that this exhibition is placed in our own temple to literature, the grand Mitchell Library.
What you see here tonight is a taste of the richness Gibran’s artistic insights and an insight into his soul. There are 51 original items by Kahlil Gibran from the Museum.
I want to thank Regina Sutton and the extraordinary team here at the State Library. The library’s events team have burnt the midnight oil getting this exhibition up in a very short timeframe.
I also want to thank Fadia Ghossayn and everyone in the Khalil Gibran steering committee. I think you will all agree that they have done an astonishing job and I want to thank you all.
I hope you all delight in this experience as much as I have. I now officially declare this exhibition open.
Speech by Prof. Fadia Bou Dagher Ghossayn President Australian Lebanese Foundation
This speech was made after the Exhibition’s launch at the following Dinner Function at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Ladies and Gentlemen, my dear friends.
Sometimes, humans marvel at events that occur Once-in-a-lifetime. Tonight we are witnessing something more historic -You and I are celebrating a first time-ever event.
Having assisted to bring Gibran’s museum for the first time to Sydney, The Australian Lebanese Foundation, which is part of The University of Sydney, and under the patronage of her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir, is again advancing the cultural links between Australia and Lebanon.
Dear friends, earlier tonight, at the State Library, Kahlil Gibran was presented to the good citizens of New South Wales.
The idea for the exhibition started with The Honorable Virginia Judge who visited Lebanon when she attended the Lebanese Immigrants Festival. While in Lebanon, Virginia was inspired by the Spirit of Gibran. After meeting with her counterpart (the Lebanese Minister of Culture, Mr Salim Wardy) both leaders were able to turn a dream into reality.
Virginia and Salim knew that Gibran was ready to visit Australia. With the help of our friend Edward Obeid, Virginia,Salim and their team in Sydney and Lebanon worked extremely hard, aided by an enthusiastic steering committee.
Of course, the exhibition needed a home, and what better place than the State Library of New South Wales.
Mrs Regina Sutton, CEO of the State Library, marshalled her team who worked day and night.
Regina, Lucy, Steve, Phil,Vanessa and Avryl were operating at super-sonic speed. Their commitment and hard work, under intense pressure, is noted and appreciated.pls can we applaude them.
Back in Lebanon, at the Gibran Museum, the delightful committee and the curator, left no stone unturned to assist us. We are honoured to welcome Dr Tarek Chidiac, Mr Naji Keyrouz, Mr Joseph Geagea and Dr Omar Halablab. I also appreciate the hard work of Ms Claude Asfar who could not join us.
As you know, our guest presenter tonight is Jonar Nader. Jonar is a dear friend of mine whom I call ‘Little Gibran’. Jonar makes me proud. His insights and creativity are amazing. . I invited him to give us a presentation because I could not think of anyone better qualified
Every detail and aspect of this tribute has been prepared and directed by Jonar with the help of the ALF Executive Committee
Dear Friends, tonight, we celebrate Gibran’s work. I feel that his spirit will blend beautifully with the warmth of Aussie mate-ship, and the splendour of Lebanese hospitality. During our preparation for this event I asked myself, ‘What if Gibran had personally come to Australia?’
I believe that Australians would have welcomed his honest and gracious manner. Aussies would have said that Gibran was Fair Dinkum!
Gibran knew what it was like to start a new life in a new country with a new language. If Gibran were alive today, and if he had come to live among us in Australia, I believe that he would have sent an email to one of his many global friends, in which he might well have said, as I say on his behalf, that Australia is the blessed country that greets strangers from every shore and says to them, ‘Come to our table, welcome to our family.’
Gibran might have added, ‘Australians seek freshness; they welcome variety; they embrace enriching cultures; and they give all citizens every opportunity to join the ranks of industry, government, and society.’
Finally, Gibran would have applauded Australia and the Aussie Spirit, in the same way he spoke highly about his fellow Lebanese, about whom he said from his book MIRRORS OF THE SOUL.
‘Let me tell you who are the children of my Lebanon.
They are those who migrate with nothing but courage in their heart.
They are the victorious wherever they go, and loved and respected wherever they settle.
They are the ones born in huts but who die in palaces of learning.
They are the ones who are steadily moving toward perfection, beauty, and truth.’
Kahlil Gibran, the poet, the artist.
Where would weddings, funerals and coming-of-age celebrations be without a recitation from the works of Kahlil Gibran? The Lebanese-American writer, poet, philosopher and artist has been translated into more than 20 languages, and is the third bestselling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.
The Prophet, published in 1923, has never been out of print. And it's not just the big events of life that give occasion for Gibran's best known work. As Joan Acocella pointed out in The New Yorker in 2008: "The Prophet is quoted in books and articles on training art teachers, determining criminal responsibility, and enduring ectopic pregnancy, sleep disorders and the news that your son is gay. Its words turn up in advertisements for marriage counsellors, chiropractors, learning disabilities specialists and face cream."
This quote from The Prophet is often used at name-givings: "Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself."
Gibran is everywhere. But it would be a mistake to assume, as many seem to, that he came into the world when peace, love and mung beans dominated popular culture.
Certainly, Gibran's words found a peculiar harmony with the flower power and sexual freedom of the 1960s and 70s. But the fact passages continue to be read at life's big moments is testament to their enduring power.
An exhibition at the State Library of NSW, Kahlil Gibran: The Prophet, the Artist, the Man, examines Gibran's life and times, and aims to shed light on the unseen Gibran: his oil paintings, drawings and watercolours as well as written work normally held at the Gibran Museum in Bsharri, north Lebanon.
Lebanese-Australian author, online philosopher and management consultant Jonar Nader has been engaged by the library to contextualise Gibran's work for modern Australians.
Nader says there are no religious undertones to the exhibition. "The thing about Gibran is that he crossed all religions," he says. "Whenever he spoke, and in his writings, you could never tell whether he was Muslim, Jewish or Christian."
Nor is the exhibition specifically for the Lebanese-Australian community. "I think Gibran stands on his own as an international figure," Nader says but when it comes to Gibran's lesser known artworks, Nader has some reservations. "As beautiful as it is, his is not earth-shattering art, but it is deeply meaningful if you understand the writing," Nader says. "In his day, Gibran was desperate to tell people to stop conforming. He believed that the authorities had no right to tell you how you should behave, what religion you should embrace, and what you could and could not photograph, draw or paint."
Nader says this may explain the frequent nudity in Gibran's drawings and paintings.
"The nudes are about the purity of life, about saying, 'You and I are the same, we feel the same way, we hurt the same way,' " he says. "It's the same as when he writes: 'If you and I were to confess our sins we would laugh because of how similar we are, how unoriginal we are.' "
The paintings also take on new meaning when viewed in the context of their time.
"You realise the bravery and recalcitrance of creating them, that he could have been hanged for it," Nader says.
Given Gibran's near universal appeal, you have to wonder what created the enduring wisdom he imparted in his short life. (Gibran died in a New York hospital in 1931, aged 48.) According to Nader, Gibran never set out to be a writer, a poet or an artist. "He was an agitator, a communicator, a person who loved life," Nader says. "Yet he came through the most horrible childhood and early adult experiences, contracting many illnesses and suffering a great deal."
At 10, Gibran fell off a cliff, wounding a shoulder that remained weak for the rest of his life. His impoverished family bound the shoulder to an improvised cross for 40 days. When he was 12, Gibran's father was sent to prison for embezzlement.
His mother, Kamila, fed up with her husband's irresponsible ways (he was, by many accounts, a gambler and a drunkard), took the brave step of migrating to the US with Kahlil, his two younger sisters and an older half-brother. The family settled in the district that is now Boston's south end, then the second largest Syrian community in the US after New York.
Despite the geographical and cultural dislocation, and being sent to an ungraded classroom at the local school for immigrants who did not speak English, Gibran caught the eye of teachers with his drawings and sketches. The boy was put in touch with Boston photographer F. Holland Day. Influenced and mentored by Day, Gibran eventually gained access to Boston's active cultural life.
If wisdom truly is born of pain, Gibran's annus horribilis was 1902. That year, within months of each other, his sister Sultana died at 14, his half-brother Peter died of consumption, and his mother died of cancer.
Yet as soon as 1904, Gibran had his first art exhibition in Boston. He also travelled to Paris, studying with August Rodin from 1908 to 1910. By 1912 he had settled in New York, where he devoted himself to writing and painting.
The Sydney exhibition contains artwork Gibran produced from his teens until the year before his death. It features 56 works, including oil paintings, works on paper, including the original 12 watercolours used as illustrations in the first edition of The Prophet, and writings selected from Gibran's personal collection.
The Exhibition
This free exhibition features artworks from Gibran’s teens right up to the year before his death in 1931, including L’Automne (1909) which was selected for the famous Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts for its Spring salon in the Grand Palais in 1910, and the original watercolours used as illustrations in the first edition of The prophet. Other writings on display have been selected from Gibran’s personal collection at the Gibran Museum in Bsharri, North Lebanon.
Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) was born Gibran Khalil Gibran in Bsharri, Lebanon (part of Ottoman-ruled Syria at that time). From an early age, Gibran felt compelled to draw and write. He wrote first in Arabic and later in English, eventually becoming regarded as a poet in Arabic and a philosopher in English. Gibran used art and literature as outlets for his restless artistic imagination, expressing his ideas in clear, simple words in order to appeal to as many people as possible.
Gibran’s artistic skills transformed the trajectory of his life. Early on, he was influenced by Fred Holland Day’s philosophy of ‘art for art’s sake’, and with Day (1864–1933) as a mentor, Gibran reinvented himself as a fellow Romantic. The friendship and support — both emotional and financial — of Mary Elizabeth Haskell (1873–1964) enabled Gibran to develop his artistic interests. Gibran’s trip to Paris from July 1908 to October 1910 was a time of self-discovery; it really was the ‘city of light’ for the young man. On his return to America, Gibran pursued an artistic career. He had several exhibitions, most of which were received with lukewarm interest. By 1917 Gibran was becoming increasingly popular as a writer.
The prophet was Gibran’s third English-language book, and the twelfth of his 17 Arabic and English books published in his lifetime. It has not been out of print since it was first published in September 1923.
In conception, it was the first of a trilogy: The prophet was intended to cover man’s relationship to man, addressing the realities of human existence: birth, children, marriage, love, eating, work, pain and death. The second book, The garden of the prophet, was to address man’s relationship to nature; and the third, The death of the prophet, would focus on man’s relationship to the divine. Gibran was working on The garden of the prophet at the time of his death.
The prophet consists of 26 ‘counsels’. Gibran took many years over the book and considered it to be the most important of his works.
What’s unique about this exhibition is that it has rarely seen original artworks by Gibran. It is the first time that these works have travelled to Australia, on loan from the Gibran Museum in Bsharri, northern Lebanon. This exhibition provides an overview of Gibran’s artistic output, featuring oil paintings, works of art on paper including the original watercolours used as illustrations in the first edition of The Prophet and writings selected from Gibran’s personal collection at the Gibran Museum.
Gibran said towards the end of his life: “I came into the world to write a book, just one small book.” Eighty years after his death, his main work, “The Prophet” is one of the best-selling books of all time and in its 163rd print edition, has sold over 100 million copies. It has been translated into well over 40 languages and Khalil Gibran is the third most widely read poet in history.
Freedom of thought as well as political and social freedom meant for him the very foundation of life itself. No doubt that Khalil Gibran, characterised by a deep humanism, was one of the great spiritual teachers on our earth. He is the world’s third best-selling poet after Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu, making him one of the most widely-read, culturally influential poets of all time.”
Location
State Library of New South Wales
Sydney
New South Wales
Runs from the 4th December 2010 to 20th February 2011
