With the Artist Salwa Rawda

... One of Lebanon's cultivated women, she has lately returned from Paris after studying art under the most celebrated artists. Here she speaks of her art, and of her hopes and aspirations...

— May we first know, Miss Salwa, what you intend to do now that you have returned from France?

— That is a question I am still hesitant to answer — for many forces pull me between staying here and returning to Paris — and the truth is that I have not yet finally decided what I want to do.

— What is to prevent you, for instance, from taking up the teaching of drawing and modern art in our institutions of higher learning?

— In principle I welcome the idea, because one who holds a conviction can, through teaching, spread his idea and propagate it among the students — and had I decided what I am going to do, my first project would have been to open an institute of modern art.

— Is it true, as we have heard, that you intend to return to Paris to hold a second exhibition?

— I will not deny to you my desire to return to Paris, because the Parisian atmosphere understands this shade of modern art at which I have arrived better than any other, and I have great hope of contributing to the worldwide artistic renaissance.

— That is a great honor for us. And now may I ask when your artistic life began?

— As a schoolgirl I was always most skillful at drawing — at drawing the teachers in particular — and the strange thing is that I produced nothing in the drawing lesson set aside for that purpose. That is because we were forced to copy a given picture, and in that there is enough to kill the faculty of creation.

— Naturally. And did you study art in Beirut before leaving for Paris?

— Yes — I studied art in Beirut for a short time under the artist Moustafa Farroukh, and for a whole year under the artist Omar Onsi.

— I know that you used to paint within the realistic school — I mean as the Lebanese artists paint, men like Onsi and Farroukh. When, then, did your art develop into what it has lately become?

— No — in my last year before leaving for Paris I moved a good distance away from realism; but when I arrived in Paris I devoted a whole year to going deeply into realism, Le Réalisme — this despite my conviction that it is not of the spirit of our modern age. I worked a great deal at sculpture and painting from the nude model — but my soul was not content with this, and my development was nothing but the completion of the faith that was within me; and I am still in continuous development.

— And which of the Parisian artists deserves the greatest credit for guiding you in this direction?

— My contact with the artist Fernand Leger had the greatest effect on my guidance and my development, though I never inclined toward his manner at all.

— I should like now to ask you to enlighten me about these canvases, which look strange to my eye — I can hardly understand anything in them!

— Whoever wishes to understand this art must first possess a deep artistic culture — and a deep understanding, too, of the development of the idea of beauty in the world. The idea of beauty acknowledged in the age of the Renaissance is not the universal rule by which the arts of every age must be understood. Once man has freed himself in his thinking, it is not very hard for him to understand the art of abstraction, or what they call L'art Abstrait.

— And what exactly do you mean by that expression?

— I mean the elimination of the subject from the picture, and the expression of feelings by means of colors, lines, and composition.

— And if you eliminate the subject, from where do you draw your inspiration for painting the canvas?

— The geometric forms that appear in the canvas are the artist's own creation and invention —

As for their sum, it always points to the artist's personality — to his feeling, his faith, his memory, his childhood, and so on.

— Looking at your canvases, I can hardly tell the worth of one of them from its sister. How, then, do the critics judge, for instance, the excellence of a canvas, and the superiority of one artist over another?

— The art critics, with the artistic culture and long experience they possess, can easily judge the production of artists — and the measure of their strength of personality — or clarity of mind — or confusion or flabbiness, and so forth. All of that reveals itself to the critic's eye through the composition, the colors, and the lines.

— And why has the modern school of abstract art dispensed with the subject, and dispensed likewise with the idea of depth, which requires light and shadow?

— It dispensed with the subject because we consider it outside the province of the art of painting, La peinture. The subject requires speech, and speech belongs within the circle of literature. And since the art of painting is concerned with colors alone, we have concentrated our attention on bringing out the virtue of "color" itself, without joining to it other arts such as literature, psychology, sociology, and the like... And this same virtue of bringing out pure colors is what required dispensing with depth, which demands the mixing of two or more colors to express distance or nearness, light or shadow. All of these have vanished from the art of abstraction — and nothing remains but the pure colors, which the artist handles with knowledge and skill.

— The Beirut papers spoke of the exhibition you held in Paris last May. Will you not tell us something about it?

— I held an exhibition at the Galerie Collette Alendy for fifteen days, and its results were so encouraging that I intend to return to Paris, as soon as circumstances permit, to hold a second exhibition.

— And do you not intend to hold an exhibition here in Beirut before you leave for Paris?

— Of course — and I am preparing for it now.

— When and where will you hold it?

— I have not yet finally settled the place and the time, but in all likelihood it will not be later than next month.

— And is there any observation you would care to make, Miss Salwa?

— Would, Mrs. Edvick, that those in authority paid some attention to art. We know that everything grows by practice — just as the ear grows accustomed to a certain kind of music and delights in it, so the eye grows familiar with, and takes ease in, the kind of art it has been raised to appreciate from childhood. And how I grieve for the Lebanese when I pass through the capitals of Europe and see the care parents take to bring up their children to understand art, to appreciate it and value it, through their visits to the many museums and exhibitions. That is why I do not blame the Lebanese for being indifferent where art is concerned — for their artistic upbringing is very poor indeed.

— What is the remedy, if we are poor in museums and art exhibitions?

— There are several ways. First, to nourish our museum, which is all but empty. Second, there is room for organizing artistic excursions in the summer season, in which students would take part, to visit the capitals of Europe and above all their museums and exhibitions. The third solution... is the possibility of inviting famous artists, or the great museums, to show their works for a period in Lebanon, giving all the people the chance to see them at close hand. And finally — an alert press and genuine critics.

— They are without doubt very sound proposals — if only those in authority in Lebanon would turn their minds to filling this gap, and concern themselves with the artistic side of the rising generation's life.