With Omar Onsi (A Reportage)

Art

"The Lebanese people, most regrettably, has not yet reached the rank of maturity in the arts... Art in Lebanon is still crawling. Here a man takes art as a luxury, not as a necessity, as is the case in the civilized, awakened countries; and Lebanon cannot be counted civilized and complete in culture until art becomes in it a pressing necessity, like air and water and light — not a luxury it can do without..."

With these words the artist Omar Onsi opened, once we had settled ourselves in his splendid gallery-hall, where over its expanses and corners, in its recesses and angles, were spread magnificent artistic canvases, oils and watercolors, expressive and speaking, telling a thousand and one tales and evoking a thousand and one scenes, in whose symbols the splendor and magic of nature shine forth, their colors and lines proclaiming the greatness of man and bearing witness to the wonder of his invention and the beauty of his creation... And after all... is not man a creator... he created, and created marvelously...

I roamed about the hall, passing from one atmosphere to another and from one canvas to the next... Here is an idea that kept haunting Mr. Omar's imagination for five whole years, back in the days when he was in Amman, where he spent five years, leaving it afterwards with a thousand and one ideas in his mind and the lines of a thousand and one pictures in his imagination; and that idea did not come out into the domain of splendid, enduring canvases until France, where the artist spent two full years studying art and visiting the exhibitions... These are seven canvases, all representing a single scene of the pines — the lilies of the everlasting mountain — at dusk and just before dawn, at sunrise, at forenoon, at noon, at mid-afternoon, at sunset, and in the tempest... What marvels the colors are, what beauty in their magic play... what power in the shadow and the light and the colors, and their wondrous work in carrying you, quicker than the twinkling of an eye, from one atmosphere to another... A canvas stopped me which at first glance I fancied resembled what they call "abstract art," so I went on to ask him whether this kind of painting pleased him.

He answered me: I believe that art must be human, universal, common to all, not the preserve of one class to the exclusion of another... This kind of abstract painting, which Picasso and his group have proclaimed, is understood only by a small class of people, or rather of artists, who have obtained a broad artistic culture and have then studied this particular kind thoroughly; hence it may be beyond the rest, the general run of people endowed with an ordinary artistic culture, to comprehend this kind and then to relish it... Art, in my view, must not be the preserve of one class to the exclusion of all others... Then, too, no painting is at bottom without this abstract element, though the artist afterwards adds to it what completes it; hence we may say, without being extremists or exaggerators, that this abstract kind is the alphabet of painting..."

My eye caught a magnificent canvas representing a group of women in Jabal al-Druze, bent over their jars, waiting their turn to fill them at the spring... In their glances was weariness; in their movements, meekness and resignation... Another canvas appeared in the opposite corner, representing these same women after they had filled the jars... They had gone off laughing in their delight; mirth spread over their faces and gladness overflowed from their eyes... The colors of the picture had lightened after being dark and somber, and its lines had opened out after being drawn together... And there was a third picture, and a fourth, and a fifth, all representing all manner of women in all manner of postures, dress, and places... Mr. Onsi had noticed a question mark peeping from my eyes, and forestalled me, saying: "Do you see now how I am woman's champion?"... And here a question leapt up which I saw no way of avoiding putting to Mr. Omar, so I said: "I have heard, sir, that Mrs. Saleeby has had a great influence in preparing this harmonious atmosphere, and that hers is the credit for inspiring most of your canvases — is that true?..."

I realized that I had uttered the name "Mrs. Saleeby" in error, when I had meant to say, of course, "Mrs. Onsi," and I went on apologizing in confusion; whereupon Mr. Onsi only burst into a laugh that quieted my alarm, and I was astonished when he said: You were not mistaken at all... Mrs. Saleeby had a great share of credit in directing me, and her husband

a greater share still; it was those two who steadied my steps in this field, back when I was studying at the American University of Beirut and had reached the sophomore class. I had a strong inclination for the arts in general, and for the art of painting in particular, and Mr. Khalil Saleeby did nothing but encourage me to go on; as for his lady wife, she used to spur me on with her praise, her good guidance, and her uncommon feeling for the understanding of the arts, their appreciation, and the honoring and encouragement of their practitioners... Mrs. Saleeby was one of the cultivated American ladies...

As for my wife, I met her when I was holding an exhibition of my work in 1927; she had lately arrived from France... What pleased me in her was her delicate sense in the appreciation of the arts and her refined feeling in the fineness of her understanding and grasp; and she in her turn admired my art and my canvases, so that it was a mutual admiration which ended in our marriage...

We continued our tour... A burning sigh escaped me, deep and heartfelt, and I went on to say: Is it in any way fair that all the Lebanese in particular, and all people in general, should not enjoy such a tour, slaking their thirst with the sight of beauty, and quenching the longing of their souls, forever athirst to drink their fill from the gushing spring of the arts, which refines souls, polishes spirits, lights up hearts, and shows the way? And the answer to this question of mine, with Mr. Onsi, was this:

"It is the fault of the government, which neglects the arts and the artists and does not open the way before them to hold the exhibitions which in their turn cultivate the people, refine its taste, and teach it to tell the worthless from the precious. Do you wish, Miss, that I should exhibit my canvases in places that are not our own country's?

Nor have our rich men chosen to be more open-handed than the government in contributing toward the building of such a house; for our rich men — like the mass of the people — are still illiterate in their artistic culture..."

And I wondered: what, I ask, is the reason for this drought among us in the appreciation of beauty and of the arts... And soon the voice of Mr. Omar greeted my ear, saying: There is no doubt that the government's failure to give encouragement, as I have pointed out, has a great effect; and then our school curricula are crammed with every subject under the sun — except those which have to do with refining taste and fostering the love of beauty and the aspiration toward it...

★

I did not know how to thank the artist Omar Onsi for his welcome and his kind hospitality... And how I wished, as I shook his hand in farewell, that time had granted a little respite, and that I might steal from him a few moments in which to lose myself among the pines and the shadow and the colors, which the hand of man works upon till he brings them forth in a splendid garb of fine craftsmanship and beauty...