Helen Khal (1923 – 2009) was an American artist and critic of Lebanese descent.

Early life

Helen Khal was born in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

to a

Lebanese American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

family from

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. She started her painting career at the age of 21; when illness forced house rest, she began to draw. On a visit to Lebanon in 1946 she met and married a young Lebanese poet,

Yusuf al-Khal Yusuf al-Khal ( ar, يوسف الخال; December 25, 1917 – March 9, 1987) was a Lebanese-Syrian poet, journalist, and publisher. He is considered the greatest exponent of prose poetry (''qaṣīdat al-natr'') as well one of the pioneers ...

(they later divorced), and remained in the country to study art at ALBA from 1946 to 1948. She returned to the United States briefly but in 1973, after moving back to Lebanon, she established Lebanon's first permanent art gallery, ''Gallery One.''

Career

With the encouragement of her colleagues, notably well-known Lebanese artist

Aref Rayess Aref El Rayess (or Aref Rayess) (25 October 1928 – 27 January 2005) was a Lebanese painter and sculptor. Life Born in Beirut, Aref Rayess started his career as a self-taught artist exhibiting for the first time in 1948. He lived in Africa for ...

, Khal pursued her art and she held her first individual exhibition in 1960 in Galerie Alecco Saab in Beirut. Her other one-woman shows took place at Galerie Trois Feuilles d'Or, Beirut (1965); Galerie Manoug, Beirut (1968); at the First National Bank, Allentown, Pennsylvania (1969); in Kaslik, Lebanon (1970); at the Contact Art Gallery, Beirut (1972, 1974 and 1975) and at the Bolivar Gallery in Kingston, Jamaica in 1975. Her work also appeared in the Biennales of Alexandria and São Paulo. She also taught art at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

from 1967 to 1976 and at the

Lebanese American University The Lebanese American University (LAU) ( ar, الجامعة اللبنانية الأميركية) is a secular and private American university located in Lebanon. It is chartered by the board of regents of the University of the State of New Y ...

from 1997 to 1980. She inspired many other artists and her "background concerning art is fully enriched by the many wonders of the world of art." Helen Khal was also recognized as an author and critic. "From 1966 to 1974, Helen Khal was Art Critic to two Lebanese periodicals, The Daily Star and Monday Morning. She also wrote a number of publications in the Middle East and the USA and frequently lectured on art." A series of 22 lectures that she gave was collected and published as a book titled ''The Woman Artist in Lebanon.''

Death

Khal died in 2009.

Legacy

Khal's work ws included in the 1994 exhibition ''Forces of Change'' at the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

. In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition ''Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940 -1970'' at the

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

in London.

References

External links

Profile of Helen Khal on One Fine Art

Remembering Helen Khal, American University of Beirut

Helen Khal Obituary, The Daily Star, Lebanon

Helen Khal on Christie's
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khal, Helen American women painters 20th-century American women writers Lebanese painters Lebanese women painters Academic staff of the American University of Beirut Academic staff of Lebanese American University 1923 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists American women academics 21st-century American women