Beydoun, Abbas (Bayḏūn, ʿAbbās) (1945--)
Abbas Beydoun is one of Lebanon’s most famous poets and writers, and one of the most outstanding and important intellectuals in the Arab world. He…
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Modernism in the Middle East and Arab World
Exploring modernity and its intellectual trends in the Middle East is a very fitting endeavour, as ‘Middle East’ itself is a ‘modern’ term which has…
Photography
Husseini, Jumana (1932--)
Jumana Husseini was born in 1932 in Jerusalem. Her family was forced to leave Palestine during the 1948 war, re-settling in Lebanon where she met…
Modern Belly Dance
References to dances of the East have appeared in Western sources at least since the beginning of the Christian era, yet what has become known…
Corm, Georges Daoud (1896–1971)
George Daoud Corm was a painter and francophone poet dedicated to Christian ethics and the classical tradition of European Humanism. He attended the Ecole Nationale…
al-Khāl, Yūsuf (1917–1987)
Yūsuf al-Khāl was a Lebanese poet and writer, born in 1917 in Syria. He graduated in 1944 from the Philosophy Department at the American University…
Mussolini, Benito (1883–1945)
Known as Il Duce (the Leader), the son of a Marxist blacksmith, Benito Mussolini was the ruler of Fascist Italy (1922–43). A master of populist…
Ṣalat al-Fann al-Ḥadith al-Ālamı (Art Moderne International) (established Damascus, Syria, 1960)
Ṣalat al-Fann al-Ḥadīth al-fiĀlamı (Gallery of International Modern Art, or Art Moderne International (AMI)) was the first private art gallery in Syria. Launched by brothers…
Al-Naqqāsh, Mārūn مارون النقاش (1817–55)
Mārūn Al-Naqqāsh is often seen as the father of modern Arabic drama. He was born in Sidon, but grew up in Beirut. After a traditional…
Guiragossian, Paul (1925–1993)
Born in Jerusalem to Armenian parents who survived the 1915 Armenian Genocide, Guiragossian eventually settled in Beirut after being evacuated from Palestine by the British.…
Gemayel, Cesar (1898–1958)
Cesar Gemayel marked a transition in Lebanese art from the commissioned, academic portraits of his predecessors towards the portrayal of landscapes, nudes, and still lifes…
Al-Bustani, Butrus بطرس البستاني (1819–83)
Butrus Al-Bustani is known as the “father of the Arabic Renaissance” and was a leading pioneer of the Al-Nahda (النهضه) or cultural awakening. Al-Bustani sought…
Spaces for Modern Art in North Africa
In the twenty-first century, works of modern art appear in national museums, private museums, galleries, and independent exhibit spaces across North Africa (defined here as…
Zaydān, Jurjī (جرجي زيدان) (1861–1914)
Jurjī Zaydān was a Lebanese novelist, journalist, and scholar of the Nahḍa (‘awakening’), an intellectual current of the long nineteenth century for the renewal of…
al-Shidyāq, Aḥmad Fāris (c.1805–1887)
Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq was a Lebanese writer and journalist and one of the most provocative figures of the Nahḍa (‘awakening’), an intellectual current in the…
Al-Adab (1953–2013)
The literary journal al-Adab was established in Beirut in 1953. This avant-garde journal was open to all forms of literary experimentation and to all views…
The Egyptian School of Fine Arts
The Egyptian School of Fine Arts [Madrassat al-Funun al-Jamila al-Misriyya] opened its doors on 13 May 1908, a date cited by many art historians as…
Schneemann, Carolee (1939–)
Carolee Schneemann is an American artist (born in Pennsylvania, United States) whose work interrogates vision as embodied experience. She has produced films made to be…
al-Ḥājj, Unsī (1937–2014)
Unsī al-Ḥājj (1937–2014) was a Lebanese poet largely recognized as the pioneer of Arabic prose poems (qaṣīdat al-nathr) thanks to his renowned but controversial first…
Oz, Amos (1939– )
The Hebrew author Amos Oz (born Amos Klausner)—an essayist, professor of literature at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and active contributor to Israeli and…
Yousef, Saadi (1934–)
Saadi Yousef is an Iraqi poet, author, journalist, and political activist. He has published 45 volumes of poetry, nine books of prose, several essays and…
Ziadeh, May (1886–1941)
May Ziadeh was a prominent literary figure and salonnière in the Arab world in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. A journalist, essayist,…
Masābnī, Badī’ah
Badī’ah Masābnī was a professional actress, singer, and dancer from the Levant. She settled in Egypt in the 1920s and eventually opened a highly successful…
Al-Bayati, Abdul-Wahab (1926–99)
Iraqi poet Abdul-Wahab al-Bayati was one of the foremost pioneers of Arabic poetry during the twentieth century. His poetry was revolutionary in poetic form and…