Nabil Kanso
Leaves from the Theatre of War - Page 37 (CarpetBombing)
1980 - 1992
Ink on Paper
36 x 28 cm.
In the early 1980s, Kanso created a series of 242 macabre tragicomedy ink drawings called Leaves from the Theater of War (1980-1992) that detail his personal account of the realities of war. These drawings were made after Kanso's visit to his homeland in 1981-82 at the height of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90). Kanso’s dark-humored, sharp- edged drawings invoke Francisco Goya’s series The Disasters of War, while providing a more explicit reading of the role political elites play in inflicting systemic violence and societal division. Kanso’s series incorporates references to the origins of civilization and universal human themes, and the series is titled in Arabic, English, French, German, and Spanish.
Reference NK-WP-1980-E
About the artist
Born in Beirut, Lebanon 1940
Died in Atlanta, USA 2019
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Nabil Kanso (1940-2019) became part of the art scene in the 1960s, while studying at New York University. In 1970-71, Kanso expanded his studio at 76th Street to encompass an entire five-story townhouse, which he called 76th Street Gallery and where he held numerous exhibitions through the early-to-mid-1970’s. During the mid-to-late 1970s, Kanso lived and traveled between New York, Lebanon, and across the American South, ultimately establishing a studio in Atlanta.
In the 1980s, Kanso launched his multi-exhibition project “Journey of Art for Peace” across Central and South America, the Middle East, and Europe which included solo exhibitions in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Kuwait, and Switzerland. Having witnessed the devastation brought about by a fifteen-year civil war in his homeland, Kanso made anti-war activism a central tenet of his practice. He combined messages of peace, pacifism, and humanism in his work that dealt with the horrors of war. Kanso's oeuvre also includes a strong focus on literature, history, and other themes deeply influenced by a sense of shared humanity.
The Nabil Kanso Estate was founded after Kanso’s passing in 2019 to advance his lifelong mission through the preservation, exhibition, and publication of the artist's work. Kanso’s work has recently been the subject of a major installation at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta (2023 - 2024) and a solo exhibition at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art in New York (2024). His life is the subject of the scholarly biography, entitled Lebanon and the Split of Life: Bearing Witness through the Art of Nabil Kanso by Meriam Soltan (Anthem Press, May 2024), and in February of 2025, the Edythe and Eli Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University is set to open Nabil Kanso: Echoes of War, curated by Rachel Winter (February - June 2025).
Other works by this artist
