The search engine "Google" celebrated the anniversary of Lebanese-American poet and artist, Etel Adnan, describing her as one of the most prominent Arab-American authors of her time. Google altered its logo to feature a cartoon image of Etel Adnan sitting at her desk while painting, surrounded by a collection of books and references, alongside the Lebanese flag, which has a red field interrupted by a white stripe containing the famous cedar tree.
**Who is Etel Adnan?**
Etel Adnan was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 24, 1925, during a time when intellectual and artistic movements flourished in the city. Due to her upbringing, she spoke multiple languages, including Greek, Turkish, French, as well as Arabic and English. She started her education in French convent schools before learning English. French was the language in which she wrote her early works, while English became the language of her later writings.
At the age of 24, she traveled to Paris, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne. She then moved to the United States to continue her studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard, focusing on philosophy of art before moving across various universities in the United States to give lectures. From 1952 to 1978, she taught philosophy of art at Dominican University in California, discovering her love for painting there with encouragement from American artist Anne O'Hanlon, and later began to integrate Arabic language into her works.
**Poet and Writer**
Adnan returned to Lebanon to work as a journalist and cultural editor for the French-language newspaper "Safaa," where she contributed to the cultural section and included illustrations. Her work at the newspaper was characterized by editorials commenting on major political issues. She became renowned as a high-caliber poet and writer.
In 1977, she published the novel "The Lady Mary Rose," about the Lebanese Civil War, which achieved significant success earning her the French-Arab Friendship Prize. She also released the book "Journey to Mount Taal," a translation by Amal Dabbou, the collection of letters "For Fawaz," "The Book of the Sea," "Paris when it Strips," "Linden Poems," and "A Sky Without a Sky." In 2003, the academic magazine MELUS recognized her as the most famous Arab-American writer of that time.
**Professional Painter**
Adnan also worked as a painter, and in 2012, she exhibited a series of her brightly colored paintings at the Documenta 13 exhibition in Kassel, Germany. In 2014, she showcased a collection of her artworks at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2018, the Mass MoCA gallery in the U.S. held an exhibition titled "Yellow Sun, Green Sun, Red Sun, Blue Sun," spanning two rooms—one for her paintings and the other for her poetry, focusing on the differences in perception between viewing paintings and reading poetry.
Etel Adnan passed away in 2021 in Paris at the age of 96. At the time, Jacques Lang, the director of the Arab World Institute in Paris, mourned her on Facebook, saying: "I learned with great sadness of Etel Adnan's passing. This colorful, soulful poet expressed our suffering, joy, and love." He added, "She was a rare and complete artist with a burning talent and remarkable intelligence. This extraordinary traveler made us resonate with bold verses coming from the Mediterranean."
