Maliheh Afnan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maliheh Afnan
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| Born | March 24, 1935 |
| Died | January 6, 2016 (aged 80) |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Education | American University of Beirut, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design |
Maliheh Afnan (Hebrew: מליחה אפנאן; March 24, 1935 – January 6, 2016) was a Palestinian artist. She was known for her unique artworks that often featured imagined writing and numbers. Her art explored themes of memory, history, and human emotions.
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About Maliheh Afnan
Maliheh Afnan was born in Haifa, which was then called Mandatory Palestine. Her parents were from Iran. She was the great-granddaughter of Baháʼu'lláh, who founded the Baháʼí Faith. However, Maliheh herself was not a member of the Baháʼí Community.
In 1949, Maliheh Afnan and her family moved to Beirut, a city in Lebanon. She studied at the American University of Beirut, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. Later, she received a Master of Arts in Fine Arts from the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C., USA.
Afnan lived in several different countries throughout her life. She lived in Kuwait from 1963 to 1966. Then she returned to Beirut, living there from 1966 to 1974. After that, she moved to Paris, France, where she stayed until 1997. Finally, she moved to London, England.
Her artwork was mainly shown in galleries in France and London. Her very first solo art show was in a gallery in Basel in 1971. It was organized by an American artist named Mark Tobey. Maliheh Afnan's art is now part of important collections. These include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the British Museum in London. Her work is also in the Written Art Collection in Germany and the Arab World Institute in Paris.
Maliheh Afnan passed away in London when she was 80 years old.
Her Unique Artworks
As a child, Maliheh Afnan was very interested in written language and calligraphy (beautiful writing). Mail came to her home in three languages: Arabic, English, and Hebrew. Even though she couldn't read or write yet, she would fill pages with her own made-up writing.
This idea of invented writing continued in her later artworks. You can often see imagined writing and numbers in her pieces, even in her landscape paintings. She once said, "I love looking at scripts. They excite me visually." She found them even more exciting when she couldn't read them. This made them more mysterious and open to many meanings. Later in life, she found more inspiration from Mark Tobey, who also used abstract writing in his art. He even mentored her when she visited Switzerland.
Maliheh Afnan said her art was made of "traces of the past." This included not only her own past but also the history of her family.
Most of her art was created on paper. She often used colors like browns, blacks, and reds. People have said her work looks like ancient scrolls or musical tablature. She was influenced by many things. This was likely because she grew up in the Middle East and later studied and lived in Western countries.
The Veiled Series
One of her most famous art series was called Veiled. This series explored the idea of "veils" that people have inside themselves. These are not physical veils, but things like "veiled emotions, veiled threats, veiled feelings."
For these artworks, Afnan used medical gauze, which is a thin, see-through fabric. She colored the gauze in blacks and browns. Then she placed it over her imagined writing, sometimes creating new shapes with it.
Afnan often talked about her art having many "layers." She liked the idea that the layers of life could be seen in her work. She felt her art showed layers of old civilizations. She also said her layers of color were like layers of sunlight on the paper.
Other Art Forms
While less known for them, Afnan also made plaster reliefs. These are artworks that stick out from a flat surface. She would make a mold and fill it with plaster. Once it was dry, she would remove it and paint over the plaster. She used "earth colors, burnt, rust colors."
She also created artworks that she called "personages" instead of portraits. A portrait is usually of a specific person. But her personages were not of anyone in particular. She said they were a mix of people she had known, people she had seen, and people she had imagined.
Her Artistic Beliefs
Maliheh Afnan did not like being called a "Middle Eastern Artist" or a "Female Artist." She felt these were just facts about her, not what defined her art. She believed that instead of focusing on what makes people different, we should focus on what we all share as humans. She thought the world would be better if we did this.
She also loved when "accidents" happened in her art. Afnan said she never planned her work ahead of time. She believed that "Often the accident is much more profound than what you are planning to do." She told a story about an old plaster relief. Her cat accidentally knocked it over. When she glued it back together, she thought it looked "10 times better" than before. This shows her desire to find the funny side in everything. She believed that even in sad situations, finding humor could help keep things from feeling hopeless.
Afnan also believed it was important to stick to your own personal principles.
Public Works
Exhibitions
Maliheh Afnan's art has been shown in many exhibitions, including:
- Personnages, MAN Museum (Museum of Art Province of Nuoro), Sardinia, 2019
- What Remains, Rose Issa Projects, London, 2014
- Tonight the Door Towards Words Will Be Opened, Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin, Germany, 2014
- Asemic, Cultuurcentrum Brugge, Brugge, Belgium, 2014
- Speak Memory (solo), Rose Issa Projects, London, 2013
- The Blue Route: Journeys and Beauty from the Mediterranean to China, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium, 2013
- Hope Map, Cuulturcentrum, Bruges, Belgium, 2013
- Persian for Beginners, Rose Issa Projects, London, UK, 2012
- The Art of Writing, Kurhaus Kolonnade, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2011
- Zendegi: Twelve Contemporary Iranian Artists (curated by Rose Issa Projects), Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon, 2011
- Miragens, touring exhibition at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Brasilia, Brazil, 2011
- Modern Times – Responding to Chaos, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-On-Sea, UK, 2010
- Taswir: Pictorial Mappings of Islam and Modernity, Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum, Berlin, Germany, 2009
- Re-Orientations: Contemporary Arab Representations, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, 2008
- Routes, Waterhouse & Dodd, London, UK, 2008
- Word into Art, DIFC, Dubai, UAE, 2008
- The Dance of Pen and Ink, The State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow and The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia, 2007
- Routes, the British Museum, London, UK, 2006
- Iranian Contemporary Art, Curve Gallery, Barbican Centre, London, UK, 2001
- Salon de Réalités Nouvelles, Espace Eiffel Branly, Paris, France, 1997
- Traditions of Respect: Britain and Islamic Cultures, The British Council, London, UK, 1997
- Salon du Dessin et de la Peinture à l’Eau, Espace Eiffel Branly, Paris, 1995
- Salon d’Automne, Thorigny-Sur-Marne, France, 1994
- Exposition Inaugurale, Galerie du Chêne – Donald Vallotton, Lausanne, France, 1992
- Collecting 20th-Century Art, The British Museum, London, 1991
- Painting and Sculpture at the End of the 20th Century, European Cultural Centre of Delphi, Greece, 1988
- Selected Artists, Kufa Gallery, London, UK, 1985
- Paysages, Galerie Faris, Paris, France, 1985
- Salon de Réalités Nouvelles, Espace Eiffel Branly, Paris, France, 1984
Publications
Books about Maliheh Afnan's work include:
- Personnages, Maliheh Afnan, (2019, Arkadia)
- Familiar Faces (2013, Rose Issa Projects)
- Maliheh Afnan: Traces, Faces, Places (2010, Al Saqi Books & Beyond Art Productions)
Tribute
On July 5, 2021, Google honored Maliheh Afnan with a special Google Doodle.
See also
In Spanish: Maliheh Afnan para niños
