Nabil Kanso
Born in Beirut, Lebanon 1940
Died in Atlanta, USA 2019
Artist Nabil Kanso (1940-2019) opened his first major studio in 1968, under the atmosphere of the Vietnam War, 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 an 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).
