Helen El-Khal

Born in Pennsylvania to Lebanese immigrants, Khal settled in Lebanon in 1946. She studied at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts under the tutelage of César Gemayel from 1946 to 1948. Her first solo exhibition took place in Galerie Alecco Saab in 1960. A prominent figure in the Beirut art scene, she wrote art criticism for the Daily Star newspaper and Monday Morning magazine, among others, and cofounded Gallery One in Beirut in 1963 with her then husband, poet Yusuf al-Khal. She also taught studio art classes at the American University of Beirut between 1967 and 1976 and at the Lebanese American University of Beirut from 1977 to 1980. During the Lebanese Civil War, she worked at Athr Gallery in Amman, Jordan, before moving to Washington DC in the 80s. In 1987, she authored the influential book, The Woman Artist in Lebanon. She returned to Lebanon in the 1990s where she continued to write art criticism. Her work can be found in private and public collections in Lebanon.