A TALE OF MANY CITIES Antoine and Janine Maamari Their lives have taken them from Beirut and Cairo to London, Paris, Montreal and back to Beirut again. Myrna Ayad meets Antoine and Janine Maamari, who share a life of art collecting that spans decades and crosses many genres. 50 art patron T hose who wax lyrical about Beirut’s glorious 1960s and early 1970s never fail to mention the Horseshoe Café in the Lebanese capital’s charming Hamra district. It became an intellectual institution, attracting the country’s elite – figures from the worlds of medi- cine, law, engineering, architecture, politics, the arts and academia – who would descend on the Café, which was located near another cultural powerhouse, the Piccadilly Theatre. Distinguished men sporting fez hats and fingering their worry beads would engage in stimulating conversations alongside others who would walk in with their paints and brushes. It was here that Antoine Maamari spent many an afternoon break away from his architecture firm, enjoying the company of some of Lebanon’s most celebrated Modern Masters – Paul Guiragossian, Khalil Zgheib, Saliba Douaihy, Aref Rayess and Yvette Ashkar. Maamari was versed in Lebanese art; he had acquired paintings by Guiragossian and Zgheib, “on instalment” while pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture at the American University of Beirut. He had even grasped the Café’s enduring legacy back then, when he asked Zgheib to paint a portrait of it. “I remember sitting in my office when Zgheib walked in with the painting, wrapped Above: in newspaper,” he recalls. The work now hangs in one of Maamari’s Lebanese homes, located in the Left: Antoine and Janine Maamari with a work by Rima Amyuni in the mountains of the village of Kfour, north of Beirut. Maamari beams as he shows me the piece, an air of background. The House in Kfour. nostalgia washing over him as he points out its stunning details. “At the time, the artists were part of 2009. Oil on canvas. 120 x 110 cm. our community, we socialised together and, in a sense, they lived with us,” he says; “They were lovely Right: Georges Cyr. Convalescence. 1945. Oil on canvas. 74 x 59 cm. people to be around and the art scene wasn’t as hyped as it is today.” 51 art patron Below: Marwan Sahmarani. Le Tarbouche. 2010. Oil on canvas. 92 x 65 cm. Facing page: Left: Lara Baladi. Al-Kholkhal. Circa 1995. Photograph. 40 x 60 cm. Right: Nadim Karam. Three Elephants. 2004. Lacquered lead sheets on wood. Three pieces. 45 x 60 cm, 25 x 33 cm and 20 x 27 cm, respectively. Journeys from East to West Many of the churches and monasteries in the mountains of Lebanon were built in the 17th and 18th centuries, and are listed among the coun- try’s historical sites. The village of Kfour is charac- terised by its assemblage of traditional Lebanese houses – a design style which Maamari and his wife Janine sought to emulate when extending their villa. We sit in the gazebo, which I later learn was originally an external kitchen before devel- opment began on the property. “We wanted a house in the hills,” smiles Janine, who had spot- ted the place in 1985 and called Antoine, who was working in Abu Dhabi at the time, to tell him the news. “I cut into the mountain and en- larged the house,” he laughs, “I even bought the adjacent plot to protect myself from someone potentially building a three- or four-storey build- ing!” The view from the Maamari home is spec- tacular and overlooks Jounieh and Beirut, “and, on clear days, Jieh too,” adds Antoine. In the early 1970s, the Maamaris lived in Abu Dhabi where Antoine worked on numerous de- velopments in the then-upcoming UAE capital. Among the projects he completed are the Al- Bateen royal palaces complex, the Abu Dhabi airport, the town of Al-Ruwais, Zirco Island and palatial majlis areas. “It was a wonderful period,” recalls Antoine, “I saw Abu Dhabi literally com- ing out of the sand.” He recounts tales of his many insightful meetings with Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan and his son, UAE Presi- dent, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. With the discovery of oil, Abu Dhabi was booming, but with 250 employees under his supervision and 14-hour days, Antoine eventually sought a 52 “I felt the need to do something else and I felt it must be about art.” Janine Maamari change of pace. The political turbulence which tions and events for the promotion of plagued Lebanon in the 1980s deterred the Arab art in London, including a show couple, now with two young sons, from return- at Leighton House Museum of 19th- ing to their homeland. Instead, they moved to and early 20th-century Orientalist painters and Widening Horizons London and shuffled also between Paris and photographers whose subject matter is Leba- In April 1989, the British Lebanese Association Montreal before eventually returning to Beirut non. Originally of Syro-Lebanese descent, Janine staged Lebanon: The Artist’s View: 200 Years of in 1992. However, Abu Dhabi was never far from was born and raised in Egypt where her family Lebanese Painting at the Barbican Centre in Lon- the couple’s minds; Antoine began collecting Vi- of solicitors had homes in Cairo and Alexandria; don. Despite heightened political tensions in enna bronzes in reminiscence of his time spent homes which, she says, “were beautiful in eve- Lebanon, which led to numerous transport chal- there and is excited to show me pieces from a rything that they comprised, from the windows lenges and exorbitant insurance fees, the artists, now-vast collection in the house’s “Orientalist and carpets to the tiles and mosaics.” Egypt had patrons and members of the Association, includ- room”. Lined below an antique Damascene gate ignited a love of Islamic art within Janine; so ing the Maamaris, persevered. By the time the in a room furnished in earthy hues and Oriental- much so, that she began collecting art from this exhibition closed two months later, conflict had ist paintings are little bronze men on horseback, genre while in London. Their acquisitions were escalated in Lebanon and hindered the return of clad in turbans and traditional dishdash; others varied, but the couple collected in depth those the artworks. “I was sick of hearing of my country rest below palm trees or appear to be haggling types of works that they are passionate about. being associated only with bombs and war,” says in a bazaar. “We are very eclectic and have the same tastes Antoine, who had suggested that the exhibition It was during their time in London that the generally,” adds Janine, “but we never really con- travel to Paris and then committed himself to couple assumed an active interest in art and sidered what we bought as ‘collections’. It was, planning the show’s next destination. In turning collecting. Janine attended exhibitions and en- and has always been, a case of buying what we a disadvantageous situation to a distinct plus, rolled in art courses, “and Antoine would call me like.” During the construction of the Kfour home, Antoine sought to give the public “a new view- when he wasn’t in town to tell me which auction Antoine built a tunnel – now lined with his as- point, a discussion in other terms, beyond war,” to attend and what to bid for,” she laughs. Her sortment of antiquarian books – and which and more importantly, “to give our countrymen commitment to the arts led her to plan exhibi- leads to a sitting area. a morale boost.” The Lebanese Diasporas of Lon- 53 art patron “Greater exposure and understanding is really what is needed and where we can lend more support.” Janine Maamari don and Paris pooled their efforts and the exhibition was staged at the Institut du Monde Arabe for three weeks. The Maamaris explored various genres of art and their collections expanded as they visited the galleries and auctions from which they had acquired pieces by an assortment of artists, including Lyonel Feininger, Hugo Pratt, Marino Marini, Leonardo Coccorante, Alexander Calder, Louis François Cassas and Sam Szafran. Their purchases were not limited to painting and sculpture, but also includ- ed Suzani embroideries, Iznik tiles, antique maps and chandeliers, mother-of-pearl inlay furniture, carpets, potteries and ceramics. And, as with all of their homes, Janine handles the interior decora- tion. “It’s always a given for Janine,” adds Antoine, “and when I finished [the Kfour residence], I gave it to her with bare white walls.” Looking around the house, a warmth is clearly palpable – an intention on Janine’s part, as well as those of interior designer Tarfa Salam, through the infusion of specific themes into certain salon areas and rooms; even the bathrooms feature Ottoman or Baalbek-style 54 art patron Facing page: Paul Guiragossian. Untitled (Fish). 1958. Oil on canvas. 84 x 74 cm. This page: Above: Sam Szafran. Untitled. Circa 1972. Pastel on paper. 66 x 79 cm. Photography by Jean-Olivier Rousseau. Below: Alexander Calder. Untiled. Circa 1965. Watercolour and ink on paper. 54 x 75 cm. All photography by Mansour Dib unless otherwise specified. en route to Dubai to discover Lebanon’s cultural offerings. Janine organised the party’s visit, host- ing dinners and lunches and introducing them to gallerists and dealers. However, prior to their arrival, she had already conceived an idea for an exhibition. “I spoke with various people from different realms of the Lebanese art world and suggested we put on a show, group our efforts and show these people our art,” she adds. In a record two months, Janine staged an exhibition of Contemporary Lebanese art created between 2000–10. The show was a success and encour- aged her to pursue similar activities. In 2011, Janine and fellow collector Marie Tomb curated Rebirth: Lebanon XXIst Century Contemporary Art at the Beirut Exhibition Centre, which gathered works by 49 Lebanese artists. The show has been nominated for the first edition of the Alice Awards 2012 in the category of Landmark Group baths. “With a house like this, you’re spoilt for Contemporary Lebanese art. Having trained as Exhibition. And when Janine is not busy attend- choice on where to sit, but it depends on your a psychologist following her studies in London, ing fairs and exhibitions around the world, she mood,” she explains; “I’m a very practical person she put that field aside and committed herself catches up on her reading of a hefty stock of with a practical approach and I already had ideas to the promotion of Contemporary Lebanese books and magazines which are delivered on because we had a lot of stuff!” art. “I felt the need to do something else and a weekly basis. As part of their enduring pas- While the couple own Contemporary art- I felt it must be about art,” she adds. “All of my sion for the arts, the couple are recognised as works, Antoine maintains that many examples old experiences came back and it worked, very committed patrons, and share an interest in the of the genre do not appeal to him. “Some of the nicely actually.” promotion of art education. “Everything we do pieces in Pinault’s Palazzo Grassi, Arnault’s collec- Her re-initiation began with the 2010 Art must be done in a professional manner,” says tion and likewise are too much for me,” he says, Dubai fair, when the Contemparabia Group of Janine. “Greater exposure and understanding is “I’m not sensitive to that kind of art.” Janine, how- American and European collectors and curators, really what is needed and where we can lend ever, has taken a dynamic and vested interest in about 30 in total, were passing through Beirut more support.” 55
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