Etel Adnan

(Lebanon, 1925-2021)

Thresholds

Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Dubai
Agial Art Gallery, Beirut
Formerly property from the collection of Dr Charbel Dagher

Bonhams has the privilege of presenting one of Etel Adnan's most distinctive artistic creations. Threshold is one of Adnan's leporello works dedicated to and formerly in the collection of Dr Charbel Dagher. Adnan was influenced by Dr Dagher's thought-provoking poem "Threshold" that explores the concept of boundaries and limits, both physical and metaphorical. Through its use of vivid imagery and metaphorical language, the poem suggests that everything in life has a threshold, and that these limits are an inherent part of the human experience. Here Adnan features transcripts of Dagher's poem and combines it with visual observations that are drawn using simple lines and bright colours conveying a sense of playfulness and spontaneity.

The choice of the leporello format presented Adnan with a dynamic paradox: an expanded space, multiplying its potentialities as the pages unfurl but when closed, reduced to the symbolic space of a notebook, a metaphor for mobility and aesthetic nomadism. The term "leporello" comes from the character of the same name in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, who carries a long list of the protagonist's romantic conquests. Adnan's leporellos are a series of accordion-folded booklets that combine text and images, however, they are not lists but rather an exploration of memory, place, space and language. Other leporellos by Adnan also feature lavish illustrations of landscapes and transcriptions of Arab poetry by writers and poets including Mahmoud Darwish and Yusuf Al Khal as well as her own writing. Adnan's leporellos typically feature one continuous landscape or cityscape image that unfolds across the accordion folds, while the text accompanies the images, often in short poetic fragments.


One of Adnan's most well-known leporellos is "Mount Tamalpais Morning," which depicts the Northern California mountain in bright blues, greens, and yellows, and features text that evokes the experience of being in nature. Other leporellos include "Shoreline," which portrays the coastline of the Mediterranean, and "Journey to Mount Tamalpais," which describes Adnan's drive to the mountain and features an image of the road winding through the landscape. Adnan's leporellos are intimate and personal works, reflecting her deep connection to place and her experience of the world. They invite the viewer to enter into Adnan's world and explore the relationship between image and text, landscape and memory, and the possibilities of the accordion fold format.

-Dr Charbel Dagher-

Dr Charbel Dagher is a Lebanese-American poet, writer, and educator. His poetry is known for its themes of identity, exile, love, and loss, and it often explores the complex relationship between the individual and society. Dagher's poems are characterized by their vivid imagery, emotional intensity, and lyrical language. He frequently employs metaphors and symbols to convey his ideas and feelings, and his use of sound and rhythm adds a musical quality to his work. Dagher's poetry is deeply personal and reflective, yet it speaks to universal themes and experiences. His work captures the complexity and beauty of the human experience, and his words resonate with readers across cultures and borders. One of Dagher's notable works is his collection of poems titled "Anthems for the Unwanted," which explores the experiences of refugees and immigrants. The collection highlights the struggles, hopes, and dreams of people who are often marginalized and silenced in society.

-Threshold Poem-

The poem Threshold begins with an image of a door, which represents a threshold or boundary between two spaces. The door is described as "narrow" and "barren," suggesting that it is not particularly inviting or welcoming. This image sets the tone for the rest of the poem, which is concerned with the idea of limits and boundaries. The next few lines of the poem describe various physical thresholds, such as the point at which a river meets the sea and the place where the earth meets the sky. These images serve to emphasize the idea that everything in life has a limit or boundary. The poem then shifts to a more metaphorical exploration of thresholds. The speaker suggests that there are limits to what we can know and understand, and that these limits are like "a wall we cannot breach." This image suggests that there are some things that are simply beyond our comprehension, no matter how hard we try. The final lines of the poem suggest that even death itself is a threshold, a boundary that we cannot cross. The speaker suggests that death is like a door that we must all pass through eventually, and that it represents the ultimate limit or boundary.