Juliana Séraphim (1934 - 2005)
Untitled, c. 1978
Oil on canvas
89.5 by 106 cm. 35 1/4 by 45 3/4 in.
Private collection
Sold for 38,100 GBP in April 2023
Seraphim was born in Jaffa in 1934, and was among the first waves of displaced Palestinian refugees to move to Beirut, Lebanon in 1952. She was 14 when her family fled first to Sidon by boat in 1949. After their move to Beirut, she worked in refugee relief while attending art classes.
Juliana Séraphim (1934 - 2005)
Untitled, c. 1980
Oil on canvas
88 x 116 cm
Dalloul Art Foundation
Untitled, 1980, represents a fantastical cityscape featuring mysterious mermaid-like female forms and an overarching giant eye located in the center of the upper half of the composition. The eyelids are painted in flamingo pink, while the eyelashes are tinted olive green with smooth, broad brushstrokes. The towering eye looks over the entire city and its dwellers. Its pupil emits a beam of translucent white light that hones in on a female form dressed in an ornate armor-like cape and a seashell-like crown. The female seems to melt into an eel-like creature painted in olive green. We see a giant seashell beside her, floating in still waters, rendered in petroleum blue. More on this painting
In Beirut, Juliana Séraphim developed her personal style and produced her most notable works. She privately studied with Lebanese painter Jean Khalifeh (1923–78). After studying at the Lebanese Fine Arts Academy and privately with other local contemporary artists, she began to show her work in solo exhibitions and gained recognition within Beirut. In her studies, she was awarded grants to study abroad in Madrid, Florence, and Spain. She then went on to internationally represent Lebanon in three biennials.
The images in my paintings come from deep within me: they are surreal and unexplainable. Consciously I want to portray a woman's world and how important love is to a woman. Few men understand the quality of love that a woman seeks. I try to show them. (Juliana Seraphim quoted in H. Khal, The woman artist in Lebanon, Beirut University College 1987, p. 71).
Whereas her Lebanese contemporaries often take on a figurative style in order to demonstrate the central issues of the Palestinian struggle, Seraphim’s visual language is characterized as having complex layers of overlapping lines and improvisational dream-like imagery. In this way, Seraphim cultivates a shifting reality of infinite depth and creation. Her dream-like imagery also implies the unsteady nature of a long-held memory of a cherished place - and in doing so she transcribes her political concerns regarding her home through the lens of personal and surreal imagery while also encouraging the viewer to actively participate with the imagery presented. When asked, Seraphim cites the source of her surrealist imagery as memories of her childhood. She drew specific inspiration from the faded frescoes of winged beings on the ceiling of her grandfather's home, and former convent, in Jerusalem. More on Juliana Seraphim
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