Bio

Unlike other kids who were jumping in the waves on the beaches of Damour, he would spend his time strumming the chords of his mandolin. Although he had never been taught the basics of music reading, Michel Akl could skillfully play the mandolin, the bouzouki, the oud, the guitar, and the piano. In his free time, he also sculpted, another skill which he had learnt instinctively.

At age 18, he found in pen and paper the connection between his reality and his visions, so he started training diligently at the studios of masters such as Cesar Gemayel (1898-1958) and Omar Onsi (1901-1961). From them, he learnt his craft and honed his talent.

Starting 1953, Michel Akl participated in most Salons d’Automne and Salons du Printemps organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Education at the UNESCO Palace, Beirut, along with other reputable contemporary artists. A number of his paintings are a part of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture’s permanent collection.

But Michel Akl’s talent was not truly highlighted until 1961 when an American philanthropist named Mrs. Anne Osgood decided to adopt him artistically and introduce him to the Lebanese public in a solo exhibit at her own residence.

In 1963, Akl exhibited at the Daou Gallery in Mkalles. The artist’s distinctive style was a reflection of his own quest for the self. His paintings were imbued with colors in the form of rainfall evoking a flow of movements and melodies. His unique talent motivated the painter Rashid Wehbi, president of the Lebanese Artists Association for Painters and Sculptors at the time, to enroll Akl as a member and then a board member.

The year 1967 marked a decisive time in Michel Akl’s journey. Following two years of painful stagnation and artistic drought, the feverish anxiety of his exalted mind gave birth to magical forms as big as his desire for meaning and expression. He drew the sum of his experience on forty paintings exploring his philosophy of life. The collection, entitled, “Spider’s Web”, was exhibited at the Saint Georges Hotel in that life-changing year of 1967.

Michel Akl applied himself to sculpture, and, in 1975, one of his works, a two-meter sculpture in white stones was erected as a public monument adorning the center of Green Land in the village of Bchamoun.

During that same year, the Lebanese civil war broke out creating massive destruction in the coastal towns. Those who were not massacred resorted to exodus to save their lives. For the paralyzed Michel Akl, it was a true miracle that he could find a way to save himself and his small family (his wife and 7-year-old daughter), but his artwork, product of his lifetime, was completely destroyed when his residence was burnt in 1976 along with his studio and his very dear library. No trace of his paintings could be found in the scorched remains of his house.

The artist and the man had to start from scratch. He had relocated with his family to a tiny apartment in the buzzing streets of Hamra. Deprived of his well-equipped large studio and his inspiring landscape, Michel Akl still proved to be a man of infinite willpower and hope. Nothing was lost for him who was given a new chance to breathe freedom.

Infinite was his desire to create and to derive out of his art his joie de vivre. His painful ordeal and the atrocities of the war were the inspiration for hundreds of compositions in pencil, (having lost all his art equipment during the massacre). However, consumed by an internal discomfort at the thought of using his art to create more misery, Michel Akl admitted to putting fire to all these compositions without any regret and continued to live his own tragedy by himself.

In the following years, Michel Akl perfected his unique style. Using a mixture of plastic material and maintaining oriental harmony in his work, he turned the painting into a space for the entangled lines whose varying strength and shape suggest a special rhythm. Throughout, Michel Akl’s work reflected the same philosophy, the same need to delve deeper and be loyal to his inner being, always infinitely free.

Michel Akl’s life testifies to his triumph over the harsh world he lived in. His inner force took over his handicap. Even the word handicap itself was unfamiliar to him. He was mostly guided by an admirable patience and strong will. Despite all the hardships, Michel Akl, the stoic, kept the power to derive from his misery a world of moral and artistic wealth. “Disability does not define a person; a human being is his rational life,” he would say.

By pushing the boundaries of what art could be and do, Michel Akl was able to overcome hurdles both physical and moral. He was only his own self: not confined to the legacy of his forerunners and not attempting to surpass others, only to be true to himself and his art.

Though celebrated during his lifetime, Michel Akl has not yet gotten his due in the canon of the Lebanese art history. His artistic role and legacy need to be further explored and enjoyed.