On Saturday, October 5, the solo exhibition of the Lebanese painter Gilbert Halaby, a resident of Rome, entitled “The First Harvest“, organized by the GSA/Historical Archives – Museum of Hydra and curated by the archaeologist and art historian Iris Kritikou, will be inaugurated at the GSA/Historical Archives – Museum of Hydra. The exhibition, which will run until 15 November, presents 32 works by the artist, 13 of which are on display for the first time, and includes an eight-metre monumental emblematic work, from which the exhibition takes its title.

Having grown up in Lebanon, Halaby, who studied in Beirut at the end of the Civil War, had been painting from a very young age. Fascinated by the natural beauty of the landscape of the Lebanese mountain range, he spent much of his time playing among the olive groves owned by his family and bordering friends, keeping the natural form of the trees ever since indelible in his thoughts and then in his art.

“On 5 October, the opening day of the Hydra exhibition, everyone in the Mediterranean – Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Turkey, Spain, Southern France – will be busy with the olive harvest. The thought of this makes my heart beat with joy,” Halaby notes. “Everyone is on their land, under their sacred trees, happy with the precious fruit that will once again be born from a year of tireless toil. My work honors that toil – the plowing of the soil we tread upon, the beauty of the people who find purpose and joy in their trees.”

The Exhibition

The focal point of the exhibition is the work of the same name, which extends over a length of eight metres, representing a palimpsest of moments, habits and customs, in the context of this timeless and uniquely Mediterranean anthropocentric reference, which is intimately linked to Halaby’s personal life. Moving from left to right, the light changes and scales, extending from the warm hues of dawn and the triumphant dynamics of the midday southern sun to the soft roses of twilight.

About Gilbert Halaby

After studying Archaeology at the University of Beirut, Gilbert Halaby left for Rome, whose charms captivated him at first sight. In 2003 he moved permanently to the Eternal City, where he opened a personal jewellery and handbag shop near the Pantheon. In 2010, Maison Halaby presented its first women’s collection. In 2016, Gilbert Halaby opened a boutique at number 21 Via di Monserrato which quickly became a global cult destination, as it was an informal cultural salon with a library of historical and contemporary writers and philosophers.

Self-taught as a painter, Halaby has been cultivating and consolidating his personal writing for the past six years, working daily in his Rome studio.

In March 2023 he presented his first solo exhibition entitled “Domus Berytus” at the Beit Beirut Museum in Beirut. In the same year, in his second home, Rome, he held his second solo exhibition, “Une Comédie Romaine” at Maja Arte Contemporanea. In 2024 he presented his third solo exhibition, “Will You Waint For Me Under That Pine Tree?” at Art Booth in Abu Dhabi and his fourth solo exhibition entitled “Apogee Of Light” in Palm Beach, at the first pop up project of Maja Arte Contemporanea gallery.

Excerpt from the Note by the curator Iris Kritikou

“The artist’s thoroughly luminous pictorial narrative shines with a grace that is rare, elegant, almost metaphysical. Beyond the condensed lightness of this sensuous pictorial genesis, we encounter here the timelessness of an inherited wisdom, the noble coarseness of a primordial place in a new form and semantic composition. Halaby’s poetic narrative, eager to collect the light and shadow of this small primordial destination that is its due, the magic cycle of time and its tangible oscillations, the immaculate beauty and the infinite, the shudder of the timeless breeze and the timeless raw material of this island.”

Catalogue & GSA/Historical Archives – Hydra Museum

The exhibition is accompanied by a detailed catalogue that includes the works of the exhibition, texts by Dina Adamopoulou, Director of the GSA/Historical Archives – Museum of Hydra, Iris Kritikou, Archaeologist & Art Historian, curator of the exhibition, a poem by Nikos Fildisis and a poem by Gilbert Halaby.

The Exhibition

Gilbert Halaby
The First Harvest
Organised by: GSA/Historical Archives-Museum of Hydra
Curator: Iris Kritikou
Text by: Iris Kritikou
Duration: 5 October– 15 November 2024
GSA/Historical Archives-Museum of Hydra
Opening Night: Saturday 5 October 2024, 19.00-21.00.
Working Hours: Monday– Sunday: 09.00 – 16.00 &19.30 – 21:30