In 1992, Nadine Majdalani Begdache transformed Dar El Fan, a cultural center founded by her mother Janine Rubeiz in 1967, into an art gallery named after her. Since then, Galerie Janine Rubeiz has been playing a crucial role in encouraging Lebanese modern and contemporary art as well as supporting its diffusion on the international level.
Over the years, the gallery has expanded its activities and presence by participating in different prestigious art fairs and curated art exhibitions around the world. Furthermore, the gallery has always ensured to invest efforts in promoting the cultural heritage of Lebanon: an exhibition titled “Bitasarof” was organized in 2016 with the aim of funding the national library. The proceeds from the exhibited artwork sales were collected in support of the “Lebanese Foundation for the National Library”.
Today, Galerie Janine Rubeiz is representing a range of internationally influential artists as well as young emerging talents. Artists such as Shafic Abboud, Etel Adnan, and Huguette Caland have all gained undeniable success in the global cultural scene while being represented by the gallery. In 2017, Zad Moultaka, supported by Galerie Janine Rubeiz, represented the Lebanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale where he gained global praise for his installation titled “ŠamaŠ”. Despite the political instability Lebanon is facing, the gallery is keen on achieving its mission by continuing to support and promote emerging artists.
While working on the promotion of Lebanese artists locally and internationally, the gallery has also emphasized the importance of exposing international artists to the Lebanese public by exhibiting foreign artists such as Antonio Segui, Jean Giraud Moebus, Adam Henein, Reza Derakshani and Khosrow Hassanzadeh among others. The gallery has also been proudly maintaining impressionable ties with different foreign diplomatic representatives in Lebanon through the years in the hope of attaining a prosperous cultural dialogue.
Most recently, Galerie Janine Rubeiz has been actively engaged in promoting the work of young Lebanese artists, who have been associated with the Lebanese revolution which started on October 17, 2019, and who carry the same principles that Janine Rubeiz worked to establish back in her days. To accompany the revolts, the gallery launched an open call inviting new artists to express their vision, which resulted in a group show of two editions called “October 17, 2019” with works by more than 50 artists. The gallery then started collaborating with a selection of these artists and introducing their works in its regular collective exhibitions, like “Visions of Today” and “Wajihāt” at the Port of Beirut in 2021, as well as hosting their solo shows.
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