A touching memoir that also traces the roots of Boston expressionism. For more than fifty years, Jean Gibrans life with a man named Kahlil Gibran was confusing to both friends and strangers. People either admired or despised the name. To complicate things, her husband was not the famous poet, but a sculptor. Because he was born with a caul, because both his parents were Gibrans, because his golden hands led him on aesthetic adventures, he was a curious blend of Boston and Beirut. Wherever he went, whomever he met, he had to ...
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A touching memoir that also traces the roots of Boston expressionism. For more than fifty years, Jean Gibrans life with a man named Kahlil Gibran was confusing to both friends and strangers. People either admired or despised the name. To complicate things, her husband was not the famous poet, but a sculptor. Because he was born with a caul, because both his parents were Gibrans, because his golden hands led him on aesthetic adventures, he was a curious blend of Boston and Beirut. Wherever he went, whomever he met, he had to explain his relationship to the author of The Prophet and the how and why of his Middle Eastern origins. To set things straight, he and his wife Jean published the first credible biography of his famous cousin, Kahlil Gibran: His Life and World. In Love Made Visible Jean continues with the story of a couple who, despite cultural and background differences, enjoyed a volatile but ultimately happy marriage. The memoir traces the roots of Boston expressionisman often unrecognized movement that, for a while, made art page headlines until eclipsed by flashier abstract expressionists. Revealing a fascinating art scene, it recalls a time of WPA-supported artists and explores mid-twentieth century Provincetown when Forum 49 introduced the world to artists soon to become international treasures. Full of memories of social and cultural change in Bostons colorful South End and exploring how a widow deals with bereavement, Love Made Visible tells about surviving the burden and the blessing of sharing the name with an international figure. Jean Gibrans vignettes of inimitable characters have a life of their own. Many are long forgotten or were never known. Some, like the painter Hyman Bloom or the poet Cecil Hemley, receive renewed and intimate
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