“Corps et Âmes” of Cici Sursock

Cici TOMMASEO SURSOCK, Corps et Âmes, Spray on Masonite, 106 x 122cm, 1966

Manifesto of fragility : Beirut and the golden sixties

I came across this painting in an exhibition called Manifesto of fragility : Beirut and the golden sixties, that took place during the Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale of 2022. This exhibition displayed « the breadth of artistic practices and political projects that thrived in Beirut from the 1950s to 1970s »1 : two decades of intellectual and cultural flourishing, between « vulnerability and determination »1, following the French mandatory rule of Lebanon that had ended in 1943. Cici Tommaseo Sursock was one of many emblematic artists of this creative time.

Cici Tommaseo Sursock (1923-2015)

She was born in 1923, in Split, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) and had lived in various cities throughout the years (Vienna, Belgrade, Tehran, Cairo). In 1964, the painter settled in Beirut due to political changes in Egypt affecting her and her husband’s family (the nationalization of their wealth and properties by Nasser’s regime), and had to make a living of her art. These circumstances created a shift in her work and contributed to the growth of her renown. In addition to her work on icons and nudes, she became a prominent portraitist which placed her at the center of the Lebanese cultural scene. As of 1965, she held and participated in multiple exhibitions in the country and beyond. Corps et Âmes (Bodies and Souls) was made two years after her arrival in Beirut.

Corps et Âmes, 1966

I was wandering through the aisles of the museum, discovering an entirely new world of modern artist, when this artwork caught my eyes. I stopped for a few minutes and stared at these two bare bodies, withdrawing into themselves and each other, expressing so much without revealing their faces. I didn’t know the work of Cici Sursock yet, but something felt familiar.

The hues’ warmth as well as the soft and round shape of the two figures, both appearing and merging into a sharp and curved black shadow that outlines them, had fascinated me. Something about the vulnerability that I felt, as I was gazing the canvas, the roundness of strokes and yet the violence that I perceived, like a misleading softness actually emphasizing a feeling of abruptness. Incidentally, the nudity here didn’t strike me to be sensual or erotic but rather a depiction of the frailty that it induces.

The shading of a warm skin tone, with colder hues of grey and white, beyond any common effects of light and shadow, evokes to me the bruising of the body - and its soul by analogue means -. In fact, my eyes kept coming back to that left figure where the darkness particularly appears to be below the skin ; the transparency further accentuating the impression of fragility.

The two folded bodies merge in the same obscurity, as if they were sharing one soul, one opaque and unfathomable soul. I’ll never know what it meant to Cici Sursock but something feels deliberately hidden : the figures seem both immersed and hindering the access to an unwanted eye.

Cici Sursock kept exploring this theme :

Cici SURSOCK, Untitle, 1970

Cici TOMMASEO SURSOCK, Untitled (right). Oil on canvas.160 x 100 cm, 1970

Cici TOMMASEO SURSOCK, L’Homme Doit Etre Libre (left). Oil on canvas. 210 x 300 cm, 1970 (Photo credit)

Cici TOMMASEO SURSOCK, Corps et Âmes. Gouache, watercolour, and chinese ink on paper. 39,5 x 31 cm. (15.6 x 12.2 in.), 1985 (Photo credit)

Other artworks : icons and portraits

Cici TOMMASEO SURSOCK, La cathédrale (right). Oil and gold leaf on wood. 60 x 40 cm, 1980

Cici TOMMASEO SURSOCK, Notre dame du matin (left). Oil on wood. 38 x 32 cm, 1980

Cici TOMMASEO SURSOCK, Portraits of Assadour Bezdikian (left) and Juliana Seraphim (right). Oil on masonite. 1965 (Photo credit : Christopher Baaklini)

Bibliography :

• On Cici Sursock :

(en) La Biennale de Lyon. Cici Sursock. 2022. Accessed 1 April 2023. : https://www.labiennaledelyon.com/en/les-artistes/details/cici-sursock

(fr) Tele Liban. 5 De Pic - Cici Sursock. 2017. Accessed 1 April 2023. : https://www.teleliban.com.lb/replay.php?id=4042

(fr) Edgar DAVIDIAN. "Le dernier regard de Cici Sursock". L'Orient - Le Jour. 15 July 2015. Accessed 1 April 2023. : https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/934578/le-dernier-regard-de-cici-sursock.html

• On the Beirut and the golden sixties exhibition :

(en) La Biennale de Lyon. Manifesto of fragility – Beyrouth et les Golden Sixties. 2022. Accessed 1 April 2023. : https://www.labiennaledelyon.com/en/biennale/16e-biennale-dart-contemporain-2022/manifesto-of-fragility/beirut-and-the-golden-sixties

(en) Rebecca Anne PROCTOR. "Qatar’s Museum of Modern Art celebrates Beirut’s golden age with major exhibition". Arab News. 15 July 2015. Accessed 23 March 2023. : https://www.arabnews.com/node/2274051/lifestyle