Etel Adnan, Lebanese-American Artist and Writer, Dies at 96 in Paris

Etel Adnan, a Lebanese-American poet, novelist, and artist, passed away at the age of 96 in Paris, as confirmed by her partner, Simone Fattal. Born in Beirut in 1925 to a Syrian father and a Greek mother during the French mandate, she pursued philosophy at the Sorbonne in 1949 before relocating to California for further studies and teaching. Her influential 1978 novel, Sitt Marie Rose, which recounts a real kidnapping from the Lebanese Civil War, has been translated into ten languages. Adnan's vibrant abstract paintings, inspired by California's scenery and crafted with palette knives, gained significant recognition in her eighties after being featured in Documenta 13 in 2012. In 2014, she was honored with the French Ordre de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. A retrospective titled Etel Adnan: Light's New Measure is currently exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York until January.