Endless Night is a painting executed in 1983 by Nabil Kanso in oil paint on canvas measuring .Nabil Kanso: Paintings 1974-94, p.69, NEV Editions, Atlanta, 1996 It is part of a group of related paintings made by Kanso in response to the Lebanese Civil War.Fox, Catherine, Artist Inspired by War-Torn Homeland, The Atlanta Journal – The Atlanta Constitution, p. 5 H, July 8, 1984, online Rossi, I: Nabil Kanso Work, Panorama, April 10, 1985, Maracaibo, article The painting depicts the ravages war in a scene that "embodies recurrent themes of carnage, suffering and the disintegration of humanity."Fox, Artist Inspired by War, The Atlanta Journal, p.5H
The composition seems to divide the canvas in two zones that contrast one mass of helpless and tormented figures on the left and one group of complacent looking and rigidly poised figures on the upper right. The focal point appears to fall between the two contrasting sections toward the central horizontal line in the middle distance creating a variation of focus that moves from one side to another and spread the attention over the various areas.Nabil Kanso: Paintings 1980-83, Catalog, p. 19, Atlanta, 1983 The swirls of somber tone emanating from the blaze of torched places in the background seem to reinforce the tense mood and sharpen the interplay of dark and light.Fuenmayor, Carlos, Space Cries, Time Cries, La Columna, pp.8-9, May 21, 1987, Maracaibo, article Critical opinion notes "A dark palette tending to brown is set afire by strongly contrasting hues. A lurid orange illuminates the Endless Night, in which figures with masklike faces standing on a parapet stonily witness the suffering of people and animals below."Fox, Catherine, The Political Show, Atlanta Journal – Constitution, p. 3H, June 24, 1984,
See also Lebanon (painting) Lebanon Summer 1982 The Vortices of Wrath (Lebanon 1977)
References
External links Paintings 1980-83