Untitled (From Earth to Haven/From Haven to Earth)

Object Details

Artist

Peter "Charlie" Attie Besharo, born Syria 1899-died Kittanning, PA 1960

Exhibition Label

Peter “Charlie” Attie Besharo made paintings about intergalactic travel and strange beings. Besharo immigrated to the United States around 1912, from Syria. He was a Catholic, but being an ethnic Arab in predominantly white Leechburg, Pennsylvania, created a lasting feeling that he didn’t belong. His imagery was never straightforward and conveys alienation and searching, the artist’s quest to feel at home in a foreign land. Into these semi-narrative, otherworldly spaces, Besharo layered symbols of spirituality, patriotism, divine protection, and his hopes for peace on earth. In this painting, the artist writes the word “heaven” as “haven”—connecting—even if unintentionally—the spiritual cosmos and an earthly place of refuge.

(We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, 2022)

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson

ca. 1950-1960

Object number

2016.38.2

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Painting

Folk Art

Medium

oil on paper

Dimensions

sheet and image: 22 5/8 × 28 3/4 in. (57.5 × 73 cm) irregular

See more items in

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department

Graphic Arts

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Topic

Figure group

Landscape\cemetery

Record ID

saam_2016.38.2

Metadata Usage (text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7e8a27cb0-3a6d-48bc-ad67-951f6665a01e