Daoud Corm

Daoud Corm
داود قرم
1900 self-portrait
Born
Daoud Corm

(1852-06-26)26 June 1852
Ghosta, Lebanon
Died6 June 1930(1930-06-06) (aged 77)
NationalityLebanese
EducationAccademia di San Luca
Known forPainting
SpouseVirgine Naaman[3]
AwardsPrize of Honor of Excellence, 1900 Paris Exhibition
Patron(s)Elias Peter Hoayek,[1] Sursock family.[2]

Daoud Corm (1852–1930), David Corm in English, was an influential Lebanese painter and the father of writer, industrialist, and philanthropist Charles Corm.[4][5] He was a teacher and mentor to the young Khalil Gibran as well as Khalil Saleeby and Habib Srour.[6][7]

Signature of Daoud Corm from one of his 1899 paintings

In 1870 he went to Rome and enrolled at the Accademia di San Luca where he trained under Roberto Bompiani, the Italian court painter. During his five years in Italy, Daoud Corm studied the works of Renaissance artists whose influence was evident throughout his works. He gained official recognition when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Pope Pius IX (reg 1846-78). Upon his return to Lebanon in 1875, he painted portraits of many Arabs including Abbas II of Egypt (reg 1892–1914) in 1894. Daoud Corm was a religious painter and there are many of his paintings in churches across Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Palestine.[8]

In 1912, Corm expanded his artistic enterprise and its public appeal when he opened Maison d'Art, an art supply store and art studio centrally located near Beirut's post office. Its significant commercial success indicated a growing public interest not only in art viewing but also in art making. Corm exhibited his work abroad in Egypt and Europe, most notably at the 1889 Versailles Exhibition in France and at the 1900 Paris Exhibition, where he received the Prize of Honor of Excellence. Additional recognition of his career includes receipt of the Lebanese Order of Merit and the Ottoman Medal of Glory. In 1930, Daoud Corm died in Beirut at age 77.[9]

  1. ^ Rogers 2010, p.52
  2. ^ Rogers 2010, pp. 65–66
  3. ^ Kaufman 2015, p.88
  4. ^ Mohasseb 1998
  5. ^ Samaha 2007
  6. ^ Rogers 2010, p.54
  7. ^ Sheehi 2006, p.78
  8. ^ Daoud Corm, The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art
  9. ^ Rogers, Sarah. "Daoud Corm". Mathaf encyclopedia of modern art and the Arab world. Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 18 December 2015.