Joseph Matar
Born August 3rd, 1935, in Ghadir, Lebanon.
Nationality: French and Lebanese.
Schooled at the Marist Brethren, Jounieh.
Polyglot.
Art Scholarships from governments
· Madrid , 1961-1963.
· Paris , 1963.
· Rome , 1973.
· Paris , 1985.
Practice in studios of acknowledged masters
· Omar Onsi's, 1951-1961.
· George Corm's, 1958-1961.
· Rachid Wehbe's, 1955-1957.
· Italian Cultural Centre, Beirut, 1955-1957.
· Ecole Supérieure des lettres, Beirut, 1955-1957.
· Beirut Faculty of medicine (Anatomy), 1958-1959.
Diplomas
· Diplomas of Higher Studies, Madrid University and San Fernando School of Fine Arts, 1961-1963.
· Doctorate 3rd cycle, University of Paris. " Plastic arts, pictorial technology and expression."
· Doctorat d' Etat 1999, Lebanese University.
Assignments
· Lebanese State instructor since 1954.
· In charge of refresher courses for Lebanese art instructors in Beirut, Tripoli and Byblos state high schools, since 1965.
· Instructor of Fine Arts at Holy Spirit University, Kaslik, since 1963.
· Titular professor of the Lebanese University.
· Chairman of the Drawing and Painting Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Lebanese University, 1980-1985 and 1994-1996; member of the Faculty Council.
Exhibitions
· More than sixty personal exhibitions in Lebanon and around the world.
· Works in private collections, public, religious and private corporations around the world :
· France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany, Vatican, United States, Canada, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Abu Dabi, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Kuwait, Cyprus and Egypt.
http://lebanonart.com

Poem 1

Somewhere,
far, far in the West,
in the mines of gold,
you are the quarry
whence I draw all the gold in the universe.
A quarry never exhausted,
fed by that river divine
whose name slips my mind...
At your feet,
all the world's riches
where the yellow metal gleams.
Fascinating quarry,
dazzling,
like a thousand stars

This night,
by the light of the moon I drown,
in the firmament of your eyes,
drunk with wine, drunk with the Spirit.
Helen, Marguerita, Astarte,
all goddesses...
all graces...
all mysteries...
you illumine my meditation
in this glory of what is holy.
Helen, Marguerita, Astarte,
like my dreams and my drunken delights,
you are pure and are sacred.
Bathed in moonlight we are united,
and in drunkenness I am enchanted.

The cosmic ocean
fill a corner in the ocean of my soul,
and their perfumed tides
explode on the shores of my heart....
We sail towards a posterity,
towards that invisible throne,
now empty,
where we shall sit in state.
Noble vessel,
bear me on thy course,
bear me to my own inner depths.

Terra Nostra

Planet Earth,
Planet Mother,
Planet Love,
Men transform you,
and women adorn you.

Generations like the waves
leave foam in their wake;
each telling its history,
each bearing its mystery,
they follow each other,
turned to the future
but with deep magic secrets
that long will abide.

Planet Earth,
Planet Mother,
Planet Love,
Safe keep my secret
and whisper in silence
the tale of my loves.

POETRY	Also Paints
Poem 1	Poem 2

Poem 2

When the sun has left the earth in lonely darkness,
and light seeks the hand of sombre shades of matter
lest all fall into oblivion,
the mystery by its intensity
makes you appear an explosion of colour
borne of the meeting 'tween darkness and light.
Strange spectacle, leaving time behind!
Floods of light
give birth and growth to life;
Floods of sunlight,
through your rays
I pour forth my forms,
I release the raging elements -
tempests, storms and whirlwinds!
Light, go cradle my sweet dreams,
light of enchanting rhyme!
In Your mystery
I reach out,
and seize Your substance;
and through the portal of my soul
I shape You,
transform You!
I strive
for this new communion
between heaven and earth.
Of my dreams I make melodies,
my other selves,
mankind,
creator of life,
creator of the Gods.
Your silence is my Music...
Music,
you spirit me afar,
bear me away enchanted.
I hear these harmonies of silence,
my soul in ecstacy,
and my breath cut short,
for all bursts forth in a rainbow of poems
on the white of the canvas.
...And in my torment,
I stir together
sounds and notes,
tints and shades,
melodies and colours
to breathe in this warmth
both human and divine.
In my cosmic vision,
cosmic creations...
A cloak woven by rays,
purer than crystal,
brighter than the sun...
eternal youth
of peerless beauty.
In my cosmic vision
where the galaxies end,
I feel my heartbeats...
In the silence left by your voice
I am stunned and lost;
But my visions are as pure and calm
as the First Dawn.
You are godly,
you one and only;
even the radiant moon is humbled
and kneels at your feet
while your shade invades
my very being...
Feelings,
passions,
poems and follies
melt away at your approach.
You are godly,
you one and only,
harmony like unto music,
like the morning shafts of light
that play on the stealthy dew of the morn.