Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran, also known as Kahlil Gibran, was born on January 6, 1883 in Northern Lebanon. As a result of his family's poverty, he received no formal education as a small child but had regular visits from the local priest who taught him about the Bible as well as the Syrian and Arabic languages. After his father was imprisoned for embezzlement and his family's property was confiscated by the authorities, his mother decided to emigrate to the United States in 1895. They settled in Boston's South End. He attended public school and art school, where he was introduced to the artist, photographer, and publisher Fred Holland Day. A publisher used some of Gibran's drawings for book covers in 1898. His family forced him to return to Lebanon to complete his education and learn the Arabic language. He enrolled in Madrasat-al-Hikmah, a Masonite-founded school, which offered a nationalistic curriculum partial to church writings, history and liturgy. He learned Arabic, French, and exceled in poetry. He returned to the United States in 1902. In 1904, he hosted his first art exhibit, which featured his allegorical and symbolic charcoal drawings. During this exhibition, he met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, who would go on to fund Gibran's artistic development for nearly his entire life. Not only was he an artist, but he also wrote poetry and other works including The Madman, The Prophet, and Sand and Foam. He died of cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis on April 10, 1931.