To know more
To know more
To know more
To know more
December 1961
Because it talks about violence, broken glass and an attack by the OAS rue Mouffetard in Paris.
Samir Müller The Earth Odyssey.
Released: May 2018 (the book was never released)
Press editions of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (Lebanon)
(The pseudo university publisher deliberately chose not to distribute the book in bookstores and not to distribute it on the Internet through platforms like Amazon. All of us, author, graphic designer and photographers worked three years for nothing. more, click here )
Bilingual French-Arabic
248 pages
20cm x 20cm
ISBN: 978-6148007743
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Preface by Samir el-Sayegh
Graphics: Carla Salem
Cover photo: David Hury
Interior photographs: Elie Abi Hanna for Roger Moukarzel studios,
Aline Abiad Haddad , David Hury, Ghadi Smat
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Summer 1959. Samir Müller was born in Aïn Zhalta, a Christian village in the Druze region of Chouf, Lebanon. He takes his surname from a French-speaking Swiss grandfather.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
1979-1983. Samir Müller studied at the Beaux-Arts in Toulouse while war ravaged his country.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Spring 1991. While in Paris, Samir Müller meets the ceramist and teacher Jean Hury at a trade fair. With him, he will study ceramic decoration techniques, as a free student at the Auguste Renoir high school.
Winter 1997. I leave Paris and settle in Beirut. It's Samir Müller, a former student of his father, who is on the other side of the Mediterranean to come and meet me at the airport in his white Peugeot 504. For more than fifteen years, I will go up to the artist's studio, located in Jamhour on the heights of Beirut, to practice ceramics as an amateur. Alone and sometimes even accompanied. Of my two daughters or of my friends.
Winter 1998. Carla Salem, then a design student and admirer of calligrapher Samir el-Sayegh, meets Samir Müller and tries her hand at ceramics in her studio.
Spring 2013. Carla Salem, back from Japan where she studied papermaking techniques for several years, returns to the workshop to learn about working the land with Samir Müller. I meet her on a Saturday afternoon at Samir's studio.
Summer 2013. Samir Müller died on June 11, 2013, struck by a heart attack at the age of 54. I bury my friend on the 13th, the day of my 40th birthday. On the steps of the Protestant church in Beirut, the idea for a book dedicated to Samir Müller was born.
Spring 2014. The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik - where Samir taught his art as he also did at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Notre Dame - is enthusiastic, takes the bandwagon and is part of the project which is in the process of maturing.
Winter 2014-2015. I am leaving Lebanon after 18 years of living in this complex country. The genesis of the book is ongoing. Samir el-Sayegh, famous Lebanese calligrapher and friend of the ceramist, signs the preface of the book. A first release date has been brought forward: September 21, 2015.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Winter 2015-2016. I finally returned to Beirut to work with Carla Salem on the making of the book. The book is ready.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
2016-17. Nothing happens, everything is frozen. In the movie industry, we call it development hell .
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Fall 2017. The book finally goes to the printing press. Carla Salem oversees the whole process. But no launch date has been announced yet.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Winter 2017-2018. The shaping of the book is more complicated than expected, many tests are carried out by Carla Salem. The book is finally packaged in December.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Spring 2018. Preview launch of the book during the inauguration of the commemorative plaque at the USEK sacred arts workshop.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Summer 2018. A retrospective of Samir Müller's work is planned in Beirut's most beautiful setting, the Sursock museum. Opening on May 31, and official launch of the book in parallel. The planned launch at the Sursock Museum store had to be canceled following the sabotage of which the book was victim by the publishing house, which knowingly decided not to distribute the book in bookstores or on the Internet. Shame on Samir's memory.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
To know more
Article dedicated to the book on the Cultural Agenda (Lebanon) website
Post on my blog in anticipation of the launch at the Sursock Museum on May 31, 2018
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
With graphic designer Carla Salem, Beirut, May 2016.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
