Description:

The archive of Burhan Karkutli (1932–2003) presents the documents left behind by the artist after his death. These materials were organized by Karkutli himself and carefully preserved, reflecting his awareness of their future importance as documentation of the history of Arab art and as a record of his personal and artistic trajectory. The collection comprises nearly one thousand documents arranged within an archival structure that includes official and personal correspondence, certificates, administrative and personal records, exhibitions, Hakawati (storyteller) materials, postcards, press clippings, and writings.

Burhan Al-Din Karkutli, known as Burhan Karkutli, was born in Damascus in the heart of the Old City. He completed his early education there before deciding to pursue art at a time when a Faculty of Fine Arts had not yet been established in Syria. He therefore moved to Cairo to study art, graduating in 1958. Cairo represented an important academic destination for Syrians, particularly during the period of political union between Syria and Egypt. In his personal memoir, Memoirs of a Rising Artist, Karkutli recounts that his decision to study art subjected him to long-term financial hardship that began during his student years and continued afterward.

Following his studies in Cairo, he spent one year as a visiting student at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid according to his own autobiography, he then moved to Moroco where he worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, and editor for Al-Taliaa newspaper. In 1961, he enrolled at the College of Fine Arts in Casablanca. Driven by a strong passion for art and a desire to explore global artistic practices, he later traveled to Germany, where he studied graphic design and mural painting between 1961 and 1963. He married Dietlinde Schulz, returned briefly to Morocco, and then moved back to Syria, where he began teaching in the Department of Engraving in 1967, but his work there lasted only one year due to disagreements with the university over salaries, as shown in a newspaper clipping. In 1969, he returned to Germany, where he ultimately settled. Among the archival materials are numerous receipts and payment records whose dates help trace his movements across different countries and periods.

Although his engagement with the Palestinian cause began during his student years, it was during his time in Mexico and later in Germany that he became politically and artistically active, participating in student- and artist-led solidarity movements. His artistic production addressed themes opposing Zionism and portrayed the tragedies of Palestinian displacement and struggle. Press clippings show that Karkutli often presented himself as a Palestinian artist. He was affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization and met prominent Palestinian figures, including Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, and Abdullah Al-Franji, the PLO’s representative in Germany at the time. Archival documents indicate that his political positions sometimes led to legal difficulties, including being summoned by the Frankfurt police following complaints accusing him of insulting the State of Israel. These incidents, however, did not deter his continued artistic and political engagement. Exhibition materials reveal relatively few exhibitions in Syria, suggesting a sporadic professional relationship with his homeland. In 1982, he became a member of the Palestinian Artists Union.

During the 1980s, Karkutli traveled to Mexico, where he organized and participated in numerous exhibitions, as evidenced by invitations and brochures preserved in the archive. Newspaper coverage from this period confirms that the Palestinian cause remained central to both his artistic production and public activities.

Karkutli’s intellectual positions, relationships, and personal principles emerge through an extensive body of correspondence. The archive includes exchanges with Palestinian artists Ibrahim Hazimeh (1933–2023) and Ismail Shammout (1930–2006), Egyptian artist Hussein Bicar (1913–2002), Syrian critic and writer Salman Qataya (1930–2004), and artist and critic Ghazi al-Khaldi (1935–2006), among many other Arab cultural figures. The collection also contains numerous personal letters, including correspondence with his brothers Fathi and Majid Karkutli, which reflects their shared engagement with artistic and political debates.
In Germany, his wife, Dietlinde, accompanied him as a belly dancer during his storytelling performances. Karkutli’s role as a storyteller draws on an ancient Damascene café tradition in which storytellers narrated tales from popular heritage. He expanded this tradition by composing original stories of his own.

The writings section of the archive includes short stories marked by social and political symbolism, documentary texts related to his exhibitions, and critical essays addressing art scenes in Germany, Morocco, and Mexico. These writings also contain reflections on the political contexts of the countries in which he lived. The same file preserves writings by his brother Fathi Karkutli, a politically engaged writer. Among these texts are a series of articles he authored following the death of the Syrian artist Asmahan, which Burhan preserved as part of his archive.

The significance of this collection lies in both its comprehensiveness and the intimate insight it provides into the artist’s professional and personal life, while also documenting his connections to a wide network of Arab artists and major cultural and political causes of his time.