Despite the trauma of displacement, these artists enjoyed a level of wealth and comfort due to their families’ socio-economic statuses and prominence first in Palestine's major cities and later in cosmopolitan Beirut society.
Some art historians, such as Alessandra Amin, take issue with this distinction as reductive in its refusal to engage with the complexities of Lebanese sectarian politics and their impact on Palestinians in exile.
Juliana Seraphim, Jumana el-Husseini, Paul Guiragossian, and all other Ras Beirut Artists were either displaced during the events of 1948 or fled soon after, in the following years, in search of refuge from the dire living conditions that the Palestinians have and continue to be subjected to.
The neighborhood was home to plenty of theaters, bookstores, and art galleries to satiate its residents’ appetites for artistic expression.
Their public, well-known careers as a result of their wealth allowed them an ease in exhibiting and selling their works which their refugee camp counterparts were not afforded.
[1] Additionally, al-Husseini utilized patterns traditionally stitched by Palestinian Tatreez embroiderers, as demonstrated by the fringe bordering the map of Palestine and the embroidery on the horse's saddle resulting in a dreamlike quality to all of paintings, which have been described to resemble “fairy tales.”[1] Juliana Seraphim was born in Yaffa in 1934, but soon fled the city on a fishing boat to the Lebanese city of Saida in 1948.
This quickly led to her becoming a prominent member of the Ras Beirut circle, as Seraphim's work was put on display, alongside Al-Hussseini's at the Sursock Museums Salon d’Automne.
[1] His innate artistic talent was discovered at a young age and he was sent to take part in an apprenticeship in religious icon painting in Italy.