The Metropolitan Museum has acquired The Kite, painted in 1950 by Egyptian artist Gazebiya Serry. Serry is the first Arab artist to have a painting numbered among the museum’s acquisitions, and it can be seen as a mark of international appreciation of the work of this artist over the last 60 years.
Collective exhibition
A plastic arts exhibition held at the Arts Palace in Cairo displays over 490 works by more than 300 of Egypt’s most distinguished artists, some of whom have passed away. It offers a panoramic view of Egypt’s modern art movement which began to flourish at the outset of the 20th century. The works include photography, light photography, painting, computer graphics, video art, sculpture, engraving, pottery, Arabic calligraphy and architectonic art. The exhibition, which was opened by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, runs till 10 July.
Three in one
Three exhibitions have been held in the galleries of the Culture Ministry’s Gezira Art Centre, in Zamalek, Cairo. The first, “German Photographs”, was held jointly with the Goethe Institute and showed the work of some 17 photographers depicting daily life in Germany. The second exhibition, “Gemini”, was held in the Ahmed Sabry gallery and showed photographs by Ayman Lotfi; while the third, held in the Kamal Khalifa gallery, displayed video art by Ahmed al-Shaier. The three exhibitions closed on 17 June.
The potter
The Masar Gallery in Zamalek, Cairo, is hosting an exhibition by the distinguished pottery artist Mohamed Mandour. Mandour was born in 1950 in Fustat, Old Cairo, where he learnt and worked from early childhood in the famous conventional potteries of the neighbourhood. He swiftly developed his own style and progressed to the status of artist with a distinguished identity. His work was inspired by the form and shape of Islamic and pharaonic pottery. Mandour has been awarded several prizes, one of which was the prize of the Venice Biennale in Italy in 2002. He is currently living and working back in Fustat. The exhibition runs until the end of this month.
Melodious paintings “Expressive Songs” was the theme title of an exhibition by artist Amal Afifi held earlier this month at the Sawi Culture Wheel. Afifi was inspired in her 25 paintings by the songs of the Nubian singer Mohamed Mounir. “It is normal for all branches of art to be influenced by each other, especially when the songs and their lyrics are touching,” Afifi says. In one painting, Afifi expressed the lyrics of the song Shababeek (Windows), depicting a girl standing at the window and waiting to spot her neighbour, whom she silently loves.
Graphic paintings
The Mahmoud Said Museums Centre in Alexandria earlier this month held an exhibition of 25 paintings by the graphic master Mariam Abdel-Alim. The paintings depicted a number of themes inspired by everyday life, such as women shopping, and influenced by the pharaonic art motifs. As always, the artist used brilliant colours.
Original interpretation
An exhibition “Collecting Futurism” ran at the Sama’ Khana gallery in Hilmeya, Cairo, until 15 June as part of the celebrations for the 63rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Italian Republic. The works by Mariastella Margozzi were an original interpretation on Futurism, the most important Italian avant-garde movement. The 80 works on show included paintings in oil and tempera.
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Children’s free expression
An exhibition of drawings by German and Egyptian children has been held at the German Embassy in Cairo. “The drawings reflect the interconnection between the students of Clara Schumann Primary School in Leipzig and their counterparts of the German School in Cairo,” Germany’s Ambassador to Egypt Brend Erbel said.
In a creative and spontaneous way, the children each expressed their own perspective of the other country.
The same exhibition was hosted by the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin some two weeks later. It is the sixth exhibition held at the embassy since 2007 in order to spread the works of Egyptian and German artists to develop the cultural and artistic movement in Egypt.