FOUAD KAMEL (EGYPT, 1919-1973) Surrealist Woman oil on panel, framed s
Provenance : Provenance: Property from a private collection, Cairo Formerly in the collection of Mr Hisham Ahmed Gaith Inherited from the above’s father, Mr Ahmed Ghaith, a U.N delegate, 1970s Acquired directly by the above from the artist’s brother Anwar Kamel, circa 1970s Piercing, acerbic and magnificent, Fouad Kamel’s brazen composition of a surrealist figure is a confident, bold and technically masterful example of the Art and Liberty movements incredible artistic output. Ghoulish, otherworldly and distorted, the figure nevertheless demonstrates a sense of vigour and strength, its piercing gaze and rotund breasts evoking a potent mixture of surrealism and femininity The Egyptian Surrealist movement, Art E Liberte, was founded by George Henein with a group of Egyptian and expatriate avant-garde artists in protest against Fascist and Nazi anti-art sentiment. They called their art ‘decadent’, in support of the poet Andre Breton, and his statement, signed by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, Towards an Independent Art. A number of Egyptian artists, including Fouad Kamel, Rameses Younan and Kamel el-Telmesany, in addition to a great number of Egyptian and expatriate intellectuals, signed a statement prepared by poet George Henein, entitled Long Live Decadent Art! It was published in Al-Fann Al-Hurr (Free Art) magazine in December 1938. The presence of many foreign artists, poets, writers and critics in Egypt at the time played a crucial role in spreading an air of liberation and the dissemination of Socialist thought, George Henein, with his refined French education, was the link between these Egyptianized expatriates and the artists of Egypt. On January 6, 1939, the Art and Liberty Society was formed in Madabegh Street (now Sherif Street) for the defense of art, culture and freedom of publication, they produced the magazine Bread and the book In Defense of Culture. 1940 saw the Society’s first exhibition, represented were Mahmoud Said, Sadek Mohamed, Maria Hassia, Aida Shehata, Amy Nemr, Isaac Levy, Angelo Paolo, Angelo di Renere, Papa George, Muscatelli, Joe Slazenger, Celie Balduc, Louis Julian, Angelo Vasca, and Maggie Akeziza, they were later joined by Hamdy Khamees, Abu Khalil Lotfy, Saad el Khadem, and Hamed Nada, who regularly participated in their annual exhibitions until 1945. This society was in contact with the worldwide Surrealist movement, headed by Andre Breton in France, no sooner had the Art and Liberty society formed, than those in power began to put all their weight into crushing the fledgling groups. However, the group’s members clung tenaciously to their position. They rebelled against the current artistic, social and political situation, and called for the overthrow of widespread norms, and for individualist thought and freedom in the face of obedience and subordination. This group may be credited with sparking the rebellion against academic stagnation and the reduction of art to a craft governed by prescriptive rules. With their refined culture, deep faith and heroic sacrifices, they managed to attract a large number of talented artists to their cause, and with this Surrealism flourished in Egypt... Between death and everlasting life there is a fierce battle producing a most dreadful mutilation which I encounter in my paintings. Indeed, into the depths of everything a spirit is creeping, even into the inanimate Fouad Kamel
