Mahmoud Mokhtar (Egypt, 1891-1934) The Veiled Woman or Princess (El-Amira) 34.5 x 6.2 x 8cm
Provenance : A RARE AND MAGNIFICENT BRONZE SCULPTURE BY MAHMOUD MOKHTAR Provenance:Property from a distinguished family, Cairo Published:Moukhtar by Badr Eldin Abou - Ghazi , prefaced by Dr. Mostafa Abdel Moity , Ministry of Culture , Cairo , 2004 (another edition of the present work)Mahmoud Moukhtar, Memory of The Nation, Dr.Sobhy Sharouny, (another edition listed) Note:Please note that the Artists grand nephew, Professor Emad Abou Ghazi has stated that the present sculpture is number three from an edition of three which were executed between 1922-1927. Edition Number One was cast in silver coated bronze and remained property of the artists collection (a posthumous copy of Edition One is on display at the Mokhtar Museum in Cairo), Edition Two was sold at Sotheby's, October 16th 2009, Lot 319 and was cast in bronze. The present work is Edition Three 'There had been no sculptor in my country for seventeen hundred years and the images that appeared among the ruins and sands at the edge of the desert were considered accursed, evil -- no one should go near' - Mahmoud Mokhtar 'In letters dated January 5 and 12,' wrote Mokhtar, 'I am asked to provide two letters of good conduct. well, it happens that my conduct is bad. I have a bad temper. I was sentenced to 15 days in prison. Furthermore, I wear a beard and that is frowned on here. I am a bachelor, and I frequent certain particular houses. You see, I am therefore condemned to never become a public servant, ever.Please accept the expression of my distinguished regards.' - Mahmoud Mokhtar 'Mokhtar was a unique phenomenon, which held us spell-bound. His sudden emergence generated such a surprise and amazement that we referred to him as a genius.'- Dr Taha Hussein 'Mokhtar was a devoted son of Egyptian female villagers, whom he idolized in his works as a graceful symbol of Egypt. Mokhtar is the genuine product of Egypt, he came from its countryside, he formed the conscience of a whole nation, so he has been etched in the national memory as our pioneering sculptor'- Mohsen Shaalan Bonhams are proud to present the rare appearance of a bronze sculpture by Mahmoud Mokhtar. Poignant, enigmatic and graceful, 'Al Amira' is the archetypal synthesis of Mokhtar's representations of the noble Egyptian women. Mokhtar's oeuvre principally focused on the depiction of noble Egyptian peasants; seen through this lens, the title of the work 'Princess' is perhaps an ennoblement and elevation of the common Egyptian female rather than the depiction of someone of Royal status. Mokhtar's empathetic and stylized representations of Egyptian daily life, pronounced so touchingly in the present work, would later be regarded as the supreme expression of Egyptian artistic heritage in the twentieth century. Tender and ennobling in its portrayal of the dignified Egyptian fellaha (or peasant woman), the sculpture is evidence of an artist who captured the true spirit of the age in his penetrative renderings of the Egyptians and their everyday plight. Mahmoud Mokhtar is considered a pioneer of modern Egyptian art, yet he also occupies a prominent place in the history of the modern Egyptian nation. Self-styled as the first Egyptian sculptor in over two millennia, Mahmoud Mokhtar deftly blended Pharaonic imagery with a modern European sculptural aesthetic to create quintessentially nationalist Egyptian artwork. Mokhtar was born in 1891 into a fellaheen/peasant family in the town of Tunbarah near the central Delta town of al-Mahallah al-Kubra, son of an omdah [local village mayor], named Ibrahim el-Essaoui. The artist would later recall molding figurines out of mud from the Nile riverbanks during his childhood. Around 1900, he moved with his mother and his two sisters, Hafeethah and Badee'a, to Cairo where he attended pri mary school, learned Arabic a... For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
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Notes : This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * P. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
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