03 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, 3

Chant Avedissian (Egyptian, 1951–2018)

Icons of the Nile , c. 1993

Gold and silver acrylic paint, gouache and hand-coloured stencil on cardboard, in twenty-one parts 

Each: 52.5 by 72.6cm.; 20 5/8 by 28 5/8 in.

Private collection

An impressive twenty-one-panel installation from Avedissian’s Icons of the Niles series, creating a splendid mosaic of Egyptian cultural history that retraces his country’s past and combines nostalgic imagery with a celebration of Egyptian iconographical motifs. 

Each stenciled panel embodies a variety of influences and themes, creating vivid organic patterns. His process of creation skilfully combines the use of local pigments, gum arabic, and hand-coloured textiles; the result is presented as a powerful vehicle for the artist’s personal memories and experiences.  

Chant Avedissian, with his sophisticated stenciled works, unifies Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and dynastic monuments with pictures of modern national heroes, admired politicians, popular singers and actors. These pictures are based on media imagery from Gamel Abdel Nasser’s rule (1956-1970), a decade that witnessed a socio-cultural reawakening permeated with a vigorous wave of Arab nationalism. Avedissian's concern for the disappearance of Egypt's rich heritage at the outbreak of the first Gulf War motivated him to explore such topics as memory, history, imagery and self-representation in Egyptian culture. This shift in focus was a defining moment in his career as a contemporary artist, which had previously concentrated on photography and hand-worked textile panels. More on this work

Chant Avedissian, (Egyptian, 1951–2018)

Icons of the Nile 3, c. 1993

Gouache and gold paint on corrugated paper

98 3/8 x 59in. (250 x 150cm.)

Private collection

Chant Avedissian was born in 1951 in Cairo, the son of Armenian refugees who fled the Turkish incursions in 1915-16. After studying fine art at the School of Art and Design in Montreal and applied arts at the National Higher School of Decorative Arts in Paris during the 1970s, Avedissian returned to Egypt. He fused the techniques, concepts and cosmopolitan experiences acquired abroad with the heritage of his Armenian-Egyptian background to produce striking commentaries on the world around him. His artistry ranges from photography to costume and textile design to the painted stencils seen here. His relationship with Hassan Fathy, a well-known Egyptian architect who advocated the use of local materials and craftsmanship, challenged Avedissian to reconsider local traditions of artistry and to appreciate the properties of common materials.

Chant Avedissian (Egypt, b.1951)

Icons of the Nile, c. 1993

Gouache, silver, gold and coloured painted glitter on corrugated paper

156 7/8 x 78in. (398.5 x 199cm.)

Private collections

Exhibited widely, Avedissian's artwork is held by the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution; the British Museum, London; the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam; the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh; and the National Gallery of Jordan. More on Chant Avedissian

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