01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #22

ANTOINE MALLIARAKIS MAYO, 1905 - 1990, Egyptian

HARMONY, c. 1930s - 1940s

Oil on wood, in four parts

229 by 122 cm.; 90⅛ by 48 in.

Private collection

Antoine Malliarakis Mayo,  was born in 1905 in Egypt, the son of a Greek engineer and a French mother. Although he kept a Greek passport throughout his life, he was culturally French and lived in France for half of his life after leaving Egypt. He came to France to study architecture but started frequenting artistic circles in the Paris of the roaring twenties and decided to become a painter instead. He made a living decorating cabarets and, later, designing costumes for stage productions, while continuing to paint. In 1944 his friend, writer Jacques Prévert, recommended him as costume designer for the classical period piece "Les Enfants du Paradis". The film was a hit and allowed Mayo to lead a 20-year career in French cinema, designing the costumes (and sometimes the scenery) of several classics. In the meantime, he also worked as art director on many commercials. With the early 60s, and the coming of the "Nouvelle Vague", period pieces became less frequent, and Mayo had less work offers. He ultimately decided to leave movies to concentrate on his paintings. Having moved to Rome, Italy, in the mid-sixties, he finally managed to make a good living with his paintings alone. Unfortunately, in the early eighties, Mayo gradually lost his eyesight. In 1984 he moved back to France and died in 1990, aged 85. More on Antoine Malliarakis Mayo

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #21

RAMSES YOUNAN, 1913-1966, Egyptian

UNTITLED, c. 1935

Oil on canvas

50 by 37.4 cm.; 19⅝ by 14¾ in.

Private collection

The present work explores themes of poverty and disparity throughout a period of social inequality and extreme poverty experienced across Cairo. The divergence between the wealthy and the underprivileged is prevalent in the work, especially when one examines the juxtaposed figures represented across the canvas. More on this work

Ramses Younan (Minya, 1913 – Cairo, 1966), was an Egyptian painter and writer. 

Ramses Younan created in 1939, along with Georges Henein, Ikbal El Alaily and Edmond Jabès, the surrealist journal La Part du Sable. He was also a prominent member of the trotskyist group Art et Liberté from 1939, and edited the magazine El Magalla El Guedida between 1943 and 1945. Hostile to British colonialism, to Hitler and to Stalin, Younan published his own Arabic translations of works and essays by Albert Camus, Franz Kafka and Arthur Rimbaud.

In 1947, Younan participated in the International Surrealist Exhibitions in Paris and Prague and signed Rupture Inaugurale, the collective manifesto published by Parisian Surrealists.

His first personal exhibition was held in 1948 at the Gallery Nina Dausset (Paris). He also published in 1948 a dialog with Henein, Notes sur une ascèse hystérique, strongly criticizing Surrealist automatism.

Younan returned to Cairo in 1956 and faced an increasingly stifling political and cultural climate, but remained true to his principles and his views on art and freedom. His work is on display in Egypt, as well as at the Sharjah Art Museum as part of a long-term exhibition curated by the Barjeel Art Foundation. More on Ramses Younan

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #20

MAHMOUD SAID, 1897-1964, Egyptian

LE PIRÉE A L'AUBE/ PIRAEUS AT DAWN, c. 1949

Oil on board

46 by 66 cm.; 18⅛ by 26 in.

Private collection

Mahmoud Said, 1897-1964, EGYPTIAN. Born into a wealthy Alexandrian family, Mahmoud Said first studied jurisprudence at the French School of Law in Cairo in the 1910s. During his studies, he became interested in painting, and joined the studios of Italian painters Amelia Casonato da Forno and Arturo Zanieri, before travelling to France to study in Paris, briefly at the Académie Julian. Though he worked for almost thirty years as a lawyer and then a judge, he continued to paint in his free time until he quit law in the late 1940s and devoted himself to art completely. He is considered the foremost painter of the ‘Pioneer’ generation of Egyptian artists, renowned for his bold, richly coloured portraits, nudes, and landscapes. He painted continuously until his death in 1964.

 Said’s works are housed in private and public collections including Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, Cairo; Mahmoud Said Museum, Alexandria, and Ministry of Culture, Egypt. More on Mahmoud Said

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #19

Antoine Malliarakis Mayo, 1905 - 1990, Egyptian

L’INDISCRET/ INDISCREET, c. 1974

Oil on canvas

46 by 55 cm.; 18 by 21⅝ in.

Private collection

Antoine Malliarakis Mayo,  was born in 1905 in Egypt, the son of a Greek engineer and a French mother. Although he kept a Greek passport throughout his life, he was culturally French and lived in France for half of his life after leaving Egypt. He came to France to study architecture but started frequenting artistic circles in the Paris of the roaring twenties and decided to become a painter instead. He made a living decorating cabarets and, later, designing costumes for stage productions, while continuing to paint. In 1944 his friend, writer Jacques Prévert, recommended him as costume designer for the classical period piece "Les Enfants du Paradis". The film was a hit and allowed Mayo to lead a 20-year career in French cinema, designing the costumes (and sometimes the scenery) of several classics. In the meantime, he also worked as art director on many commercials. With the early 60s, and the coming of the "Nouvelle Vague", period pieces became less frequent, and Mayo had less work offers. He ultimately decided to leave movies to concentrate on his paintings. Having moved to Rome, Italy, in the mid-sixties, he finally managed to make a good living with his paintings alone. Unfortunately, in the early eighties, Mayo gradually lost his eyesight. In 1984 he moved back to France and died in 1990, aged 85. More on Antoine Malliarakis Mayo

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #18

SALAH YOUSRI, 1923 - 1984, Egyptian

CITYSCAPE, c. 1950

Oil on canvas

53.5 by 65 cm.; 21⅛ by 25½ in.

Private collection

Salah Yousri, was born in Cairo in 1923 and graduated with a degree from the Fine Arts School of Cairo in 1947. Upon his graduation, Yousri had a solo exhibition at Galerie Goldemberg in Cairo, and later on left for Paris to study in the atelier of famed Parisian cubist artist Andre Lhote. It is through his exposure in Paris that Yousri really developed his oeuvre and style. Initially emulating Lhote’s cubist mannerism stylistically; Yousri’s true spirit slowly appeared, as his fascination with the “pure” ancient Egyptian folkloric aesthetic became his primary source of inspiration. Upon his return to Cairo after a year in Paris, Salah Yousri became a member of the Modern Art Group. 

One of Egypt’s forgotten modernist artists, Salah Yousri advanced a new type of art: in 1948 he spent two years extensively studying hieroglyphics in Luxor, rendering a form of cubism imbued with Pharaonic art. His style and form gained international recognition and subsequently Yousri exhibited at the 1952 Venice Biennale as well as at international galleries across Europe including Andre Weil and Galerie Mariac in Paris. Salah Yousri resettled in Paris in 1956 where he stayed with his family until his death in 1984. More on Salah Yousri

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #17

Gazbia Sirry, b. 1925, Egyptian

HOUSES ON THE NILE, c. 1970s - early 1980s. 

Oil on canvas

35 by 41 cm.; 13¾ by 16⅛ in.

Private collection

Gazbia Sirry (born 1925) is an Egyptian painter.

Born in Cairo, Gazbia Sirry studied fine arts and became a professor in the painting department of the Faculty of Art Education, Helwan University. Gazbia is considered one of the leading Egyptian artists, with a varied and innovative career of more than 50 years. 

Serry’s art expressed the feelings and traditions of the Egyptian woman during the 1960s. In the 1970s, she used the pyramid images and constructional mixture in her works for expressing their daily life, and in the 1990s she helped in liberating the Egyptian woman from the old traditions through her work.

Gazbia Sirry was born to be the conscience of the nation, with its hopes and pains, joys and sorrows.” —Mokhtar al-Attar

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #16

Nuri İyem, 1915-2005, Turkish

ÜÇ ELTILER (THREE SISTERS-IN-LAW), c. 1960s-1970s

Oil on hardboard

61.5 by 41.5cm.; 24¼ by 16¼in.

Private collection

Nuri İyem, (1915 - d. 18 June 2005 ) was a leading figure in the Turkish painting and social-realistic art movement.

Nuri İyem was born in Istanbul in 1915. During his childhood he used to paint walls with charcoal. Because of his father's job as a health official, İyem spent his childhood in various cities of Anatolia. After finishing primary school in Mardin, he returned back to Istanbul to attend secondary school and he studied at Vefa and Pertevniyal Highschools. 

His passion to be a painter was forcing his dreams through the coasts of Fındıklı where the Fine Arts Academy stood. . Those dreams would be concluded with his enrollment at the Academy in spite of his parents' desire to see their child as a doctor.

Nuri İyem was one of the most important living masters of Turkish painting. He has produced, exhibited, written and discussed art without a break, in spite of all the difficulties to exist as an artist during the social and cultural course of the Republic period. Nuri has crowned his life with many precious art works and his own story is not just an autobiographical representation of an artist, but also an expression of real struggle and honour. More on Nuri İyem

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

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01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #16

Maher Raif, 1926 - 1999, Egyptian

UNTITLED (THE FISHERWOMAN AND THE NET), c. 1948

Oil on canvas

60 by 85cm.; 23½ by 33½in.

Private collection

Maher Raif 1926 - 1999 was born in the Shubra quarter of (north) Cairo. Raif was the son of a visual artist and the grandson of an Al-Azhar scholar. A participant in all Contemporary Art Group events, Raif graduated from Cairo’s Faculty of Fine Arts in 1950 and received a degree in philosophy at Cairo University in 1954. Raif studied in the Luxor Atelier. Depicting folkloric themes, he sometimes worked in pastels, choosing richly saturated colors and his figures were characterized by roundness, outsized hands and shrouded faces. In 1960 Raif was appointed dean of the Alexandria School of Fine Arts. In 1964, he was awarded the Lausanne Biennale prize. Raif earned a diploma in graphics from Dusseldorf University in 1970, developing innovative intaglio and cameo printmaking techniques. He also obtained a doctorate in graphics, aesthetics and art history from Cologne University in Germany in 1975. When he returned to Egypt, Raif embraced the Sufi religious tradition. He consequently abandoned figurative art in favor of calligraphy and geometric forms and led a fierce campaign against live model drawing in art schools. Raif exhibited extensively, in Egypt, Germany, Stockholm, Tokyo, Moscow, Sao Paolo, Venice and Rome. In 1986 he moved to the United States to live with his daughter in New Jersey. More on Maher Raif

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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