.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Christie's is proud to include this flamboyant masterpiece by Omar El-Nagdi, coming from the prestigious collection of H.E. Francine Henrich, former ambassador to the European Community. This is one of the many treasures from her extensive art collection, amongst which sixty paintings and sculptures by Omar El-Nagdi, today housed in the Château du Chesney, at Pressagny-L'Orgueilleux in Normandy, France.
Having exhibited alongside the Western Masters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, Omar El-Nagdi is one of the most important contemporary Egyptian artists. His striking works stand out as platforms for rich inter-cultural encounters between the Arab and the Western worlds. El-Nagdi's pictorial vocabulary is rooted in his home country's politics and in the lives led by Cairo citizens. He obtains such profuse imagery by combining poetry with elements inherited from 20th century artistic trends namely Expressionism, Cubism and Fauvism. The artist himself claims that he took inspiration from Paul Cézanne for his compositions, Paul Gauguin for his palette of colours and Vincent Van Gogh for the emotion and intensity emanating from his works. At the same time, El-Nagdi also preserves in his paintings the tradition of Egyptian mural paintings whilst exploring the jewel-like effect achieved through monumental mosaics, having extensively studied the latter in Ravenna, Italy, in the 1960s.
Le Mouled fuses all these different sources of inspiration and is undeniably one of the most comprehensive and sumptuous examples in El-Nagdi's oeuvre. In terms of palette, subject matter and emotions, Le Mouled can be seen as a colourful and joyful counterpart to the artist's world famous monumental triptych entitled Sarajevo (H.E. Francine Henrich's Collection, France). In this masterpiece, El-Nagdi denounces the horrors of war, more specifically the tragedy of the Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian massacre, following the steps of Picasso with his Guernica. In contrast, El-Nagdi depicts the jovial and opulent festivities of the 'mawlid', an annual celebration, which generally commemorates the birth of Prophet Mohammed. Bright colours highlighted by gold leaf in some areas burst out from the canvas. The dynamism rendered through the complex composition of figures and decorative patterns echo the lavish traditional costumes of the 'mawlid' celebrants and the festive music. El-Nagdi hence grasps the liveliness of the scene and the warmth of the people's happiness, reflecting the religious and folkloric aspects of the 'mawlid'.
*********COMPS******************
1. Le Mouled, illustrated on both front and back covers of the book by A.Zaoui, Omar El-Nagdi, Honfleur, 1999.
2. The artist at the opening of the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, with H.E. Francine Henrich, Minister Edgar Pisani (President of the I.M.A.), Ali Maher (Egyptian Ambassador to France) and the film maker Youssef Chahine, 1995. Image courtesy of Galerie Danielle Bourdette, Honfleur, France.
Having exhibited alongside the Western Masters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, Omar El-Nagdi is one of the most important contemporary Egyptian artists. His striking works stand out as platforms for rich inter-cultural encounters between the Arab and the Western worlds. El-Nagdi's pictorial vocabulary is rooted in his home country's politics and in the lives led by Cairo citizens. He obtains such profuse imagery by combining poetry with elements inherited from 20th century artistic trends namely Expressionism, Cubism and Fauvism. The artist himself claims that he took inspiration from Paul Cézanne for his compositions, Paul Gauguin for his palette of colours and Vincent Van Gogh for the emotion and intensity emanating from his works. At the same time, El-Nagdi also preserves in his paintings the tradition of Egyptian mural paintings whilst exploring the jewel-like effect achieved through monumental mosaics, having extensively studied the latter in Ravenna, Italy, in the 1960s.
Le Mouled fuses all these different sources of inspiration and is undeniably one of the most comprehensive and sumptuous examples in El-Nagdi's oeuvre. In terms of palette, subject matter and emotions, Le Mouled can be seen as a colourful and joyful counterpart to the artist's world famous monumental triptych entitled Sarajevo (H.E. Francine Henrich's Collection, France). In this masterpiece, El-Nagdi denounces the horrors of war, more specifically the tragedy of the Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian massacre, following the steps of Picasso with his Guernica. In contrast, El-Nagdi depicts the jovial and opulent festivities of the 'mawlid', an annual celebration, which generally commemorates the birth of Prophet Mohammed. Bright colours highlighted by gold leaf in some areas burst out from the canvas. The dynamism rendered through the complex composition of figures and decorative patterns echo the lavish traditional costumes of the 'mawlid' celebrants and the festive music. El-Nagdi hence grasps the liveliness of the scene and the warmth of the people's happiness, reflecting the religious and folkloric aspects of the 'mawlid'.
*********COMPS******************
1. Le Mouled, illustrated on both front and back covers of the book by A.Zaoui, Omar El-Nagdi, Honfleur, 1999.
2. The artist at the opening of the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, with H.E. Francine Henrich, Minister Edgar Pisani (President of the I.M.A.), Ali Maher (Egyptian Ambassador to France) and the film maker Youssef Chahine, 1995. Image courtesy of Galerie Danielle Bourdette, Honfleur, France.