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Lot Essay
Like Marguerite Nakhla, Mariam Abdel Aleem was one of the forerunners of the second generation of Modern Egyptian artists. She tackled social issues of contemporary Egypt in most of her subject matters and used a wide variety of media, excelling in the field of graphic arts. A prominent engraver, Abdel Aleem's paintings are rare, of which Outpatient Clinic, painted in 1958, is a very unique example of her early works. In this frieze-like composition, Abdel Aleem underlined her figures' profiles, expressions and outlines, stressing the subject matter itself of sick or injured people queuing to register into the clinic. The overall colour tone of this painting is discrete with its subdued green, brown and pink pigments and is reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian Pharaonic mural painting.
When Abdel Aleem painted Outpatient Clinic, she had just graduated in Graphic Art from the University of South California and later achieved a Ph.D. in History of Art from the University of Hilwan, Cairo. Her works feature in the collections of leading international institutions in Norway, Germany, Japan, America, as well as in Jordan's National Museum of Art and museums in both Cairo and Alexandria.
One of Modern Egyptian art's foremost critics, Dr. Sedky El-Gabakhanghi, explained what art signified for Mariam Abdel Aleem, writing that, 'she is ahead of the Egyptian female artists in her rushing with enthusiasm. When meanings collapse before, she turns them into lines with which she goes beyond artificial borders connected only to the mind. The lines of this mind reaches carefully through activities that are more dashing, comprehensive and connected to the human existence.'
When Abdel Aleem painted Outpatient Clinic, she had just graduated in Graphic Art from the University of South California and later achieved a Ph.D. in History of Art from the University of Hilwan, Cairo. Her works feature in the collections of leading international institutions in Norway, Germany, Japan, America, as well as in Jordan's National Museum of Art and museums in both Cairo and Alexandria.
One of Modern Egyptian art's foremost critics, Dr. Sedky El-Gabakhanghi, explained what art signified for Mariam Abdel Aleem, writing that, 'she is ahead of the Egyptian female artists in her rushing with enthusiasm. When meanings collapse before, she turns them into lines with which she goes beyond artificial borders connected only to the mind. The lines of this mind reaches carefully through activities that are more dashing, comprehensive and connected to the human existence.'