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Lot Essay
Egyptian socialist realist painter Hamed Ewais typified the notion of what it means to be an inspiring nationalist painter. Ewais’ oeuvre focused heavily on politics, and with a highly articulated aesthetic of strong compositional ability, his work lent itself to becoming iconic images of resistance, political activism and nationalism due to the themes presented and motifs tackled in each of his compositions.
His masterpieces were often ‘tableaux vivants’ of a wide range of Egyptian characters set against a backdrop that referenced political events or social realities in Egypt at the time. He featured objects or landmarks that connoted themes or aspects of the narrative he was presenting in each individual work. Despite his oeuvre focusing on his native country, many works produced during his lifetime imparted various messages about national identity, the importance of citizens standing united in the face of enemy threats and the honour inherent in defending one’s country. In his painting America, Ewais focused on the subject of the War of Attrition from 1967-1970, and on Egypt’s role within this historic and controversial period in a manner so technically astute and brilliantly creative, that it exceeds all his earlier works.
Ewais’ humble origins did not impede him from a long and successful career. Born in Kafr Mansour, a small rural town south of the city of Cairo, Ewais enrolled the School of Fine Arts after training as a metalworker and welder in his hometown during his teenage years. He studied at both the School of Fine Arts, and Institute of Pedagogy in Cairo, the latter of which offered a less traditional setting and more innovative approach to the study of art theory and practice. As a result, Ewais founded a collective in 1947 called the Group of Modern Art which included fellow Egyptian artists Gazbia Sirry and Gamal El Seguini amongst others, which believed in creating an artistic style that confronted the challenges of everyday life for the common Egyptian man and woman. Despite the contemporary establishment of Egyptian Surrealism, the Art and Liberty Group, Ewais sought an alternative ideology which would help create an artistic vernacular that was appreciated and understood by the average Egyptian man and woman, avoiding the anarchistic tone of the highly polemical Egyptian Surrealist movement which had its roots in rejecting the current political establishment in Egypt.
Ewais hence developed an unprecedented style in Egypt which critics have since dubbed Social Realism after having observed the works of the Italian Social Realist artists that were exhibited alongside Ewais’ works at the Venice Biennale in 1952. Hamed Ewais was awarded with the 1956 Guggenheim Prize in the Mediterranean Region category for his painting Labor– a painting that starkly depicted the drudgery and harsh living conditions of workers exiting a factory after a day’s shift. The painting illustrated the oppression they endured, with the use of matt blues, greens and browns, a turning point in his style that he continued to develop in his subsequent works. Some art historians argue that Ewais was also inspired by the social realist work of Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Indeed, the human bodies of Ewais’ figures have a characteristic roundness to them, and exaggerated proportions, reminiscent of Rivera’s style. Ewais infused his works with light, saturated jewel tones and colours upon his encounter with the Egyptian artist Mahmoud Saïd in Alexandria. It was there in the coastal city while teaching at the Faculty of Fine Arts in the early 1960s that Ewais began to meld colour and light with subjects veering in shape and size on the fantastical thus pushing his work in the direction of magical realism.
In his painting America, Ewais provides a visual scathing commentary on the diplomatic stalemate between Egypt and its allies against Israel from 1967-1970. The political vacuum left after the conclusion of the Six-Day War in 1967 resulted in Egypt and its allies refusing to negotiate, make peace or recognise the state of Israel unless it fully removed itself from Sinai. Ewais’ painting on the topic articulates this episode of history by outside parties involvement and support of varying sides in the conflict which further complicated matters. Ewais articulated this highly complex stalemate in a tightly constructed and complex narrative of symbolism.
Like the work Al Aabour (sold at Christie’s Dubai, March 2016; price realised: $605,000) (1974) depicting the crossing of the Suez Canal by Egyptian military forces in 1973 which included a giant male soldier at the centre of the painting or like another of Ewais’ masterpieces recently offered at auction The Protector of Life (sold at Christie’s Dubai, March 2015; price realised: $341,000), a tribute the Egyptian people and to Egypt’s heroes in the context of the Six-Day War with Israel in 1967, America also contains a large central character around whom the rest of the painting’s narrative unfolds. However, in this work, the central figure is not human, but machine: a mechanical Trojan horse that is rearing, each of its forelegs uniquely constructed and capable of a different sort of destruction. The extreme mechanical and machine quality of the modern-day Trojan horse helps to underscore the militaristic aspect of the subject.
At first glance, it is hard to infer which side the Trojan horse is fighting for, but it is safe to presume that the horse is in fact not simply fighting for Egypt, but is the symbolic representation of the physical might and resistance of the Egyptian military forces and its allies. Weaponry and machinery feature heavily in two of Ewais’ other works– Al Aabour and The Protector of Life– on war against Israel. This no doubt is due to the heavy emphasis that was placed by the Egyptian state on scientific and engineering advancement as an indicator of a progressive and modern state.
In America, the horse towers over the Statue of Liberty, and Ewais’ manipulation of size and proportions helps to underscore the message of strength and threat posed by the Egyptian horse that will overpower America, the ally of its enemy. From the right foreleg is a tall spike that sticks out from the knee, and the hoof is also a spike – a horrifying encounter with whatever may come near it. The extensive number of buttons, levers, antennas and switches on the horse’s body helps to underscore the high degree of this complicated machinery. The neck of the horse appears strong and thick, welded from sheets of metal. Yet we do not see hind legs, the torso of the horse is attached to a bottom component of an inorganic nature. Most strange is the moon-like face that stares directly at the viewer from a port hole in the centre of the horse’s chest. Perhaps this is the commander-in-chief who is leading the battle?
Behind the horse are columns similar in style to those found in Ancient Egyptian temples. Some stand while others appear to be fragmentary remnants. Ewais’ inclusion of Egyptian artefacts in his works helps to underscore the very nationalism which was under threat from the enemy and hence being saved. Hence, his inclusion of an element of Egyptian culture – and particularly one that was associated with Ancient Egyptian civilisation – helps to further indicate that the artist was articulating a very political message related to the safeguarding and protection not only of Egyptian land (in this case Sinai) but the protection of Egyptian heritage, identity and civilisation as a whole.
The tall and skinny palm trees, typical of Southern Egypt, on either side of the horse suggest that the origin of the horse - and perhaps by extension the valiant Egyptian soldier who is fighting and protecting Egypt – originates from the south of Egypt where many densely populated towns and villages still exist today. A large number of young men from those cities would have been drafted into the Six-Day-War and into subsequent battles and military efforts from 1967 onwards. Other flora and fauna are included in the painting: a rose of deep red colour grows tall beside Lady Liberty in the lower left quadrant of the canvas - perhaps alluding to the flower that rests upon the caskets of fallen American soldiers who also partake in this war. Another larger red flower grows in the lower right quadrant of the canvas. Such saturated red details appear to create a visual dialogue with the brilliant cerulean blue of the sky, contributing to the composition’s dynamism and balance.
Christie’s is delighted to offer such a powerful example of political art by the late Egyptian artist on a moment that united many Arab nations against a common goal, strengthening notions of identity and independent sovereignty throughout the Middle East.
His masterpieces were often ‘tableaux vivants’ of a wide range of Egyptian characters set against a backdrop that referenced political events or social realities in Egypt at the time. He featured objects or landmarks that connoted themes or aspects of the narrative he was presenting in each individual work. Despite his oeuvre focusing on his native country, many works produced during his lifetime imparted various messages about national identity, the importance of citizens standing united in the face of enemy threats and the honour inherent in defending one’s country. In his painting America, Ewais focused on the subject of the War of Attrition from 1967-1970, and on Egypt’s role within this historic and controversial period in a manner so technically astute and brilliantly creative, that it exceeds all his earlier works.
Ewais’ humble origins did not impede him from a long and successful career. Born in Kafr Mansour, a small rural town south of the city of Cairo, Ewais enrolled the School of Fine Arts after training as a metalworker and welder in his hometown during his teenage years. He studied at both the School of Fine Arts, and Institute of Pedagogy in Cairo, the latter of which offered a less traditional setting and more innovative approach to the study of art theory and practice. As a result, Ewais founded a collective in 1947 called the Group of Modern Art which included fellow Egyptian artists Gazbia Sirry and Gamal El Seguini amongst others, which believed in creating an artistic style that confronted the challenges of everyday life for the common Egyptian man and woman. Despite the contemporary establishment of Egyptian Surrealism, the Art and Liberty Group, Ewais sought an alternative ideology which would help create an artistic vernacular that was appreciated and understood by the average Egyptian man and woman, avoiding the anarchistic tone of the highly polemical Egyptian Surrealist movement which had its roots in rejecting the current political establishment in Egypt.
Ewais hence developed an unprecedented style in Egypt which critics have since dubbed Social Realism after having observed the works of the Italian Social Realist artists that were exhibited alongside Ewais’ works at the Venice Biennale in 1952. Hamed Ewais was awarded with the 1956 Guggenheim Prize in the Mediterranean Region category for his painting Labor– a painting that starkly depicted the drudgery and harsh living conditions of workers exiting a factory after a day’s shift. The painting illustrated the oppression they endured, with the use of matt blues, greens and browns, a turning point in his style that he continued to develop in his subsequent works. Some art historians argue that Ewais was also inspired by the social realist work of Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Indeed, the human bodies of Ewais’ figures have a characteristic roundness to them, and exaggerated proportions, reminiscent of Rivera’s style. Ewais infused his works with light, saturated jewel tones and colours upon his encounter with the Egyptian artist Mahmoud Saïd in Alexandria. It was there in the coastal city while teaching at the Faculty of Fine Arts in the early 1960s that Ewais began to meld colour and light with subjects veering in shape and size on the fantastical thus pushing his work in the direction of magical realism.
In his painting America, Ewais provides a visual scathing commentary on the diplomatic stalemate between Egypt and its allies against Israel from 1967-1970. The political vacuum left after the conclusion of the Six-Day War in 1967 resulted in Egypt and its allies refusing to negotiate, make peace or recognise the state of Israel unless it fully removed itself from Sinai. Ewais’ painting on the topic articulates this episode of history by outside parties involvement and support of varying sides in the conflict which further complicated matters. Ewais articulated this highly complex stalemate in a tightly constructed and complex narrative of symbolism.
Like the work Al Aabour (sold at Christie’s Dubai, March 2016; price realised: $605,000) (1974) depicting the crossing of the Suez Canal by Egyptian military forces in 1973 which included a giant male soldier at the centre of the painting or like another of Ewais’ masterpieces recently offered at auction The Protector of Life (sold at Christie’s Dubai, March 2015; price realised: $341,000), a tribute the Egyptian people and to Egypt’s heroes in the context of the Six-Day War with Israel in 1967, America also contains a large central character around whom the rest of the painting’s narrative unfolds. However, in this work, the central figure is not human, but machine: a mechanical Trojan horse that is rearing, each of its forelegs uniquely constructed and capable of a different sort of destruction. The extreme mechanical and machine quality of the modern-day Trojan horse helps to underscore the militaristic aspect of the subject.
At first glance, it is hard to infer which side the Trojan horse is fighting for, but it is safe to presume that the horse is in fact not simply fighting for Egypt, but is the symbolic representation of the physical might and resistance of the Egyptian military forces and its allies. Weaponry and machinery feature heavily in two of Ewais’ other works– Al Aabour and The Protector of Life– on war against Israel. This no doubt is due to the heavy emphasis that was placed by the Egyptian state on scientific and engineering advancement as an indicator of a progressive and modern state.
In America, the horse towers over the Statue of Liberty, and Ewais’ manipulation of size and proportions helps to underscore the message of strength and threat posed by the Egyptian horse that will overpower America, the ally of its enemy. From the right foreleg is a tall spike that sticks out from the knee, and the hoof is also a spike – a horrifying encounter with whatever may come near it. The extensive number of buttons, levers, antennas and switches on the horse’s body helps to underscore the high degree of this complicated machinery. The neck of the horse appears strong and thick, welded from sheets of metal. Yet we do not see hind legs, the torso of the horse is attached to a bottom component of an inorganic nature. Most strange is the moon-like face that stares directly at the viewer from a port hole in the centre of the horse’s chest. Perhaps this is the commander-in-chief who is leading the battle?
Behind the horse are columns similar in style to those found in Ancient Egyptian temples. Some stand while others appear to be fragmentary remnants. Ewais’ inclusion of Egyptian artefacts in his works helps to underscore the very nationalism which was under threat from the enemy and hence being saved. Hence, his inclusion of an element of Egyptian culture – and particularly one that was associated with Ancient Egyptian civilisation – helps to further indicate that the artist was articulating a very political message related to the safeguarding and protection not only of Egyptian land (in this case Sinai) but the protection of Egyptian heritage, identity and civilisation as a whole.
The tall and skinny palm trees, typical of Southern Egypt, on either side of the horse suggest that the origin of the horse - and perhaps by extension the valiant Egyptian soldier who is fighting and protecting Egypt – originates from the south of Egypt where many densely populated towns and villages still exist today. A large number of young men from those cities would have been drafted into the Six-Day-War and into subsequent battles and military efforts from 1967 onwards. Other flora and fauna are included in the painting: a rose of deep red colour grows tall beside Lady Liberty in the lower left quadrant of the canvas - perhaps alluding to the flower that rests upon the caskets of fallen American soldiers who also partake in this war. Another larger red flower grows in the lower right quadrant of the canvas. Such saturated red details appear to create a visual dialogue with the brilliant cerulean blue of the sky, contributing to the composition’s dynamism and balance.
Christie’s is delighted to offer such a powerful example of political art by the late Egyptian artist on a moment that united many Arab nations against a common goal, strengthening notions of identity and independent sovereignty throughout the Middle East.