.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Effat Naghi is commonly associated with her brother, the great artist, Mohammed Naghi (1888-1956), and her husband, renowned professor and artist, Saad Al Khadem (1913-1987). Her work is mostly inspired by Egyptian archaeology and folk artifacts as well as by the research that her husband conducted. She was particularly captivated by culture in general and was trained in music and mathematics.
She learned art through a private tutor as well as her brother, who was already an established artist by the time Effat decided to pursue arts. She didn’t receive her formal training until she went to Rome alongside her brother, who was appointed director of the Egyptian Academy in Rome while she studied fresco and mural painting at the Arts Academy. Upon returning to Egypt, she worked under André Lhote (1885-1962) and they used Egyptian archaeology as subject matter.
Since her parents owned a plantation in the Abou Hommos Village, she spent her days painting scenery from the village as well as the daily life of peasants. In the present lot that Christie’s is pleased to offer, Naghi depicts a fruit seller holding an umbrella as she stares through to the viewer with blackened eyes. Contrasting her dark eyes and complexion, the viewer’s gaze is almost instantly drawn to the vibrantly green colored basket of fruit which the woman is carrying, as well as the luminous colors of the umbrella she holds. The dark figure is placed between the two, and this contrast is what forces the viewer to look at the painting from one end to another, and as they look on, they can discover something new the composition has to offer.
By employing a multitude of materials such as crocodile skins, antique painted wood, and magic amulets, Nagy creates heavily textured and colorful pieces that speak to a primitive aesthetic, which was a particular motif in 1920’s Egypt. Her work is known for its daring combinations of colors; however her fixation with the sacred is what makes her work deliberately primitive. Having had a reinterpreted fauvist background, her works portrays a specific need to allow the past to have an ongoing dialogue with the present.
She learned art through a private tutor as well as her brother, who was already an established artist by the time Effat decided to pursue arts. She didn’t receive her formal training until she went to Rome alongside her brother, who was appointed director of the Egyptian Academy in Rome while she studied fresco and mural painting at the Arts Academy. Upon returning to Egypt, she worked under André Lhote (1885-1962) and they used Egyptian archaeology as subject matter.
Since her parents owned a plantation in the Abou Hommos Village, she spent her days painting scenery from the village as well as the daily life of peasants. In the present lot that Christie’s is pleased to offer, Naghi depicts a fruit seller holding an umbrella as she stares through to the viewer with blackened eyes. Contrasting her dark eyes and complexion, the viewer’s gaze is almost instantly drawn to the vibrantly green colored basket of fruit which the woman is carrying, as well as the luminous colors of the umbrella she holds. The dark figure is placed between the two, and this contrast is what forces the viewer to look at the painting from one end to another, and as they look on, they can discover something new the composition has to offer.
By employing a multitude of materials such as crocodile skins, antique painted wood, and magic amulets, Nagy creates heavily textured and colorful pieces that speak to a primitive aesthetic, which was a particular motif in 1920’s Egypt. Her work is known for its daring combinations of colors; however her fixation with the sacred is what makes her work deliberately primitive. Having had a reinterpreted fauvist background, her works portrays a specific need to allow the past to have an ongoing dialogue with the present.