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Lot Essay
'Mahmoud Saïd has created for Egypt an imagery comparable to that which Goya created for Spain, Degas for the world of ballet, Toulouse-Lautrec for the underworld and Seurat for the circus-ring. Something that reveals and interprets the strength and poetry of Egyptian life as it has not been revealed in any modern day, something which breathes the very spirit of the Egyptian people' are the words of Mahmoud Saïd’s friend from the Mixed Courts, Jasper Y. Brinton, that perfectly sum up Fille à l’imprimé depicted by the great Alexandrian pioneer (J. Y. Brinton, 'Women of Egypt by Mahmoud Said Bey', in Unknown periodical, New York, July 1937). Brinton wrote an article about women in Saïd’s paintings in 1937 – of which the above is an extract - a year before Fille à l’imprimé was painted, on the occasion of an exhibition held at the Studio Guild on 5th Avenue in New York, one of the two known Mahmoud Saïd solo shows hosted in America. By then, in 1938, Mahmoud Saïd was at the peak of his career, both professionally and artistically. From a legal perspective, he was appointed Deputy District Prosecutor of the Courts in November 1937 until October 1938. With regards to his artistic career, Saïd had recently completed La ville (1937), arguably the most important and ambitious painting of his oeuvre, that today majestically greets visitors at the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo in the entrance hall. That same masterpiece – commissioned by Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil - had also just triumphed in the Egyptian Pavilion of the Exposition internationale des arts et techniques dans la vie moderne, held in Paris from 25 May to 25 November 1937. He was already widely acclaimed by the Egyptian public, and the government made its first purchase of a Mahmoud Saïd painting – L’Apôtre (1924) – in 1929. Following his success in both New York and Paris in 1936-37, Saïd’s international recognition flourished, as he was invited to participate to the prestigious XXI International Art Biennial held in Venice from June to September 1938, where he exhibited nine masterpieces: the princess-like La fille en rose (1929), Femme aux gargoulettes (1930), L’invitation au voyage (1932), La pêche miraculeuse (1933), Les chadoufs (1934), les Belles de Bahari (1935), Nadia à la robe rose (1937), Portrait de Madame Fausta Cialente (1938) and La famille or Promenade (1938).
La Fille à l’imprimé follows in that vein of masterpieces, in which Saïd explores one of his all-time favorite subjects, that of a woman - an Egyptian peasant woman or fellaha – wearing a flower-patterned dress and a black veil that covers her hair. This very painting was the one praised by art critic Jean Moscatelli in his review of the XIX Salon du Caire, where it was exhibited in May 1939. Moscatelli writes, ‘it is La Fellaha au voile noir [La Fille à l’imprimé] that stands out as a masterpiece and the most beautiful painting of the Salon. In addition to the face’s expression which is so mahmoudsaïdian, there is a pictorial area in the flowery and transparent black dress that emanates such a profound seductiveness that one cannot escape…’ (J. Moscatelli, 'Le XIXème Salon du Caire', in Images, Cairo, 20 May 1939). The model in La Fille à l’imprimé may not be identified – as she is neither Haguer, Hamida nor Nabawiya, three of Saïd’s regular models – but she definitively stands out in his oeuvre by her simple elegance, her contemplative yet seductive gaze, and her sharp Egyptian features, that resemble to some extent to that of Ancient Egyptian representations of Akhenaton’s queen, the legendary Nefertiti. With his ingenious play on light and his unparalleled mastering of colour, Saïd depicts the young woman with her sun-kissed skin glowing amidst her black clothes and the dark background. In that way, Saïd draws the viewer’s attention straight to his sitter’s face, characterised by her dark almond-shaped eyes, her voluptuous lips and her almost sculptural facial features. Her face emanates such sensuality and emotion, ‘such a profound seductiveness that one cannot escape’ - as pointed out by Moscatelli - that she appears like a ‘femme fatale’. At the same time, the traditional pose that Saïd opted for her, with her hand holding her face, resonates melancholy and contemplation, inviting the viewer to delve deep in her thoughts. From that perspective, this portrait bears witness to Saïd’s fascination with Flemish and Italian Primitives, praising their ability to depict what he called ‘the penetrating humanity’ of sitters whilst at the same time producing simplified and beautifully harmonised compositions. As in several other portraits of women, Saïd uses the clever device of the sitter’s earring – often just a coloured stud or a simple pearl – to capture a glimpse of light that directs the beholder’s eye to the sitter’s face in La Fille à l’imprimé.
With regards to the title of the work, that Saïd seems to have initially titled Fellaha au voile noir on the reverse before realising it would be the title of a completely other painting dated 1939 (Mahmoud Saïd Catalogue Raisonné: P 207; Private Collection). Consequently, he neatly crossed out this preliminary title and replaced it with La Fille à l’imprimé, also on the reverse, revealing how meticulous Saïd was with his own titles, being a lawyer and prosecutor at the Mixed Tribunals. Mahmoud Saïd strived to differentiate each female portrait or female nude by a wide variety of descriptive titles, yet paradoxically he intentionally subdued his model’s individuality by omitting their names, of which La Fille à l’imprimé is an example, or sometimes preserving only their first names. The conventional reason for having this apparently distant relationship with the sitter is a reminder of the social hierarchy; yet in reality, Saïd creates a deeply-rooted and almost spiritual bond with his models by grasping the essence of their identity rather than limiting himself to their personal or physical appearance. His models embody the true Egyptian identity and the beauty of a changing nation that Saïd sought for, and in some ways reminisced about. There is no doubt that La Fille à l’Imprimé is someone who ‘breathes the very spirit of the Egyptian people’ (Brinton, 1937), which Saïd succeeded in capturing in this outstanding portrait. She incarnates the Egyptian female beauty, celebrated throughout Saïd’s oeuvre, but at the same time, Saïd reminds the viewer of the young woman’s duties, as she leans her elbow on a large amphora that she probably fills up with water and empties several times a day. The female figure by the river in the background on the left also hints to the sitter’s daily tedious task. Saïd plays on the contrast between the fellaha’s elegance, seductiveness and immaculate gold skin and her identity as a rural, hard-working girl, therefore immortalising female Egyptian beauty regardless of her social background. In a recently re-discovered painting by Saïd, Hanem (1951) (sold at Christie’s London, 25 October 2017, lot 11; price realised: £ 320,000), Saïd sought to depict a similar type of young girl, but this time she is dressed up with what appears to be Western-style clothes and she sits stiffly on a green couch. In La Fille à l’imprimé, the woman is portrayed in her environment, with the Nile River flowing behind her and a stormy sky looming above her, and she wears a tight flowery dress, the textile of which is neither local nor Western. Saïd captures her during her pause at work, and intentionally suspends time with that mystical light falling upon her face, eternalising that cherished moment of rest, peace and quiet, during which the young girl could temporarily escape her pre-destined life as a fellaha.
La Fille à l’imprimé follows in that vein of masterpieces, in which Saïd explores one of his all-time favorite subjects, that of a woman - an Egyptian peasant woman or fellaha – wearing a flower-patterned dress and a black veil that covers her hair. This very painting was the one praised by art critic Jean Moscatelli in his review of the XIX Salon du Caire, where it was exhibited in May 1939. Moscatelli writes, ‘it is La Fellaha au voile noir [La Fille à l’imprimé] that stands out as a masterpiece and the most beautiful painting of the Salon. In addition to the face’s expression which is so mahmoudsaïdian, there is a pictorial area in the flowery and transparent black dress that emanates such a profound seductiveness that one cannot escape…’ (J. Moscatelli, 'Le XIXème Salon du Caire', in Images, Cairo, 20 May 1939). The model in La Fille à l’imprimé may not be identified – as she is neither Haguer, Hamida nor Nabawiya, three of Saïd’s regular models – but she definitively stands out in his oeuvre by her simple elegance, her contemplative yet seductive gaze, and her sharp Egyptian features, that resemble to some extent to that of Ancient Egyptian representations of Akhenaton’s queen, the legendary Nefertiti. With his ingenious play on light and his unparalleled mastering of colour, Saïd depicts the young woman with her sun-kissed skin glowing amidst her black clothes and the dark background. In that way, Saïd draws the viewer’s attention straight to his sitter’s face, characterised by her dark almond-shaped eyes, her voluptuous lips and her almost sculptural facial features. Her face emanates such sensuality and emotion, ‘such a profound seductiveness that one cannot escape’ - as pointed out by Moscatelli - that she appears like a ‘femme fatale’. At the same time, the traditional pose that Saïd opted for her, with her hand holding her face, resonates melancholy and contemplation, inviting the viewer to delve deep in her thoughts. From that perspective, this portrait bears witness to Saïd’s fascination with Flemish and Italian Primitives, praising their ability to depict what he called ‘the penetrating humanity’ of sitters whilst at the same time producing simplified and beautifully harmonised compositions. As in several other portraits of women, Saïd uses the clever device of the sitter’s earring – often just a coloured stud or a simple pearl – to capture a glimpse of light that directs the beholder’s eye to the sitter’s face in La Fille à l’imprimé.
With regards to the title of the work, that Saïd seems to have initially titled Fellaha au voile noir on the reverse before realising it would be the title of a completely other painting dated 1939 (Mahmoud Saïd Catalogue Raisonné: P 207; Private Collection). Consequently, he neatly crossed out this preliminary title and replaced it with La Fille à l’imprimé, also on the reverse, revealing how meticulous Saïd was with his own titles, being a lawyer and prosecutor at the Mixed Tribunals. Mahmoud Saïd strived to differentiate each female portrait or female nude by a wide variety of descriptive titles, yet paradoxically he intentionally subdued his model’s individuality by omitting their names, of which La Fille à l’imprimé is an example, or sometimes preserving only their first names. The conventional reason for having this apparently distant relationship with the sitter is a reminder of the social hierarchy; yet in reality, Saïd creates a deeply-rooted and almost spiritual bond with his models by grasping the essence of their identity rather than limiting himself to their personal or physical appearance. His models embody the true Egyptian identity and the beauty of a changing nation that Saïd sought for, and in some ways reminisced about. There is no doubt that La Fille à l’Imprimé is someone who ‘breathes the very spirit of the Egyptian people’ (Brinton, 1937), which Saïd succeeded in capturing in this outstanding portrait. She incarnates the Egyptian female beauty, celebrated throughout Saïd’s oeuvre, but at the same time, Saïd reminds the viewer of the young woman’s duties, as she leans her elbow on a large amphora that she probably fills up with water and empties several times a day. The female figure by the river in the background on the left also hints to the sitter’s daily tedious task. Saïd plays on the contrast between the fellaha’s elegance, seductiveness and immaculate gold skin and her identity as a rural, hard-working girl, therefore immortalising female Egyptian beauty regardless of her social background. In a recently re-discovered painting by Saïd, Hanem (1951) (sold at Christie’s London, 25 October 2017, lot 11; price realised: £ 320,000), Saïd sought to depict a similar type of young girl, but this time she is dressed up with what appears to be Western-style clothes and she sits stiffly on a green couch. In La Fille à l’imprimé, the woman is portrayed in her environment, with the Nile River flowing behind her and a stormy sky looming above her, and she wears a tight flowery dress, the textile of which is neither local nor Western. Saïd captures her during her pause at work, and intentionally suspends time with that mystical light falling upon her face, eternalising that cherished moment of rest, peace and quiet, during which the young girl could temporarily escape her pre-destined life as a fellaha.