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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 January 2000 Issue No. 464 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 January 2000 Issue No. 464
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Special Books Profile Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Story boards and music
RAGHEB AYYAD, who died in 1980 aged over 90, spent the 1920s in Italy pursuing his art training. He had graduated from Prince Youssef Kamel's school in 1914, and despite his decade long Italian sojourn, lost, retained an intimate sense of belonging with his native land.
Ayyad was, writes Liliane Karnouk in Modern Egyptian Art, "a witty observer of the tragi-comedy of human interactions. He saw it but also heard it in the din of popular events. He reacted to voices, music and noise in drawings which at times read like story boards: part musical notation, part caricature".
His work, Karnouk notes, was often compared to the music of Sayyed Darwish, though occasionally, very occasionally, a more acid note of cynicism creeps in.
Ayyad was an early member of La Chimere, the group that surrounded Mahmoud Mukhtar and which included a number of European artists alongside fellow Egyptians such as Mahmoud Said. He was also, for a time, director of the Coptic Museum, and his art often displays an expressionism and graphic quality -- an encaustic like surface articulated by bold outlines -- derived from Coptic models.
As a teacher, he was to have a far-reaching influence on an entire generation of artists. His particular brand of folk expressionism proved particularly attractive to Hamed Nada, whose growing interest in Pharaonic and Nubian art was mediated through his association with Ragheb.
Tomorrow, Safar Khan gallery in Zamalek opens an exhibition of Ayyad's work, alongside that of Ervand Demirdjian (1870-1938). The show will include paintings, drawings and pastels and is scheduled to run until 13 February. See Listings for details
