Amira Zahid:

Groundbreaking exhibitions

The Dahesh Museum has been at the helm of the revival of interest in 19th century academic art

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Being honoured for her work by the late AUC president John Gerhart; receiving guests at the museum

I can't remember when I first met Amira Zahid, but I feel that I have known her all my life. She has precisely that measure of warmth, coupled with a kind and friendly demeanour, that I have always found disarming.

I don't know how to describe the many talents of Amira. She is an amalgam of many academic and professional specialisations. But let me begin at the beginning. Amira Zahid received her pre-college education in the rigorous French school system in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1973 she obtained her Baccalaureate with honours from the College Protestant Français, Beirut.

After moving to the United States with her family during the Lebanese Civil War, she received a BA in English Literature with a minor in German language in 1980. This was followed in 1986 with an MA in humanities and while pursuing her studies she earned a certificate of paralegal studies and, in 1987, she obtained a certificate for book and publication design, layout and production.

As if that is not enough Amira went on to receive a law degree -- Juris Doctor -- at St John's University Law School in 1991.

Why all these studies? I asked here.

"I suppose it all comes from a natural thirst. I don't really know but in a way it is like a child discovering for the first time the world around her."

Amira is now on one of her regular visits to Egypt -- the city of her birth -- in her capacity as trustee, vice-president and treasurer of the Dahesh Museum of Art. She is in Cairo to negotiate the possibility of exhibitions being staged in Egypt that draw on the holdings of the Dahesh museum.

But first, what is the Dahesh Museum?

"The basis of the museum," she says with an air of pride, "is the art collection assembled by the writer and philosopher Salim Moussa Achi, who adopted Dahesh as pen name. He originally planned for a museum of European academic art to open in Beirut but in 1975, when Lebanon's civil war put the collection at risk, my family brought it safely to the US."

"The academic tradition -- based on the study of classical art, rigourous training, polished execution and representational imagery -- has produced centuries of great artists, from Renaissance Italy's Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael to 19th century France's Alexandre Cabanel, Adolphe William Bouguereau and Jean-Leon Gerome."

"Academic art was first established in Renaissance Italy and it prescribed strict guidelines for the production of works of art. The organised training system ensured that artists possessed a high level of technical ability and a familiarity with the lofty themes of the Western tradition."

Pausing for a fraction of a second, Amira continues: "Nearly every city in Europe, and later in the US, Australia and Latin America, developed an art academy. In fact Cairo had an art academy, founded in 1907 and, until 1937 directed by European academic artists."

She speaks with the assurance of an art connoisseur, which makes one wonder why, in the batch of qualifications she already holds, she never undertook the formal study of history of art.

"You don't have to study art to love art," she says. "The enjoyment of art is an acquired taste that comes with continuous exposure to works of art. As a young woman I went on extensive travels with my family, visiting museums, art houses and galleries in Europe, the Middle East and the US, but the credit in all this should go to my mother, Mervat, who instilled in all her children a love of art and music. She was an artist herself, since the early age of 13, as well as diligent pianist since the age of six. She encouraged us to visit museums and reflect on what we saw. It was really my mother who had the initial vision to save the core collection of Dr Dahesh from Lebanon's civil war and who set out to offer the world a new look at an old century by asking me to found a new museum in New York City, the art capital of the US."

The Dahesh Collection of over 2000 art works formed the basis of the museum which was incorporated in 1987 by charter by the State of New York and which opened its doors, on Fifth Avenue, in 1995. Despite limited gallery space for the staging of exhibitions the Dahesh quickly became a leading venue for the display of European academic art and for understanding its place in 19th and early 20th century art history.

"Academic art," Amira explains, "was pushed out by Impressionism and other modernist trends. It languished for decades in store rooms, back galleries and provincial European museums. But now, and mainly through our museum, the forgotten accomplishments of academic artists have begun to re-emerge from the shadows."

I have visited the museum a number of times and even gave a lecture on "Neo-Orientalism" to accompany an exhibition on Orientalist art. One thing which characterises the Dahesh Museum's exhibitions is that they are thematic. A Distant Muse, a showing of Orientalist works from the Museum's own collection, displayed a number of masterpieces inspired by the Orient including François-Leon Benouville's Portrait of Leconte de Floris in an Egyptian Army Uniform, Jean-Leon Gerome's General Bonaparte in Cairo and Jean-Baptiste Vanmour's Turkish Woman Smoking on the Sofa. One of the most popular paintings in the exhibition was the American artist Frederick Arthur Bridgman's Cleopatra on the Terraces of Philae.

Decisions about the kind of exhibitions the Dahesh Museum organises are led by Amira Zahid. For nearly 20 years she has evaluated and collected art objects and paintings for the Dahesh Museum and for other private collections, in which capacity she has played an important role in assessing the value of art works and advising on or determining acquisitions to enhance the Dahesh and other collections, whether at auction, from art houses and galleries or other private collections and institutions, through purchase or donation.

How have her diversified studies helped her in her job?

"Well, to begin with, my legal studies helped me in meeting the legal requirements set by the authorities. They also helped in negotiations and business transactions. In fact I acted as legal consultant to several art institutions. My BA in English literature led me to translate into English a number of Arabic works by Dr Dahesh as well as editing novels and poetry into English and French. My graphic experience meant that I could supervise the printing and issuing of our publications, including over 30 detailed exhibition catalogues."

Amira speaks with enthusiasm about the museum's new premises on 580 Madison Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares of New York.

"Acquiring and reconstructing the premises was not an easy affair -- it involved a great deal of legal struggle and architectural prowess. But the new gallery space more than triples the 1800 square feet we had at 601 Fifth Avenue. Now we have 6,000 square feet, and possibly 10,000 if we were to expand exhibitions into hallways and reception areas. The inaugural exhibition, French Artists in Rome: Ingres to Degas, 1803-1873 was rated by the New York Times as one of the top ten exhibitions of 2003."

It is not a simple task to divert Amira from talking about the museum and she appears reluctant to talk about herself. Yet there are a number of things about her person that reflects her character. I could easily see how efficient she is, and how she pays great attention to details. She moves around with what I call a mobile office: a laptop, stationary with headed letters and envelopes, pins, coloured tacks, elastic bands, files -- you name it and she knows exactly where it is. She is clearly not ready to waste time looking for the things that need be at her fingertips.

What I also noticed during our meeting is the air of challenge reflected in her eyes.

Has she always been so open to challenges, I inquire.

"Well I seem to have been born with a desire to achieve, and achieving implies challenging. You know, I was very young when I climbed the Great Pyramid, Cheops, with my younger sister Hoda and without a professional guide. I shall always remember standing at the top and taking in the panoramic view of Cairo. It was then that I realised the grandeur of beauty."

By Mursi Saad El-Din