The Egyptian School of Fine Arts
The Egyptian School of Fine Arts [Madrassat al-Funun al-Jamila al-Misriyya] opened its doors on 13 May 1908, a date cited by many art historians as…
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Modernism in the Middle East and Arab World
Exploring modernity and its intellectual trends in the Middle East is a very fitting endeavour, as ‘Middle East’ itself is a ‘modern’ term which has…
Photography
Modernism in Africa
Though they often escape critical scrutiny, concepts such as modernism, modernity, and modernization are at the heart of the concept of development, and thus omnipresent…
Cubism [REVISED AND EXPANDED]
Cubism is an art movement that emerged in Paris during the first decade of the 20th century. It was a key movement in the birth…
Symbolism Overview
Symbolism is a late-nineteenth-century literary movement centred mostly around the work of poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam,…
Surrealism Overview
Soupault’s publication of Manifeste du Surréalism in 1924. Rising in the wake of the First World War, Surrealism revolted against a world that had become…
Owais, Hamed (1919–2011)
Born in Beni Soueif, Egypt, Hamed Owais is one of the leading painters of Egyptian social realism. He was a partisan of the ideals of…
El Guindi, Yussef (1960–)
Yussef El Guindi is an Egyptian/Arab-American playwright. He was born in Egypt, educated in London, and is currently a resident of Seattle, USA. He received…
Al-Manfalouti, Mustafa Lutfi (1876–1924)
Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfalouti (1876–1924) is one of Egypt’s greatest modern prose writers and poets. He was born in the Upper Egyptian city of Manfalout to…
Wanly, Seif (1906–1979)
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Seif Wanly is a leading figure of Egyptian modern art. Together with his younger brother, Adham Wanly, he was among the…
Mostafa, Kamel (1917–1982)
Kamel Mostafa was an Egyptian impressionist painter recognized for his soft oil paint scenes depicting daily life in Egypt. He began his studies at the…
Nada, Hamid (1924–1990)
Born in the popular neighbourhood of Khalifa in Cairo, Egypt, Hamid Nada is one of the leading figures of Egyptian modern art. He was one…
Wanly, Adham (1908–1959)
Born in the neighborhood of Muharram Bey in Alexandria, Egypt, Adham Wanly is a leading figure of Egyptian modern painting. In 1929, together with his…
Al-Tahtawi, Rifa’a (1801–1873)
Rifa’a Rafi’ al-Tahtawi was an Egyptian reformer and thinker who is widely recognised as the pioneer of the Egyptian ‘Awakening’ (nahda) in the 19th century.…
Sabbagh, Georges (1887–1951)
Born into a family of Syro-Lebanese origin in Alexandria, Egypt, Georges Sabbagh is an Egyptian painter of the École de Paris. He started painting at…
Sirry, Gazbia (1925--)
Gazbia Sirry is an Egyptian painter. Throughout her sixty-year career, Sirry responded to political, social, and artistic shifts in Egypt. She is well respected for…
Henein, Georges (1914–1973)
The son of an Egyptian diplomat and Italian-Egyptian mother, surrealist writer Georges Henein spent his childhood between Cairo, Madrid, Rome, and Paris. It was in…
Al-Hakim, Tawfiq (1898–1987)
Tawfiq Al-Hakim (1898–1987) was an Egyptian playwright, short-story writer, and novelist generally credited with giving birth to the theater in Egypt. His fiction, in the…
Abdel Aleem, Mariam (1930–2010)
Mariam Abdel Aleem was a prominent Egyptian graphic artist known for her printed works and engraving that stitched together symbols from ancient and contemporary Egypt…
Rifaat, Alifa (1930–1996)
Fatimah Abdullah Rifaat, born in Cairo on 5 June 1930, belonged to an Egyptian family of Turkish origin. She began to write in her youth,…
Cavafy, C. P. (1863–1933)
C. P. (Constantine Petrou Photiades) Cavafy, the youngest of seven brothers, was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where he spent most of his life working as…
Lassaw, Ibram (1913–2003)
A sculptor of the New York School, Ibram Lassaw was born to Russian parents in Alexandria, Egypt. The family immigrated to Brooklyn, NY, in 1921,…
Ayad, Ragheb (1892–1982)
Born into a Coptic family in one of Cairo’s popular neighborhoods, Ragheb Ayad is a prominent member of a generation of Egyptian artists known as…
Masābnī, Badī’ah
Badī’ah Masābnī was a professional actress, singer, and dancer from the Levant. She settled in Egypt in the 1920s and eventually opened a highly successful…