Omar el nagdi biography channel
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The Best of Egypt’s Art Heritage
Sarajevo by Omar El-Nagdi (1931-2019) $1,145,000
Omar El-Nagdi is a multifaceted master of calligraphy, expressionism, abstract art, making him one of the most celebrated contemporary Egyptian artists. His paintings touch on the surrealist, the serene and the sensory. He began his artistic education at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Cairo under the tutorship of Ahmed Sabry (1889-1955) before attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in 1959, where he studied frescoes and mosaics. During his travels between Venice and Rome in 1959–60, he found himself at the centre of avant-garde artistic and intellectual circles, with Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico becoming one of his most influential mentors. El-Nagdi was referred to in the press as ‘the Egyptian Picasso’ before turning 30.
El-Nagdi’s paintings translate Egyptian life into timeless symbolism that is deeply felt. “My artistic character developed between the Bab Al She’reya neighbourho
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2023 In Review: Middle Eastern Art
B reaking artist and auction records - 2023 has been one of the Middle East department’s most successful years. The recent Fall sale of 20th Century Art/Middle East represented the highest total since the introduction of the sale as a regular fixture of the London auction calendar, back in 2016.
Among the impressive results, a record was set for the highest price paid for any Saudi artist ever to be offered at auction, with a painting by Mohammed Al Saleem from 1986 soaring to $1.1 million. In the Spring, alongside our bi-annual sale, we offered the eclectic Al Zayani collection which doubled its pre-sale estimates, with a total of $2.9 million and established another artist record for pioneering Egyptian artist Gazbia Sirry. Further records were broken for Lebanese painter Huguette Caland and for the sculptor Saloua Raouda Choucair, who was included for the first time in our London Modern and Contemporary Art Evening sale this summer.
We are l
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Reviewing the McMullen’s “Taking Shape: Abstraction From the Arab World, 1950s— 1980s”
by Katy Gilmore ‘24
A few weeks ago, inom had the opportunity to visit the exhibit, “Taking Shape: Abstraction From the Arab World, 1950s— 1980s” at the McMullen Museum of Art. Afterwards, inom attended a virtual tour of the galleries led by manager Rachel Chamberlain with docents Karen Recco and Kate Hurley. Prior to visiting, I had never truly studied Arab art outside of a European lens. The careful curation and descriptions of the pieces opened up an entire world of art for me. inom left both my in-person and virtual visits in awe of the range and complexity of the galleries.
The exhibit contains artwork from fourteen countries in North Africa and the Middle East from the collection of Sultan Al-Kasemi. It features a very diverse group of artists of different genders, origins, and cultural, economic, and religious backgrounds. All of the art in the exhibit follows the fall of the Ottoman emp