Lot 49: ABDUL HADI EL-GAZZAR (EGYPTIEN, 1925-1965)

ABDUL HADI EL-GAZZAR (EGYPTIEN, 1925-1965)
Abstraction III
signé et daté 'El Gazzar 59' (en bas à droite)
acrylique sur carton d'artiste
64,5 x 76 cm. (25 3/8 x 29 7/8 in.)
Peint en 1959.

Sobhy Al-Sharouny, Abdel Hadi Al-Gazzar, Le Caire, 2007, illustré p. 91.

ABDUL HADI EL-GAZZAR (EGYPTIEN, 1925-1965)

Membre du Groupe d'Art Contemporain aux côtés de Youssef Kamel, Ibrahim Masuda , Mohammed Khalil et Ahmed Maher, Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar fut l'un des plus importants représentants du surréalisme avec Hamed Nada et Sami Rafi. A l'image du travail de ceux-ci, il s'attache à retranscrire la vie des égyptiens issus des milieux populaires et de ceux vivant en marge de la société : les mystiques, les voyants et les acrobates. Il se dégage des oeuvres de cette période une grande poésie, alliant mystère et noblesse.

Entre 1938 et 1946, El-Gazzar entame une phase qui sera appelée métaphysique, avec sa période surnommée Shells. La relation entre l'homme et la nature y tient une place prépondérante. Cette production est consacrée par une reconnaissance publique et critique et attire l'attention de nombreux intellectuels, dont Jean-Paul Sartre et Simone de Beauvoir.

A partir de la fin des années 1940, El-Gazzar s'inspire du travail de Sayeda Zeinab et fait revivre les traditions égyptiennes, héritées du Moyen Age. Il s'oriente par la suite davantage vers une réflexion autour de la révolution industrielle et dépeint de grands projets, tel que le barrage d'Assouan, qui employa plusieurs milliers de travailleurs. Mêlant fascination et scepticisme pour le progrès scientifique, cette période le pousse peu à peu vers l'abstraction. Un long séjour en Italie sera l'occasion pour qu'il y réalise de grandes compositions qui compteront parmi ses chefs-d'oeuvre.


ABDUL HADI EL-GAZZAR (EGYPTIAN, 1925-1965)

Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar was a member of the Contemporary Art Group, which included such artists as Youssef Kamel, Ibrahim Masuda, Mohammed Khalil and Ahmed Maher. He was among its leading proponents of surrealism, along with his colleagues Hamed Nada and Sami Rafi. As in the 1950s work of Nada and Rafi, there is a strong social message in El-Gazzar's earlier painting. As subjects he would choose ordinary working-class people as well as those who lived on the edge - mystics, soothsayers and circus acrobats. Through his strong line and colour, these depictions were to give these characters a certain nobility, but a persuasive feeling of magic and mystery permeates the paintings.

His first metaphysical stage was between 1938 and 1946. This was the time of his Shells Period, based on the anthropological theme of man before civilization and his relationship with the wilderness. His works of this time attracted the attention of international critics and thinkers, including Jean-Paul Sartre, an early admirer. Sartre had seen his paintings when visiting the Museum of Modern Egyptian with Simone de Beauvoir.

The second period of El-Gazzar's career reflected the influence of Sayeda Zeinab where medieval traditions resisted all the winds of modern westernization. It was in this district that he witnessed the moulids and the religious festivals that have been celebrated since the Fatmid period. He began to associate the intuitive aspect of art (its soul) with the essential element in the popular magical art (the hidden and the unknown).

The subjects of El-Gazzar's later works were very different, influenced as he was by the politics of contemporary Egypt and with a focus on technology and progress. A period of study in Italy saw major stylistic changes in his work, namely a marked tendency towards abstraction. It was through this aesthetic that he depicted the colossal works of engineering taking place at the site of Aswan High Dam, a project which employed thousands of workers and was the nationalistic project of the post-revolution era.


ABSTRACTION III, ACRYLIC ON ARTIST BOARD, SIGNED AND DATED BY ABDUL HADI EL-GAZZAR