Lot 20: Buildings on the Nile

Gazbia Sirry (Egyptian, b. 1925)
Buildings on the Nile
signed 'Gazbia' and signed in Arabic (lower right)
oil and pen on canvas
19¼ x 23¼in. (49 x 59cm.)
Painted circa 1970s

FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, CANADA

Since the 1960s the city of Cairo has been experiencing a housing crisis, with an ever-growing migration from the rural areas from all over Egypt to the capital seeking jobs and better living. As a result hundreds of thousands of houses have been built since, resulting in unprecedented unplanned spontaneous urbanization.

In the work of Gazbia Sirry from the 1960s and 1970s, she engages with the conditions of the crowded city in relation to its human population.