Lot 66: HUSSEIN BICAR (EGYPTIAN, 1912-2002) Untitled (i) signed in Arabic (lower le

HUSSEIN BICAR (EGYPTIAN, 1912-2002) Untitled (i) signed in Arabic (lower left); (ii) signed in Arabic (upper left) (i) ink, tempera and graphite on paper; (ii) oil on panel (i) 7 5/8 x 10in. (19.5 x 25.3cm.); (ii) 15 3/4 x 19 5/8 in. (40 x 50cm.) (i) Executed in 1999; (ii) Painted in 1999

PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from the artist to the present owner’s father and thence by descent. Tawfk Saleh was the son of a renowned Egyptian physician. He became a flm-director from the 1950s onwards, after studying cinema in Paris. His frst movie was Darb El Mahabil (‘Alley of Idiots’; 1954-1955), written in collaboration with 1988 Nobel-prize winner and novelist Naguib Mahfouz, and in 1958 he wrote Ihna El-Talamza (‘We are the students’) featuring celebrity actor Omar Al-Sherif. Subsequently directing many other flms that were frequently awarded with international prizes, the common thread running through his successful movies is that they all deal with social injustice, underdevelopment, political abuse and class struggle.