Lot 569: Mahmoud Moukhtar , Egyptian 1883-1934 Au Bord Du Nil (On the Banks of the Nile) bronze

signed and inscribed Susse F dr Ed rs Paris\ cire perdure and with the Susse pastille bronze

measurements note height: 40.3cm.; 15 7/8 in.

Executed in 1931, this work is unique.
This is an outstanding example of the work of one of Egypt's greatest modern sculptors.

As a child Moukhtar was led to believe that sculptures and images of people and animals were idolatrous and sinful, and according to his memoirs there had been no practising sculptors in Egypt for 1300 years. It is testament to his wayward character that he went on to acquire the skills of a sculptor. Trained by the French master Laplagne in Cairo and then receiving a scholarship to Paris where he remained for some time, he became a regular exhibitor at the Salon des Artistes Français. Indeed the present lot was cast at the Susse Frères foundry in Paris, where artists such as Miro and Dali also cast their work. Moukhtar came to be considered one of the foremost nationalist heroes of Egypt. This is demonstrated by perhaps his most famous work, the monumental pink granite Egyptian Awakening, representing a poised female figure removing her veil and staring into the distance, standing tall beside a sphinx. There is very little room for misinterpreting this sculpture, it is intended to be read objectively. The artist made the woman significant in both a national and social context: with her rise came the awakening of a nation. The peasant woman, fellaha, had been adopted as an emblem for an entire cultural movement. The beautiful woman signified art, the veil embodied feminist emancipation, and the peasant represented Egypt and her nationalism. When considering Moukhtar's oeuvre it is clear that the Egyptian woman was a potent message he articulated over and over again. Sometimes rendering the woman asleep, other times standing tall and elegant as she is here, he has made her as chief of a village and as a cheese seller, but she is always a potent message to the Egyptian people. Drawing inspiration from both Europe and Arab Egypt, it is his unique combination of occidental and oriental, his nationalist pride and political vision that is apparent in his sculpture. Aesthetically, the grace of the Art Deco and the Pharaonic are fluidly combined with the nationalist spirit of modern Egypt, producing refined and powerful works of art.