Lot 9: MAHMOUD SAID (EGYPT, 1897-1964) La Famille (Esquisse) oil on panel exec

MAHMOUD SAID (EGYPT, 1897-1964) La Famille (Esquisse) oil on panel executed circa 1935-36 36 x 25.5cm (14 3/16 x 10 1/16in).

Provenance: Property from a private collection, Cairo Property from the private collection of Dr Hassan El Khadem and Nadia Mahmoud Said (the artist’s daughter), Alexandra Originally acquired from the above by Gihane Mirza, Alexandria Acquired from Gihane Mirza by Khayria Ghateb, Cairo Acquired from the above by the present owner Literature: Valerie Didier Hess and Hussam Rashwan, Mahmoud Said: Catalogue Raisonne Volume 1, Paintings, Skira Editore, 2016, illustrated on page 374 Illustration: Valerie Didier Hess and Hussam Rashwan, Mahmoud Said: Catalogue Raisonne Volume 1, Paintings, Skira Editore, 2016, illustrated on page 374 Said [had an] inner passion to translate his inspiration into a concept, which he first creates through a preliminary [..] sketch and then executes into a strikingly colourful and detailed composition [...] Said succeeded in controlling his passionate drive through the intermediary of his preparatory sketches. [An] example of such self-control and detailed artistic process is Said’s famed masterpiece La Famille, that today hangs in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Egypt. With an impressive range of five known bozzeti and one surviving modello. La Famille, alongside La Fille, is probably Said’s most documented work to date in terms of providing a comprehensive visual overview of the Alexandrian masters art in the making [......] The preparatory oil sketch is unusual for Said because of its restricted range of pigments suggesting that he was seeking to master the compositions structure and to determine the areas of light and shade, rather than finalizing his palette. There is no doubt that the paintings of Italian Renaissance masters, such as Leonardo da Vinci or Raphael resonated in Said during the execution of the modello - Valerie Didier Hess, From Model to Modello, Mahmoud Said: A Modern Egyptian Master in the Making, Valerie Didier Hess and Hussam Rashwan, Mahmoud Said: Catalogue raisonne Volume 1, Paintings, Skira Editore, 2016 While working on La Famille I was experiencing at the same time f atherhood, as my wife was expecting. – Mahmoud Said 28