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Lot Essay
Undoubtedly one of the most exciting recent re-discoveries of Modern Egyptian Art, Abdel-Hadi El-Gazzar’s masterpiece An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste, has not been seen by the public since the mid-1980s when it was bought by the present owner in Egypt, despite being extensively illustrated in later publications. An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste was painted in 1951 when Gazzar was just 26 years old. Yet 1951 was a critical year in Gazzar’s oeuvre as witnessed by the 14 or so paintings produced that same year, falling into the category of the so-called ‘folk’ or ‘popular’ period, considered as the peak of his career. Often identified with these highly sought-after works, Gazzar only produced just over thirty paintings in that style, between the late 1940s and early 1960s, representing just under a third of his complete oeuvre of paintings. A third of these thirty of so ‘popular’ paintings are in institutional collections, and the rest are divided between two or three private collectors apart from a couple remaining paintings which are in other private hands, one of which is An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste coming from the Washington D.C.-based collection of George and Janna Laudato, that Christie’s is proud to offer for sale this season.
George and Janna Laudato met in Cairo in 1976. George was an officer with the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and Janna was a teacher at the American College of Cairo. In the late 1970s, the Laudatos began collecting works by Salah Taher, Hamed Nada, as well as by emerging artists. At the same time, they nurtured their cultural thirst by exploring medieval Cairo with its many mosques, madrassas, caravansaries, and homes. An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste was on display at Aïda Ayoub’s third and last show on Abdel Hadi El- Gazzar in 1986. It caught Janna’s attention because of the painting’s historical context as well as its richness in terms of folkloric and Islamic symbols. For Janna, the painting’s central figure captured the charm, generosity, strength and weakness of Egyptian fellahin. In her eyes, despite this character’s deformities and abject poverty, he is still able to delight in the mundane task of feeding a chicken, oblivious to his surroundings.
It comes with no surprise that during the years the Laudatos spent in Egypt, it was An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste that resonated the most for them. The rich palette, the clever composition and the striking, intriguing yet ambiguous subject matter show Gazzar’s ground-breaking approach and confirm his position as one of the leading figures of 20th century Modern Egyptian Art. Born in the Qabari district of Alexandria in 1925, Gazzar and his family lived in a small village on the Delta Nile called Burumi before moving to Cairo where his father, Abdullah El-Gazzar had been appointed as a professor of shari’a law at Al Azhar University. Therefore Gazzar’s family settled in the Sayyida Zeinab neighbourhood, featuring the Mosque of Sayyida Zeinab and the bazaar nearby, an environment which would deeply affect Gazzar physically, culturally and psychologically, triggering and nurturing his unique pictorial vocabulary. The Sayyida Zeinab area exposed the young Gazzar not only to Egypt’s lower and middle classes, but also to the vibrant and colourful religious festivals, street fairs and feasts. Gazzar therefore found himself at the epicentre of a world ruled by life’s miseries, fatalities and struggles, yet paradoxically animated by the religious liveliness and cultural buzz. Delving in this world, Gazzar observed, analysed and absorbed how these people coped with life’s cruel challenges, many of which let themselves guided by fortune-tellers and intercessors who advocated the powers of magic, mystical beliefs and folk traditions as well as encouraging the use of narcotics and other countless means of daydreaming. There is no doubt that this background fuelled Gazzar’s imagery for his ‘popular’ paintings, and namely for An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste.
Gazzar’s artistic talent had been noticed by his drawing teacher at Secondary School, Hussein Youssef Amin, with whom he co-founded along with fellow artist Hamed Nada the Contemporary Art Group in 1946. Hussein Youssef Amin sought an art at the heart of which was the true Egyptian identity, exploring its psychological and philosophical dimensions. He encouraged artists to excavate Egyptian heritage, traditions and beliefs to nurture their visual language and to rid themselves of any outside influence. This is precisely what Gazzar has achieved in his oeuvre, especially in his ‘popular’ paintings, epitomised in An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste. The historical and political context of when this masterpiece was executed in 1951 is worth mentioning given its undeniable impact on Gazzar’s art as argued by Patrick Kane in his recently published book The Politics of Art in Modern Egypt: Aesthetics, Ideology and Nation-Building (New York, 2013). After exhibiting at the Contemporary Art Group’s three group shows in 1946, 1948 and 1949, Gazzar and his mentor Hussein Youssef Amin were both jailed in 1949 by King Farouk’s forces. Gazzar had the controversial painting ‘The Theatre of Life’ also known as ‘The Chorus’ in 1948 and Amin, for exhibited it. Being ‘silenced’ for his art possibly re-invigorated Gazzar’s determination to present the realities of poor people and their life struggles in his paintings. He even took a further step in excavating the lower class’ psychology and mentality, by including the magic symbols, folk beliefs and rituals that these people innocently believed in. These motifs could bridge their reality with their mentality, enabling the artist to access their inner psychology and their unconscious in view of extracting a more universal message to convey to the public within the social and political context of his time.
During the 1940s, the series of political and historical events in the Arab diaspora deeply affected Gazzar’s attitude towards life, triggering him to reflect on the realities of these external events. As pointed out by Patrick Kane, more local incidents such as disease epidemics, namely malaria in Aswan in 1944 and cholera in 1946, combined with food shortages amplified by sequestrations of war by the British, impacted an artist like Gazzar. The Muslim Brotherhood, members of which Gazzar would have met in his father’s circle, played an important role in attempting to remedy the drastic situation by establishing food banks and medical clinics, particularly.
George and Janna Laudato met in Cairo in 1976. George was an officer with the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and Janna was a teacher at the American College of Cairo. In the late 1970s, the Laudatos began collecting works by Salah Taher, Hamed Nada, as well as by emerging artists. At the same time, they nurtured their cultural thirst by exploring medieval Cairo with its many mosques, madrassas, caravansaries, and homes. An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste was on display at Aïda Ayoub’s third and last show on Abdel Hadi El- Gazzar in 1986. It caught Janna’s attention because of the painting’s historical context as well as its richness in terms of folkloric and Islamic symbols. For Janna, the painting’s central figure captured the charm, generosity, strength and weakness of Egyptian fellahin. In her eyes, despite this character’s deformities and abject poverty, he is still able to delight in the mundane task of feeding a chicken, oblivious to his surroundings.
It comes with no surprise that during the years the Laudatos spent in Egypt, it was An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste that resonated the most for them. The rich palette, the clever composition and the striking, intriguing yet ambiguous subject matter show Gazzar’s ground-breaking approach and confirm his position as one of the leading figures of 20th century Modern Egyptian Art. Born in the Qabari district of Alexandria in 1925, Gazzar and his family lived in a small village on the Delta Nile called Burumi before moving to Cairo where his father, Abdullah El-Gazzar had been appointed as a professor of shari’a law at Al Azhar University. Therefore Gazzar’s family settled in the Sayyida Zeinab neighbourhood, featuring the Mosque of Sayyida Zeinab and the bazaar nearby, an environment which would deeply affect Gazzar physically, culturally and psychologically, triggering and nurturing his unique pictorial vocabulary. The Sayyida Zeinab area exposed the young Gazzar not only to Egypt’s lower and middle classes, but also to the vibrant and colourful religious festivals, street fairs and feasts. Gazzar therefore found himself at the epicentre of a world ruled by life’s miseries, fatalities and struggles, yet paradoxically animated by the religious liveliness and cultural buzz. Delving in this world, Gazzar observed, analysed and absorbed how these people coped with life’s cruel challenges, many of which let themselves guided by fortune-tellers and intercessors who advocated the powers of magic, mystical beliefs and folk traditions as well as encouraging the use of narcotics and other countless means of daydreaming. There is no doubt that this background fuelled Gazzar’s imagery for his ‘popular’ paintings, and namely for An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste.
Gazzar’s artistic talent had been noticed by his drawing teacher at Secondary School, Hussein Youssef Amin, with whom he co-founded along with fellow artist Hamed Nada the Contemporary Art Group in 1946. Hussein Youssef Amin sought an art at the heart of which was the true Egyptian identity, exploring its psychological and philosophical dimensions. He encouraged artists to excavate Egyptian heritage, traditions and beliefs to nurture their visual language and to rid themselves of any outside influence. This is precisely what Gazzar has achieved in his oeuvre, especially in his ‘popular’ paintings, epitomised in An Ear of Mud, An Ear of Paste. The historical and political context of when this masterpiece was executed in 1951 is worth mentioning given its undeniable impact on Gazzar’s art as argued by Patrick Kane in his recently published book The Politics of Art in Modern Egypt: Aesthetics, Ideology and Nation-Building (New York, 2013). After exhibiting at the Contemporary Art Group’s three group shows in 1946, 1948 and 1949, Gazzar and his mentor Hussein Youssef Amin were both jailed in 1949 by King Farouk’s forces. Gazzar had the controversial painting ‘The Theatre of Life’ also known as ‘The Chorus’ in 1948 and Amin, for exhibited it. Being ‘silenced’ for his art possibly re-invigorated Gazzar’s determination to present the realities of poor people and their life struggles in his paintings. He even took a further step in excavating the lower class’ psychology and mentality, by including the magic symbols, folk beliefs and rituals that these people innocently believed in. These motifs could bridge their reality with their mentality, enabling the artist to access their inner psychology and their unconscious in view of extracting a more universal message to convey to the public within the social and political context of his time.
During the 1940s, the series of political and historical events in the Arab diaspora deeply affected Gazzar’s attitude towards life, triggering him to reflect on the realities of these external events. As pointed out by Patrick Kane, more local incidents such as disease epidemics, namely malaria in Aswan in 1944 and cholera in 1946, combined with food shortages amplified by sequestrations of war by the British, impacted an artist like Gazzar. The Muslim Brotherhood, members of which Gazzar would have met in his father’s circle, played an important role in attempting to remedy the drastic situation by establishing food banks and medical clinics, particularly.