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| Les Filles de Nubie (Ubuntu Gallery Exhibition, 2019) |
From a bigger-than-life artist born a hundred years ago, Tahia Halim's paintings have lost none of their freshness and appeal over the past century.
Halim was a unique painter for her generation: a talented and successful female artist that was collected throughout the world, wining the Guggenheim prize for Egypt's selection in 1958. Halim beat four other Egyptian artist, among them giants the size of Salah Taher and Sayed Abdel Rasoul. The overall Guggenheim best entry prize for that year went to the Spanish artist Joan Miro.
Halim was a unique painter for her generation: a talented and successful female artist that was collected throughout the world, wining the Guggenheim prize for Egypt's selection in 1958. Halim beat four other Egyptian artist, among them giants the size of Salah Taher and Sayed Abdel Rasoul. The overall Guggenheim best entry prize for that year went to the Spanish artist Joan Miro.
"The most strikingly apparent feature of Halim's paintings is her infatuation with black people generally, and Nubians in particular," explained Gamal NKrumah, culture writer and African affairs commentator for the Ahram Weekly [https://english.ahram.org.eg/WriterArticles/Gamal-Nkrumah/392/0.aspx]. "Her infatuation with people of color was unique for an Egyptian painter."
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Nude study, 1951 (Source: artnet.com)
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In 1962, Tahia joined 50 Egyptian artists on a trip to Upper (southern) Egypt, invited by then-culture-minister Tharwat Okasha. The stated purpose of the trip was for the artists to discover Nubia and Aswan before the lake that formed behind the newly-built High Dam swallowed up Nubian ancient temples and villages. This trip would become a life-long source of inspiration for the artist.
Tahiya Halim was born on September 9th, 1919 in Donqola, Sudan where her father was posted. The family moved back to Cairo when Halim was a small child and she received her primary education inside the royal palace, where she was raised during the reign of King Fouad of Egypt.*
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| "Hopeful for Peace" (Photo: Mythical Expressionism, Dar el-Shourouk) |
"Expressionism.. is the feature of Halim's style that is rooted in her apprenticeship in Paris among Van Gogh's students," said Sharouni. "Deeply influenced by Ancient Egyptian aesthetics, Halim’s work merges expressionistic color usage with her unique cultural identity... Her folkloric images of Egypt, depict boats on the Nile, Sudanese women, and domestic life."
In an interview with Al-Anwar Syrian newspaper in 1972, she explained: "As for my subjects, they often deal with plain people, popular surroundings and typical local [Egyptian] scenes. The content of all my works unfailingly glorify the 'Human Being', for being behind the world's great endeavors and being the one that lends joviality to the whole universe".
Thrusting Halim into international limelight, the Guggenheim Museum in New York acquired Halim’s "Hanan" (Tenderness in Arabic) for which she had won the 1958 Prize for the Egypt selection that year. Her paintings are among the collections of the Modern Art Museum in Sweden and private collections around the world.
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Tahia in front of her painting "Hopeful for Peace" (Photo: Mythical Expressionism)
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Renowned for her expressionistic style, this is one Egyptian artist that has definitely left her mark on modern Egyptian art. Halim died on May 24, 2003 in Cairo, Egypt. Her works can be admired among the collections of the Egyptian Modern Art Museum in Cairo and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.
