Sobhy GUIRGUIS – The Self and the Other
SOBHY GUIRGUIS (1929-2013) SOBHY GUIRGUIS departed this world on January 20th, 2013 at the age of 83, leaving behind an unparalleled legacy of avant-gardism, modernity and humanity. His body of work rouses a certain awe by virtue of his selflessness, naivety and indefatigable commitment to artistic creation. Sobhy Guirguis was probably the most existential Egyptian artist of the twentieth century, beside Abdel Hady el Gazzar, and the most truthful to the child within the adult. The best works of Guirguis take you to the limit of your capacity to be moved by art. Sobhy Guirguis, through his defiantly unconventional geometric abstraction of form, rejected the official prevailing academic-realism, creating a modernism that claimed to tap into the universal. As we enter the realm of one of the more perplexing artistic psyches of the 20th century in the Arab world, we soon realize how his art creates a profound and intimate experience. His sculptural or painted shapes are a metaphor to his secluded life, an autobiography in a way, acknowledging his self and the other. Â SOBHY GUIRGUIS was born in 1929 in Cairo, Egypt where he lived and worked. Influenced by his father, a renown naie player in Om Kolthoum orchestra, Guirguis first enrolled to study music and then switched to arts. He received a BFA, MFA and PhD from the faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1958 and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Florence in 1964. He received the prestigious first prize for sculpture in the Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries in 1994 and the Grand Prize of the Cairo International Biennale in 1994 amongst many others.
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Paintings
Hope
WOVEN 101 x 71cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 119
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LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS 71x101cm Oil on canvas Signed SG – 134
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TWOSOME Oil on canvas 100 x 70 cm SG – 138
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FORTUNE TELLER III- CUP READER 101 x 71 cm Oil on canvas Signed SG – 129
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LOVE Oil on Canvas 101 x 70cm Signed SG – 133
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EMBRACE 100 x 70 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 146
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This flower is for you 60 x 40 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 230
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EMBRACE II 100 x 70 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 201
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THE KISS 100 x 70 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 203
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The Mother and The Child Within
MOTHERHOOD II Oil on Canvas 123 x 102cm Signed and dated 1989 SG – 122
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MOTHERHOOD VII Oil on Canvas 123 x 102cm Signed and dated 1989 SG – 200
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MOTHERHOOD V 100 x 70 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 132
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MOTHERHOOD VII 100 x 70 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 205
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MOTHERHOOD VIII 100 x 70 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 206
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MOTHER AND DAUGHTER 79 x 59 cm Oil on canvas Signed SG – 134
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DANCING GIRL WITH MUSIC Oil on Canvas 122 x 103cm Signed SG – 139
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THE FAMILY Oil on Canvas 101 x 71 cm Signed SG – 141
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INNOCENCE 101 x 71cm Oil on Canvas SG – 145
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BLISS 122 x 102 cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG – 143
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RED DRESS Oil on Canvas 82 x 62cm Signed SG - 136
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THE DUEL 118 x 98 cm Oil on Canvas SG – 147
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The Truth
TIME Oil on Canvas 71 x 101 cm Signed SG – 111
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SEATED WOMAN 118 x 98 cm Oil on Canvas SG – 131
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DIALOGUE III 101 x 71 cm Oil on canvas SG – 104
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DIALOGUE IV 121 x 101 cm Oil on canvas SG – 204
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WOMAN AND ROOSTER 122 x 102 cm Oil on Canvas Signed and dated 1990 SG – 117
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THE PAST Oil on Canvas 101 x 70cm SG – 124
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REST 101 x 71cm Oil on Canvas Signed SG -110
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ME, MYSELF, AND I Oil on Wood 68 x 88 cm SG – 130
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CONTEMPLATION Oil on Canvas 120 x 100 cm SG – 135
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SOLICITUDE Oil on canvas 100 x 70 cm SG – 137
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The Thinker Oil on Canvas 118 x 108 cm Signed SG – 149 NOT FOR SALE 38
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THEY SAID ABOUT SOBHY GUIRGUIS: Without Sobhy Guirguis, Egyptian sculpture would have suffered a significant void. Makram Henein, Art Critic
And despite their child-like appearance, Sobhy Guirguis’ works bring forth a compelling, mature feeling in his call to face the unknown. Ezz el Din Naguib, Art Critic and Author
We have lost a pioneering, one of a kind artist, and we have gained, through his artistic legacy, a genuine Egyptian genius. Mostafa Razzazz, Author and Art Critic
The works of Sobhy Guirguis became a landmark in Egyptian contemporary art.� Sobhy Sharouny, Art Critic and Author 39
“I wanted to invent, to create, to break all the rules.” Sobhy Guirguis
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Founded in 2010, ARTTALKS | GALLERY | EGYPT has established itself as a highly selective search engine for Egypt’s next generation of contemporary artists and an authority on high quality secondary market works by twentieth century Egyptian masters and many of the most important artists working today. ArtTalks manages the estate of the late painter and sculptor Dr Sobhy Guirguis, a seminal artist who just passed away in January 2013. Part of ArtTalks income is channeled into an Art Fund to support high potential emerging artists and to finance an extensive educational program aimed at growing the number of art collectors and art patrons in Egypt. We run a yearly curriculum on the history of Egyptian modern and contemporary art and invite scholars from abroad to give talks to the public. Founded by arts patron Fatenn Mostafa, former CEO of Gianaclis Vineyards for Beverages and former advisor to Bozar, Center of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium, the gallery is committed to the defense of freedom of art in Egypt and to strengthen Egypt's position on the regional art map.
Founder Gallery Director Gallery Assistant Gallery Administrator
Fatenn Mostafa +201003838500 Cherine Chafik +201003838100 Aynoor Zeitoun +201004777717 Lisa Lounis +201003970141
8 el Kamel Mohamed Street. Zamalek. Cairo. Egypt. info@arttalks.com www.arttalks.com Facebook Page: Art Talks Egypt www.issuu.com/ArtTalks +20227363948 +201005550585