Lot 2: MAHMOUD MOUSSA (EGYPT, 1913-2003) Kneeling Fellaha grey granite execute

MAHMOUD MOUSSA (EGYPT, 1913-2003) Kneeling Fellaha grey granite executed circa 1940s 30 x 28 x 21cm (11 13/16 x 11 x 8 1/4in).

Provenance: Property from the distinguished collection of Dr Mohammad Said Farsi Mahmoud Mousa is regarded as the artistic successor to the great Mahmoud Mokhtar. He was a pioneering artist of the second generation, beginning his artistic career when, in 1931, he joined evening classes run by the Amateurs Society, then under the direction of Mahmoud Said, and received further training from Mahmoud Mokhtar, which contributed to the development of the signature Pharonic revival style which is the hallmark of some of the most celebrated examples of twentieth century Egyptian sculpture. Moussa’s artistic skill and aesthetic sensibilities came from his experience with sculpting marble gravestones, demonstrated in his ability to work on a shallow surface, and his deftness in imbuing his figures with a unique expressiveness, grace and austerity evident in the president composition. He became a member of the teaching staff at the sculpture department of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria, in 1957. He participated in several group exhibitions in Cairo and Alexandria including several appearances at the Alexandria Biennale, including winning the prize for sculpture in Alexandria Biennale in 1955. Ahmad Osman was one of the most prominent Egyptian sculptors of his generation. Osman was born in 1907 in the small Nubian village of Eneiba near Aswan. He studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Cairo under the English painter William Arnold Stewart. In 1928, he received a scholarship to study in Rome, where he took classes at the Scuola Libera del Disegno del Nudo before entering the sculpture department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After receiving his diploma in 1932, he traveled to Florence to specialize in decorative sculpture at the Regio Instituto d’Arte. In 1933, Osman returned to Egypt where he was appointed professor of sculpture at the School of Applied Arts in Giza. Osman was named director of the sculpture section of the School of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1937. That same year he participated in the decoration of the Egyptian Pavilion at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques appliqués à la Vie modern in Paris, headed by the Egyptian politician and collector Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil. In 1938, he exhibited at the 15th Venice Biennale together with artists Mohammed Naghi, where Egypt was represented for the first time. In 1957 Osman established the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria. Osman was heavily involved in the safeguarding of Egyptian cultural heritage. In 1954, he participated in the relocation of the colossal statue of Ramses II from Mit Rahina (Memphis) to Bab al-Hadid square in front of Cairo railway station. He also participated in UNESCO’s Nubian campaign from 1959, by developing techniques for cutting and reassembling the stone blocks of the Temple of Abu Simbel. While his early works employ characteristics of Italian Classicism, towards the end of the 1930’s he started sculpting a series of bronzes representing busts of Egyptian peasant women. These sculptures are characterized by their realism in depicting the features of the peasants and daily rural activities. They embody the simplicity and joyfulness of rural life, which he often expressed through a smiling Egyptian peasant. Osman was also a talented painter and produced a series of feminine and masculine nudes in charcoal, as well as several portraits, genres he developed while studying at the Scuola Libera del Disegno del Nudo. In these charcoal drawings, Osman reflects his background as a sculptor, by applying clear lines and shades on sculptural volumes.