Ahmed Sabri (أحمد صبري), sometimes Ahmad Sabry (b. 20 April 1889 – 8 March 1955) was an Egyptian painter born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. He was one of the most prominent pioneers of modern portraiture art in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Biography

Sabri was born in the Megharbeleen neighborhood of Cairo's

Al-Darb al-Ahmar Al-Darb al-Ahmar is a historic neighbourhood in Cairo, Egypt. It is also the name of an administrative district ('' qism'') within the Cairo Governorate that includes most of the neighbourhood. Its name means "the Red Street" in Arabic. History ...

district. He suffered from a tormented upbringing, moving house frequently after being orphaned at an early age. In 1910, he joined the Cairo prince Youssef Kamal Fine Arts School and graduated in 1914. He traveled to Paris in 1919 where he joined the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadé ...

, and then the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

studying in the

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...

of François Schommer and under Prof. Paul Albert Laurens, as well as with the painter Emmanuel Fougerat. When he returned to Egypt, he worked as an illustrator with the

Entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

Department of the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

, then as an artist with the Ministry of Public Works, which sent him on a further scholarship to Paris; there, he exhibited his painting "The Nun" in the

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

in 1929, and was awarded the Prix d'Honneur by the French Arts Society. In 1929, Egyptian artists who had studied in Europe began to be hired as professors in the Higher School of Fine Arts, Ahmed Sabri took up work as a professor in this institution and soon headed the painting department until he retired in 1951. There he fostered the talents of numerous Egyptian masters such as Hussein Bicar,

Salah Taher Salah Taher (1911–2007) was an Egyptian painter. He worked for some time as a drawing and art teacher in Al-Abaseyya High School in Alexandria. He went on to fame in the 1960s as he was appointed head of the Museum of Modern Arts. In 1962, he wa ...

, and Hamed Owais.
He became blind a few years before his death in 1955.

Major works

* "After Reading" displayed in the Paris International Exhibition of 1925 received a gold medal at the Paris International Salon in 1929. * "The Nun" received the Honor award from the French Society of Arts in 1929. * "The lady with a Fan" File:عازفة العود. احمد صبري. زيت على توال.jpg, A woman plays on 'Oud عازف الربابة.jpg, A man plays on Rababa بعد المطالعة. زيت على قماش 1926. احمد صبري.jpg, After Reading الراهبة. تأملات. أحمد صبري.jpg, Meditations or
"The Nun"

Collection

* The Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in Cairo acquired about 40 paintings of his artworks that are always characterised by luxury, aristocratic subjects, clarity and pure Egyptian light, today a wing in the museum, the Ahmed Sabri Hall is named after him.

Major shows

Sabri started his first art exhibition in Cairo in 1925. * Participated in the Paris

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...

in 1929. * Exhibition of his work with the re-opening of the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in October 1991. * Exhibition in Hall of Candles 1997. * Exhibition in Hall of Horizon at the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in 2003. * Cairo Atelier Salon for the first

Portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

Cairo Atelier September 2005. *

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetism, Synthetist style that were d ...

exhibition hall in Heliopolis on the occasion of the golden anniversary of his death memory in 2006. * Salon Gallery in Hall of

first session in May 2007. * Photo pigtail communication between the pioneers and the new generations of talent "Grandfather And Grandson" in Hall of Dimensions at the Museum of Egyptian Modern Art in January 2008. * Exhibition of League in Cordoba Arts Engineers Gallery July 2009 – (guest of honor). * Exhibition of Creativity Keys in the main hall of

Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace The Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace is a historical building in Cairo's Zamalek island, which is used as the Egypt's first ceramics museum, the Museum of Islamic Ceramics and as an art center. History and location The palace is located in the Gezira ...

, (

Museum of Islamic Ceramics The Prince Amr Ibrahim Palace is a historical building in Cairo's Zamalek island, which is used as the Egypt's first ceramics museum, the Museum of Islamic Ceramics and as an art center. History and location The palace is located in the Gezira ...

) in January 2010. * Exhibition in Hall of

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east an ...

, February 2010. * Exhibition of Museum of Fine Arts Holdings in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

in Hussein Subhy's Hall (Albab-Saleem) at the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in May 2010. * The twenty second National Association of Fine Arts Salon in

Sultan Al-Ghuri Complex The Sultan Al-Ghuri Complex or Funerary complex of Sultan al-Ghuri, also known as al-Ghuriya, is a monumental Islamic religious and funerary complex built by Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri between 1503 and 1505 CE. The complex consists of two major bui ...

May 2011 – (guest of honor). * Cairo, Salon (fifty six) of the Fine Arts Palace, March Arts in 2013.

Bibliography

* Hussein Bicar; ''Aḥmad Ṣabrī'', al-Hayʼah al-ʻĀmmah lil-Istiʻlāmāt, 1983. * A chapter about his art and his life was published in the encyclopaedia: ''A Museum in a Book'', by Sobhy – El Sharouni, in 1998. * Muhammad Sidqī al-Jabākhanjī; ''Sīrat hayat al-fannān Ahmad Sabrī'', Cairo, al-Dar al-Misriyah, 1967.WorldCat, Sīrat hayat al-fannān Ahmad Sabrī.
/ref> * Jessica Winegar, ''Creative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in Contemporary Egypt''.

References

External links

Sabri, on Artnet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabri, Ahmed Egyptian illustrators Académie Julian alumni 1889 births 1955 deaths 20th-century Egyptian painters Egyptian people of Turkish descent