Ibrahim Shahda (, Al-Azizya – ,

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

) was a figurative French painter born in Egypt.

Biography

Born in Al-Azizya, Egypt, Shahda studied at the

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 ...

Fine Arts Academy in 1947, aged 18. He worked with French professor and painter Pierre Beppi-Martin. In 1955, three years after ending his studies, he won a Prize and organized his first exhibition. At the end of the same year, he decided to leave for Paris. He applied as free student to the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. He moved to the south of France, in Carpentras, but frequently traveled to Paris. A first personal exhibition took place in 1958 at the Arlette Chabaud Gallery in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. He won the Painting Prize from the

Avignon Festival The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...

with ''La femme en noir'', today part of the Fondation Calvet collection (

Calvet Museum The Calvet Museum (''musée Calvet'') is the main museum in Avignon. Since the 1980s the collection has been split between two buildings, with the fine arts housed in an 18th-century hôtel particulier and a separate Lapidary Museum in the forme ...

). He also won the

Painting Prize the same year. A second exhibition, shared with his friend Paul Surtel, was organized in Carpentras (Chapelle du Collège) in 1960. In 1962, unhappy with his work, he chose to return to Paris. In 1963 he visited Italy, then Brittany. In 1966, he returned to Provence, but spent several summers in Brittany. The following decade saw him visit Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and Italy, and show his work in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(Egypt Cultural Center), in

(Ducastel Gallery), in

Carpentras Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal Occitan: ''Carpentràs'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; la, Carpentoracte) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. ...

(Town-Hall) and in

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. During each trip he visited museums and admired the great masters. In 1975, Shahda fell seriously ill. He kept on painting, but felt threatened: "One must snatch work from passing time.". During a long remission, he worked on portraits - including those of fellow artists such as painter Michel Bonnaud or writer Pierre Autin-Grenier - and self-portraits, oil or pastel drawing. Two exhibitions took place in Carpentras in 1981 and 1984. His health deteriorated again in 1985, but he kept on working harder than ever: still lifes, self-portraits and, despite illness and exhaustion, landscapes. He died from cancer during the summer of 1991 in Aix-en-Provence hospital. His widow, Anita, organized many posthumous exhibitions, in Paris, in various Provence towns, in Montpellier and in Ajaccio. She worked for years on a monograph which was published in 2014.

Work

The

Fondation Calvet La Fondation Calvet is an art foundation in Avignon, France, named for Esprit Calvet, who left his collections and library to it in 1810. The foundation maintains several museums and two libraries, with support from the town. The original legaci ...

in Avignon owns two paintings by Shahda, ''La Femme en noir'' from 1958 and a ''Self-portrait'' from the late 70s. The Auberive Abbey and Musée Comtadin-Duplessis in Carpentras also host some of his work. His style is highly personal, but has a clear link with some great painters of the past (

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

Van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

, Velázquez,

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

and

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed with ...

, or

van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...

, Cézanne, Modigliani and Soutine), as well as two of his contemporaries,

Zoran Mušič Zoran Mušič (12 February 1909 – 25 May 2005), baptised as Anton Zoran Musič, was a Slovene painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He was the only painter of Slovene descent who managed to establish himself in the elite cultural circles of It ...

and

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

, by the strength of his portraits and the refusal of abstract art. Artists like painters Lucie Geffré and Ronan Barrot and sculptor Marc Petit have been influenced by Shahda's work.

Exhibitions

* 1958 : Galerie Arlette Chabaud,

* 1960 : Chapelle du Collège,

(exhibition with Paul Surtel) * 1964 : Musée Lapidaire, Carpentras * 1966 : Galerie Ducastel, Avignon * 1967 : Musée Lapidaire, Carpentras * 1969 : Centre Culturel d'Egypte, Paris * 1971 : Galerie Ducastel,

* 1971 : Galerie Lucy Krohg, Paris * 1972 : Hôtel de Ville, Carpentras * 1974 : Galerie Ducastel, Avignon * 1974 : National Fair Club, Marseille * 1975 : Galerie Ducastel, Avignon * 1981 : Musée Duplessis and Chapelle du Collège, Carpentras * 1984 : La Charité, Carpentras

Posthumous exhibitions

* 1993 : Chapelle du Collège,

* 1994 : Musée Municipal,

Alès Alès (; oc, Alès) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie regions of France, region in southern France. It is one of the Subprefectures in France, su ...

* 1995 : Château de Malijay, Jonquières * 1998 : Galerie Doudou Bayol,

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (; Provençal Occitan: ''Sant Romieg de Provença'' in classical and ''Sant Roumié de Prouvènço'' in Mistralian norms) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. Loc ...

* 1998 : Ferme des Arts,

Vaison-la-Romaine Vaison-la-Romaine (; oc, Vaison) is a town in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Vaison-la-Romaine is famous for its rich Roman ruins and mediaeval town and cathedral. It is also unusual in ...

* 1998 : Centre Culturel d'Egypte,

* 1999 : Espace Saint-Louis,

* 2000 : Chapelle du Grozeau,

Malaucène Malaucène (; oc, Malaucena) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Malaucène is a typical provençal village located in Provence (South of France) at the foot of Mont ...

* 2003 : Galerie Artset,

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

* 2006 : Chapelle du Collège,

* 2009 : Galerie Polad-Hardouin,

* 2011 : Galerie Anna-Tschopp,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

* 2011 : Galerie Ardital,

* 2012 : Galerie de l'Ecusson,

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

* 2013 : Lazaret Ollandini, Musée Marc Petit,

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French: ; it, Aiaccio or ; co, Aiacciu , locally: ; la, Adiacium) is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the ''Collectivité territoriale de Corse'' (capital city of Corsica). ...

* 2014 : Imprimerie Rimbaud,

Cavaillon Cavaillon (; Provençal: ''Cavalhon'') is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France.

, for the monograph publication

Publications

* 1984 : Magazine ''Rencontres'', #124 * 2005 : Magazine ''Azart'', #17 * 2009 : Exhibition catalog at Polad-Hardouin Gallery, ''Ibrahim Shahda, La Rinascita'' * 2009 : Magazine ''Vernissages'', #5, ''Ibrahim Shahda, Chronique d'une Survie'' * 2014 : ''Shahda'', monograph, by Anita Shahda ; Illustrations * Pierre Autin-Grenier, ''Élodie Cordou, une présence'', Éditions du Chemin de fer, 2015; with paintings by Ibrahim ShahdaFiche du livre, sur le site de l'éditeur.
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External links

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahda, Ibrahim 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters 1929 births 1991 deaths