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 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 ...

. He went on to fame in the 1960s as he was appointed head of the Museum of Modern Arts. In 1962, he was appointed head of the

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

. In 1966, he joined

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...

. He painted more than 35 paintings, for

that decorate the walls of its building. Overall, he painted 15000 paintings and held more than 80

art fairs An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhi ...

for his work 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 ...

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and

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

.Egyptian embassy in USA website
/ref> He also participated in 67 collective fairs in Egypt. He’s work is also part of the White House collection and is on rotation and often displayed in the White House His work was shown in numerous exhibitions sometimes in collaboration with institutions like the ''

Institut des cultures arabes et méditerranéennes The Institut des cultures arabes et méditerranéennes (Institute for Arab and Mediterranean Cultures (ICAM)) is an association and Geneva cultural center for the promotion of Arab and Mediterranean cultures in Switzerland. History Founded in ...

'' in Geneva.2017. He was granted the highest awards in Egypt and internationally, among them in 1961 was the

Guggenheim Award Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

. In 2001, he was honored alongside Nobel laureate

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

in the soft opening of the

Bibliotheca Alexandrina The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Latin for "Library of Alexandria"; arz, مكتبة الإسكندرية ', ) is a major library and cultural center on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, Egypt. It is a commemoration of the Library ...

, which was entitled “The brush and the pen," by publishing a book about his work. He remained in the position of the artistic consultant for

till his death. He died, at the age of 95, on February 6, 2007 of

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become mali ...

. He is survived by a son, Ayman, who is also a painter, and two grandchildren.Ahram weekly article
His work in collected by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, and included in its permanent exhibition. In 2018, his work titled 'Metaphysic' was acquired by the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah and is now part of a long-term exhibition at the

Sharjah Art Museum The Sharjah Art Museum is an art museum in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.Sharjah Art Museum

.

References

External links

Zamalek art gallerySalah Taher Official Gallery
*https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/exhibitions/a-century-in-flux/ 1911 births 2007 deaths Helwan University alumni 20th-century Egyptian painters Deaths from cancer in Egypt Deaths from bladder cancer {{Egypt-painter-stub