Inji Efflatoun, Expectation, c. 1940s, Ink on paper, 12 x 21 cm. In 1959 she went undercover disguised as a peasant under the Gamal Abdel Nasser regime as the communist party and Egyptian socialist movement was being outlawed. Courtesy Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. A Century in Flux: Highlights from the Barjeel art Foundation. While awaiting Inshirah’s execution, I felt the massive tragedy of her story, as she had killed and stolen under the pressure of extremely harsh conditions and overwhelming misery. So much was she enthralled with the Egyptian society, she refused her mother’s request to finish her fine art studies in Paris stating ‘It was very tempting to go to a good academy, but I refused completely. Description: INJI EFFLATOUN (EGYPTIEN, 1924-1989) Le repos au pied des arbres signé et daté 'I. 479 & 483). She then studied one year under the Swiss artist Margo Veillon and later with the studio painter Hamed Abdallah (1917-1985). Front row, left to right: Jean Moscatelli, Kamel el Telmissany, Angelo de Riz, Ramses Younan, Fouad Kamel. Image courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, After some time I lost the desire to paint the prison and its inmates — the whole place disgusted me. Inji Efflatoun, Mathbahat Dinshaway (The Dinshaway Massacre), c. 1950s, ink on paper, 63.5 × 49.3cm. Collection of Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. In 1942 at the meagre age of 18, Inji took part in the third ‘Art & Liberty’ exhibition (there was only 5 shows ever) and was the youngest amongst the 24 exhibitors. Egyptian Painter Inji Efflatoun: The Merging of Art, Feminism, and Politics Betty LaDuke I first met Inji Efflatoun at her Cairo studio in 1987. Because of the dates of these two paintings, The Queue (1960) and Trees Behind the Wall (c. 1960s), Inji Efflatoun presumably painted them during her incarceration as a political prisoner in Egypt (1959–63). To access Inji EFFLATOUN's auction records, you need to log in and have a subscription. Inji Efflatoun (1924 - 1989 Cairo) Portrait of a Prisoner 1960 Oil on canvas mounted on hardboard 30.5 x 24 cm MAT.2013.16.32 نوطلافأ يجنإ ةرهالا١٩٨٩- ١٩٢٤(ةنيجسل هيرتروب ١٩٦٠ حول ىلع ة Øصلم شامق ىلع ةيتيز ناولأ دلص مس ٢٤ ×3٠،٥ 2013.16.32 Inji Efflatoun It was here she witnessed the harsh realities of prison life - of women behind bars in filthy cells undergoing horrific treatment, each in their own way representing and subject to their own social tragedy. Inji Efflatoun’s life, which began in the spring of 1924, was marked with phases of colour, agony and rebellion that contributed to her groundbreaking artwork. Her paintings often draw on the daily struggles of Egypt’s working class. As the amazing story of Inji unfolds in my below post, let’s take a visual snapshot of her confinement while we are in self-isolation too; instead she was cramped for four years in a depressing overcrowded ward amidst a group of anxious and depressed women. It seems her confinement had a serious impact on seeing the light.. ‘Some two or three months after I arrived in prison [in 1959], I felt a desire to paint and with it came a refusal to surrender to the status quo…I would go up to the roof of the building to paint anything I could find, eventually painting the inmates…, One of the most important subjects I painted from inside the prison was Inshirah, who had been sentenced to death, but her execution had been postponed for one year until her child was weaned. (to see a major exhibition on Egyptian Surrealism that just took place in 5 major museums in Europe from 2016-2018). View additional info In March of that year she was secretly arrested under Nasser along with 25 female political activities. Her works were daring in subject matter, showcasing the plight of Egyptian workers that included the peasants, the craftsmen and the laborers depicted in miserable conditions, while also focusing specifically on women and their daily struggle. It was during this time she began to make many trips to ancient towns such as Luxor and the rural areas of Nubia, painting the men and women at work. Inji Efflatoun in her studio in Hassan Sabry St., Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt, Courtesy Safarkhan Art Gallery. While awaiting Inshirah’s execution, I felt the massive tragedy of her story, as she had killed and stolen under the pressure of extremely harsh conditions and overwhelming misery. Courtesy of the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, Inji Efflatoun, 'Motherhood,' c. 1950s oil on wood, 75 x 47 cm. 56. When I asked to paint her, the director [of the prison] told me that it would be very depressing. Image courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. Image courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. Google Arts & Culture features content from over 2000 leading museums and archives who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world's treasures online. My fellow inmates even named the tree after me; they called it ‘Inji’s tree.’…, ‘There was a small tributary of the Nile where sailboats would pass by. Skip to end of content. Key artists include Gazbia Sirry (b. WINNER: Batool Abu Akleen, Palestine. (Interestingly enough, on the account that one of the most famous modern Egyptian painters Mahmoud Saïd (1897-1964) saw Inji’s early illustrations produced for her older sister Gulperie (known as Boulie) and he urged her mother for Inji to receive lessons!). It’s been an overwhelming sensation to face the fact that we will survive these next moments, however long they last, indefinitely, indoors and in my case, in silence, save for the chitter-chatter of my thoughts ricocheting within me. I obtained permission from the General Manager to go up to the roof of the warehouse..[and] when the boats appeared [the other inmates] cried out ‘The boats are here!’ I painted many pictures of sailboats, depicting our immobility agains the movement of the sails…. A post shared by All Creations Together (@allcreationstogether) on Jan 30, 2019 at 2:06pm PST While we sulk in our seventh season of our favorite Netflix series, I wanted to share an enlightening story on a pioneer Egyptian artist who will turn our trivial complaints into plain bonafide excuses. Image courtesy of Art Talks, Egypt. Shows Featuring Inji Efflatoun. Accessed 4 Apr. Image courtesy of Barjeel Art Foundation. I’d wait until a painting had dried, then I’d remove the canvas from the wooden stretcher and give it to one of the wardens who would wrap it around her body under her clothes. Inji Efflatoun, ‘Portrait of a Prisoner’ 1960. Bestiaire (Bestial) LOT SOLD.65,000GBP. Those sentenced to be executed were placed in a cell under special guard so they wouldn’t commit suicide, and they wore red uniforms. 2. Despite these miserable conditions and fears, Inji maintained a sense of hope and logic: she improved in her artistic style, cultivated a sense of camaraderie with her fellow inmates, and even developed a pseudo art business smuggling her paintings out of the prison— thereby keeping a small but central link to the outside artistic world. During Gamal Abdel Nasser’s regime, she was arrested under a decree authorising the detention of women taking part in political activism. Inji Efflatoun, Dreams of the Detainee, 1961, Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm. Inji Aflatoun was an Egyptian painter and activist in the womens movement. Image courtesy of Christie's Images Ltd. Inji Efflatoun, 'Contemplation,' c. 1940s Ink on paper, 18.5 x 24.2 cm. Lot # 27 Untitled (Feloukas on the Nile) (1968) Painting, Oil/canvas, 23 3/4 x 28 7/8 in 60.2 x 73.5 cm. Some of the doctors also helped me because they were not subject to inspection.. One of the most important subjects I painted from inside the prison was Inshirah, who had been sentenced to death, but her execution had been postponed for one year until her child was weaned. When I asked to paint her, the director [of the prison] told me that it would be very depressing. As a woman artist practicing in the mid 1900s, her talents solidified a strong female artistic movement along with other female painters practicing during this time. See an example. While her work grew politically, her paintings in parallel became more politically engaged. She was tall, self-assured, and fashionably dressed; it was difficult to envision her in prison attire.' Her father, Hassan C. Efflatoun, was the founder of the Entomology Department, and Dean of the Faculty of Science at Cairo University and her mother, Salha Efflatoun, served in the Women's Committee of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society. She was a "leading spokeswoman for the Marxist-progressive-nationalist-feminist movement in the late 1940s and 1950s", as well as a "pioneer of modern Egyptian art" and "one of the important Egyptian visual artists". Egypt, at the turn of the last century, was in the strange and unenviable position of being occupied and governed from abroad by … Efflatoun 79' (en bas à gauche) aquarelle, encre et feutre sur papier 31 x 44,6 cm. BARJEEL ART FOUNDATION Mailing Address Emirates Sail Tower, Level 4P Corniche Street, Buhairah Corniche Buhairah Corniche Al Majaz 3, Sharjah +971 6 569 1112 Farid Belkahia. It was also during a time artistically when artists debated how currents of European Surrealism were to be incorporated within the stylistic and conceptual local Cairo art scene. Inji Efflatoun, Dreams of the Detainee, 1961, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm, Egypt, Barjeel Art Foundation Inji Efflatoun, Dormitory of the Political Prisoners, 1961, oil, 76 x 50 cm, Egypt, photo by Betty LaDuke The Impressionists created the first lapse in the tides of conventionality. In Abdul Hadi El Gazzar’s Two People in Space Outfits, a figure stares back at the viewer with a solemn look.He is wearing a large, round headpiece that the painter seems to suggest is an astronaut’s helmet. Inji was in every sense a rebel noted equally as a women’s rights activist (even going undercover at one point as a peasant) as she was a talented painter rising to fame in the midst of World War II—all while keeping herself fashionably dressed and coiffed! Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 In 1956 the artist met Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896-1974) when he visited Egypt and his social realist work had a tremendous impact on her own. Excerpts taken ‘From the memories of Inji Aflatun (excerpt); rear. Seeing the wind in the sails stirred many sorrows in me, and sparked an uncontrollable desire for freedom.. Works garnered titles such as You are Divorced (1952), The Fourth Wife, and We Will Not Forget (1951). Inji Efflatoun. Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq, Untitled (Zaar) Gazbia Sirry, Portrait of a Nubian Family. While Inji Efflatoun’s life was marked by phases of color and agony, her … Untitled (Fishing Boats) In the political arena, she published several poplar manifestos with a group of women to support women’s rights and peace, and became one of the founding members of the League of University and Institutes’ Young Women along with actively participating in the Women’s Committee for Popular Resistance. 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