Mahmoud Mokhtar

Private collection, Paris, (acquired circa 1945); thence by descent 

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Mokhtar, 1930 (another cast exhibited)

Badr El Din Abou Ghazi, Mokhtar; The Sculptor, Cairo, 1964, n.p. (another example in marble illustrated)
Magda Saad Eldin, Mahmoud Mokhtar and The Murmuring of Stones, Cairo, 2000, p. 7 (another example illustrated) 

This work is in good condition. The condition of the bronze is very good with some wear to the head, shoulders and back and minor dirt to the surface consistent with age. There is some slight rubbing and oxidation along the folds of the sculpture. The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, with the overall tonality being slightly darker.
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Cast in 1926. 

Like no other, Mahmoud Mokhtar was able to visualise the struggle for political independence and the emancipation of women in Egypt in the first decades of the 20th century. The elegance and determined posture of the present water carrier, stylised according to the aesthetic of the great sculptures of Ancient Egypt and Parisian Art Deco, are characteristic of his art. This spirit is equally part of Mokhtar’s public sculpture, including the granite Egypt Awakening outside Giza Zoo and Saad Zaghloul by Qasr El-Nil Bridge, which still tower over Cairo today.

Mokhtar moved to Cairo in 1902 and was amongst the first to enroll in the city’s new School of Fine Arts in 1908. There he honed his skills as a sculptor under the tutelage of the Parisian professor Laplagne until a scholarship from the Egyptian Prince Youssef Kamal, which enabled Mokhtar to continue his education at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. There he was introduced to the latest artistic styles and the political force of art that would characterise his work from then on. Perhaps the most significant meeting of Mokhtar’s Parisian sojourn was with political leader Saad Zaghloul. The sculptor joined forces with Zaghloul upon his return to Cairo and became part of the group of intellectuals and revolutionaries who established independence from Britain in 1922.

The present work Nahw Ma’a ElNil (On the banks of the Nile), appears at auction for the first time. It is an elegant sculpture depicting a Egyptian fellaha (peasant woman) collecting water. This is an image that reoccurs even to this day with women living around the Nile River. The image of the fellaha is a repeated theme in Mokhtar’s oeuvre.