Hamed Nada

Hassan Ragal Gallery, Cairo
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1987

 

 

Condition: This work is in good condition. The board is slightly warped towards the centre right. There are few rub marks on the outer left and the outer right edges due to previous framing. Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are very accurate.
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Heavily influenced by the dichotomy of Egyptian life, Hamed Nada adjoins two divergent identities via his paintings: Egyptian folklore and reality – an impoverished devout farmer in contrast with the secular city citizen.

The son of a religious sheikh, Hamed Nada was born in the conservative and rural neighbourhood of Al-Khalifa in Cairo, close to the Cairo Citadel complex, where the Azan could be heard from several mosques across the area. His paintings provide an insight to the life of ‘the common man’ referring to Egyptian cultural history, recalling the archetypal ethos of its national identity.

Nada was an integral member of the Contemporary Art Group (Jama`at al-Fann al-Mu`asir), which actively exhibited in Cairo from 1946 through to 1951. The movement explored issues of Social Realism and Surrealism. Hamed Nada infamously quoted, “Any work of art that does not have surrealist elements is no work of art. In other words, no matter what colour or direction spontaneous expression takes, a work of art can’t be devoid of the artist’s subjectivity if it is true art.” (The artist cited in: Watani Newspaper, 1 November 1959).

During the 1980’s, towards the later stages of his life Nada gradually became deaf, which had a visible impact on his artistic style. He compensated his lack of hearing via a flurry of new works, depicting chaotic scenes, filled with commotion and brimming with energy, celebrating tribal influences from Egypt’s early African cultural heritage.

Comparisons can be drawn from the highly influential Surrealist artist, Henri Matisse, and his infamous masterpiece La Dance. The painting depicts five dancing figures using a Fauvist colour palette and style, similar to Nada’s figural depictions in Singing and Dancing, Music. La Dance illustrates Matisse’s nascent curiosity with primitive art. Like Nada, he successfully encapsulates the tribal energy and rhythm of dance, conveying an atmosphere fuelled with vigour and vivacity. Both of these iconic artistic figures were definitive for their revolutionary contribution and development in modern art.

Singing and Dancing, Music is definitive of this period of Nada’s work, characterised by a stark deficiency of order. The dancers and musicians are scattered across the canvas, emulating an energetic atmosphere of dance, transient to any rigid compositional structure. The freely floating figures brusquely contradict the stringent religious and governmental ruling inherent to the Egyptian society. Nada’s subject matter is representative of his interpretation of Egypt, where folklore and culture supersede all else.

A nouveau twist on ancient Egyptian art, Nada incorporates depictions of animals in his works reminiscent of hieroglyphics on ancient tombs, temples and cartouches. His use of animals further commemorates Pharaonic mythology, where they existed both in reality and the celestial world. 

Singing and Dancing, Music is a rare work by Nada also due to its sheer magnitude. It provides a unique glimpse into the inner-workings of Nada’s lucid imagination and realisation of liberalised Egyptian men and women.