Taha Hussein, Renaissance, Adaptation of  The Last Supper 2010, by outstanding Egyptian artist. Acrylic on Canvas – 85 x 140 cm – 2010. Image courtesy of Al Masar Gallery in Cairo, Egypt

ARTCENTRON CELEBRATED: In his new paintings, the foremost Egyptian artist, Taha Hussein, elucidates the influences of Western art traditions on modern Egyptian art. The result is a hybrid of thoughts and ideas.

CAIRO, EGYPT—On March 4, 2012, there was a major exhibition featuring the works of Taha Hussein, one of Egypt’s most celebrated artists, at the Al Masar Gallery in Cairo, Egypt. The exhibition, East and West, reveals Hussein’s amazing creativity and presence. There is a full control over his skills as an artist. Taha Hussein’s paintings illuminate developments in modern Egyptian art.

Artcentron celebrates Taha Hussein because of his creativity and the fresh ideas inherent in his artworks. Hussein’s paintings reveal his devotion to the idea of hybridity, cross-fertilization, and intermingling of thoughts, civilizations, and cultures. For the artist, the interactions of civilizations and cultures are integral to the development of art and other human activities. Kazad

In his Artist Statement for the art exhibition, Taha Hussein explains the idea behind the show:

“The exhibition does not relate in its content and meaning to the geographical sense of a place, but it is rather dedicated to the cultural and creative sense behind the arts, and other human creations and its various activities that of which civilizations and cultures have lived through across the ages in the “East and West.”

Famous Egyptian Artist Taha Hussein Examines Culture Interactions

The artist uses the works in this exhibition to express nostalgia about the time when there was a cordial relationship between the East and West. That was before the recent conflicts and unrest. “For a long time, the relations, cultural interactions and influences between the East and West went uninterrupted which resulted in the richness, diversity and tremendous innovation of people’s thought and culture which marked the ancient, modern and contemporary times,” he notes.

Inspired by the thought and philosophy of pioneering German poet “Wolfgang Goethe” (1748 – 1832 AD), who embraced his relationship to the East which he had communicated in his book Al Divan Al Sharky lel Mo’alef El Gharby (1819 AD), the exhibition laments the demise of cultural interaction between the East and West engendered by an unfathomable desire for a binary power relationship. Al Divan Al Sharky lel Mo’alef El Gharby also known as Westöstlicher Diwan/ The West-Eastern Divan documents Wolfgang Goethe’s daily and yearly journals (1828 AD). The book is in his museum in Dusseldorf, Stuttgart in Germany.

 About Taha Hussein

Taha Hussein was born in Gamalia on 14 February 1929. He grew up in the historical districts encompassing the environs of El Azhar and Sayedna El Hussein mosques. Both areas are rich with Islamic architecture and centers of cultural activity. They are also places of religious and political discourse with its richness of social and political pulse, and human behavior. Living in a unique atmosphere of a special place in the Arab world inevitable set the foundation for the religious references in his work.

Having excelled in drawing at school, earning affectionate nicknames as “the teacher of drawing”; he was trained with the finest art teachers at that time. All this led to Taha Hussein joining the Applied Arts Royal college, where he completed his studies in 1951. He was top of his class, and that excelent performance paved the path into the Arts world. Today, Hussein continues his path in art through lecturing at the College of Applied Arts. He also continues to paint in his countryside Atelier among the greenery and enjoying the gentle breeze. The atmosphere, Hussein says, “charges of his soul.”

Hussein left Egypt to Düsseldorf in 1957 to continue his studies in Arts, along with other colleagues such Adam Henein, architect Ahmad Abdoun, Maher Raef, and others. After finishing his post-graduate studies, he later obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1963.

Taha Hussein’s art experience in abstraction dates back 50′s. Around this period, he began using thick lines in figurative painting, portraying life in the countryside. Critics soon began to call him Egyptian George Roault for his style. Hussein then swiftly moved to his continuous journey into calligraphy Art, which he is still practicing to this day.

The Legarcy of Taha Hussein

Taha Hussein is a versatile artist. His magnificent paintings, sculptures, pottery, Hand Tuft Art Carpets, and batik are proof. His works feature Muslim calligraphy and Islamic patterns, a style that has situated him in the center of Egyptian modern art.

Hussein’s experience became more established the longer he practiced. Years of hardwork and the accumulation of pertinent experiencemanifested in enviable artistic excellence. Hence, now the artistic experience Hussein is about to complete six decades of art. Hussein’s world is a vacuum of an open communication space without a beginning or an end. His artwork combines an extraordinary world of signs. The brisk lines in some of his works remind us of the effectiveness and livelihood of Arabic calligraphy. And that is why we perceive all limits between drawing and color disappearing and merging into one.

An Award winning artist, Taha Hussein is one of those that shaped modern Egyptian art. He was the winner of the state Merit Prize for the year 2000 (Life Achievement Award in Arts). He was the only Egyptian artist in the international exhibition The Art of Writing – Written pictures (The Art of Writing – Bilder werden geschrieben) that took place in 2010 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Hussein participated in Taiwan’s 60th-anniversary exhibition Mirrors of Continuous Change. Taha Hussein has received many honorable awards for his life achievements in art.

ARTCENTRON CELEBRATED | READ ALSO: Abstract Figures Behind Islamic Patterns Engage Spectators in a Dialogue

Famous Egyptian artist Taha Hussein examines the rich cultural relationship between ‘East and West’ in his new exhibition. What do you think about the cultural relationship between the East and West? Join the conversation. Leave a comment.