ARTISTS
MEDITATION
1970, Acrylique sur papier et mazonit, 64 x 45 cm / Acrylic on paper and mazonit, 25 x 18''
Born in 1917, Caire.
My main principle - like the oriental artist - is to paint nature as i see it with my mind, not as it looks to the eye.
EN
Hamed Abdalla was born on 1917 at Le Caire and died in 1985 at Paris, where he lived 20 years. Son of farmers, he rejects official art very soon, to develop his own style though contact with the reality in Egypt. He will be affects by the sacred art, just like the “folk art”, those figurative and primitive art from farmers. In 1933, his paintings with flowing colors have magical signs, like silhouette. Then, in 1945, he made wall painting, who have more structure, made with traditional signs inscribed in colored wall face, before experiment in 1957 abstract calligraphy improvisation.
Silts et Pulsations
by Andrée Chedid (Cairo 1920 - Paris 2011) woman of letters and poetess.
First : beings, landscapes, emerging from a crackled surface,
Carrying silt and pulsations.
Hamed Abdalla called them « Signs ».
Crumpled papers, the colour of rock and sand.
What matter !
His universe was there, mixed with that of Egypt.
That Egypt wich, once experienced, reamins within the intense pulsing of blood.
There was after a searching on glass.
Layers of silver nitrate scratched with vivid tones.
He called them « Talismans ».
What matter !
The universe of Hamed Abdalla asserted itself, built itself in other forms,
Sought its way in drawing writing.
Pushing further than the alphabet and its decorative geometry
Further than the inscription of the word
Wich is the beginning and the end,
He tried to impress on canvas – by means of the letter itself –
A space of plenitude, an instant of eternity.
Finally those letters began to multiply, to overlap, creating horizons and depths.
Sometimes also, one of them would gather itself.
Solitary, tangible, sovereign, it stood still ;
Became like the ancient rock, crossed by centuries, veined by time.
The way of the artist is full of avenues and has no fences.
He moves on ceaselesly. He struggles.
He hunts the forever obscure, forever vibrating meaning of things.
He uncovers, by fragments, his interior world.
Those things wich his eye, ever alert, allow us to rediscover.
This world wich contains a part of our own.
To approach an artist’s work, words always seem too much.
You just need impassioned attention, you just need a look.
FR
Hamed Abdalla est né en 1917 au Caire et est mort en 1985 à Paris, où il vécu plus de 20 ans. Fils de paysans, il va très tôt rejeter l’art officiel pour développer son propre style au contact de la réalité physique de l’Egypte. Il sera marqué par la dimension du sacré, tout comme le « Folk Art », l’art figuratif naïf des gens du peuple. En 1933, ses tableaux de couleurs fluides sont peuplés de signes magiques, faisant allusion à des silhouettes, puis il adopte vers 1945 une peinture murale plus structurée, faite de signes folkloriques inscrits dans de grands pans de couleur, avant d’expérimenter en 1957 des improvisations calligraphiques abstraites.
Ma règle principale - comme l’artiste oriental - est de peindre la nature telle que je la vois dans mon esprit, et non pas telle qu’elle paraît à l’œil.
Limons et Pulsations
par Andrée Chedid (le Caire 1920 – Paris 2011) femme de lettres et poétesse.
D’abord : des êtres, des paysages , surgis d’une surface craquelée,
charriant limon et pulsations.
Hamed Abdalla les appelait « Signes ».
Papiers froissés, couleur de rocs et du sable.
Qu’importe !
Son univers était là, mêlé à celui de l’Egypte.
Cette Egypte qui, une fois vécue, demeure dans l’immense battement du sang.
Ce fut, ensuite une recherche sur vitres.
Des couches de nitrate d’argent rayées de tons vifs.
Il les appelait « Talismans »
Qu’importe !
L’univers de Hamed Abdalla s’affirmait, se bâtissait sous d’autres formes,
se cherchait dans le dessin de l’écriture.
Poussant plus loin que l’alphabet et sa géométrie décorative,
plus loin que l’inscription du mot qui a commencement et fin,
il tenta d’imprimer dans la toile – au moyen de la lettre même –
un lieu de plénitude, un instant d’éternité.
Enfin, ces lettres se mirent à foisonner, à se chevaucher, créant horizons et profondeurs.
Parfois aussi, l’une d’entre elles s’amassait
Solitaire, palpable, souveraine, elle s’immobilisait ;
devenait sembable à la pierre antique,
traversée par les siècles, veinée par le temps.
La voie d’un artiste est pleine d’avenues et sans clôture.
Il va sans cesse. Il peine.
Il poursuit le sens toujours obscur, toujours vibrant, des choses
Il met au jour, par bribes, son monde intérieur.
Ces choses que son œil aux aguets nous font redécouvrir.
Ce monde qui contient une part des nôtres.
Pour approcher une œuvre, les paroles semblent toujours de trop.
Il suffit d’une attention passionnée, il suffit d’un regard.
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ExhibitionsPUBLIC COLLECTIONS Modern Art in Cairo, Great Cairo Library, Museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria, Museum of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria, Tate Modern in London, National Museum of Damascus Ministery of Culture, Damascus Municipality of Copenhagen New-York Public Library Mathaf Doha Egyptian Embassy in Paris, Museum of Modern Art in Tunis,
1941 First solo show with “Les Amis de la Culture Française”, gallery Horus, Cairo.
1942 Several solo shows in Cairo, Alexandria, Port-Said
1948 Port-Taufiq Ismailia. Collective art exhibitions in Egypt, U.S.A. and Italy.
1949 Opens his art school in Cairo. Solo show in the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo.
1950 solo show in Gallery Bernheim Jeune, Paris (1950)
1951 Exhibition “France-Egypt” in Palais du Louvre (Pavillon de Marsan) Paris. Travels in France and in England until 1951. Solo show Ťhe Egyptian Institut, London (1951)
1956 Retrospective exhibition in the Palace of Fine Arts, Cairo. Solo show in Gallery Marcel Bernheim, Paris, Solo shows in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Copenhagen. Several collective exhibitions in Europe, the U.S.A. (Ťhe National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.and Metropolitan Museum , New York ) and in Asia. Settled in Copenhagen, Denmark. Opens a studio for young artists.
1957 Solo show : ”Signes d’Egypte” in Palermo , Rome, Grenaa , Aarhus.
1958 Solo show in “Kunstudstillingsbygningen”, Odense. “Den Frie” Copenhagen, Randers, Viborg, Skive, Holstebro (Denmark), and Rotterdam.
1959 Solo shows in Herning, Odense (Denmark), Stuttgart, Sindelfingen, Siemens-Erlangen (Germany), Malmoe (Sweden), l’Atelier du Caire. Collective Exhibitions in India, Iraq, Iran, Turkey. Invited to the collective exhibition “Decembristerne” in “Den Frie”, Copenhagen.
1960 Solo show in Nyborg (Denmark) Collective exhibitions: “Decembristerne”, Copenhagen ; “Den Anonyme”, Odense.
1961 Collective exhibition: “ Decembristerne “,Copenhagen.
1964 Solo show: «Spejlet» (the Mirror), Royal Hotel, Copenhagen.
1965 Retrospective exhibitions (works 1933 -1964) in Odense, and Gallery K.K. Copenhagen.
1966 Solo shows: “Det Skabende Ord”, Gallery B.B. Randers, Aarhus, Moss (Norway). Settled in Paris, France from May 1966.
1967 Solo show: National Museum of Damascus, Syria.
1968 Solo show: Gallery One, Beyrout.
1971 Visits Egypt
1975 Solo show in the Egyptian Cultural Center, Paris.
1976 Collective exhibition: “Les Indépendants – l’Art Egyptien Contemporain” , Grand Palais, Paris. Solo show : «Société des amis de l’art» & Soviet center in Cairo
1978 International collective exhibition for Palestine, Beyrouth. Solo show: Galerie Modern, Silkeborg (Denmark).
1979 Member of the international jury of UNESCO’s competitive posters.
1980 Collective exhibition: “ Art exhibition for the Palestinian resistance”, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art” (co-organized with the PLO).
1982 Collective exhibition for Palestine, UNESCO, Paris.
1983 Returns to Egypt. Solo shows in Cairo: “Société des Amis de l’Art” in Heliopolis and Zamalek. Represents Egypt at the Congress for Arab Culture in Kuweit.
1984 Collective exhibition: “First Exhibition for Contemporary Arab Art”, Museum of Modern Art, Tunis. Conferences in Cairo on Egyptian and Arab contemporary Art.
Posthumous exhibitions
1986
Commemorative exhibition in Cairo Atelier, Egypt (40 days after his death).
1987
Retrospective exhibition: Galerie de Lappe, Paris.
1988
Commemorative exhibition: Galerie Ebla, Damascus, Syria
1989
Commemorative exhibition: Egyptian Cultural Center, Paris.
1990
Traveling Exhibition in Denmark.
Retrospective exhibition: Galerie La Part Du Sable, Cairo , Egypt.
Retrospective exhibition: Belfort, France.
1991
Collective exhibition: Toyamaya gallery, New York.
1994
Collective exhibition: Galerie Yahia, Tunis.
Commemorative exhibition: Museum of Modern Art, Cairo.
1995
Collective exhibition: “Semaine d’Egypte”, UNESCO, Paris.
Exhibition: Galerie Danielle Bourdette, Honfleur, France.
Retrospective exhibition: «Homage à Hamed Abdalla», Egyptian Cultural Center, Paris.
1996
Collective exhibition: Galerie Erik Baudet, Le Havre.
1997
Collective exhibition: Galerie Al – Ahram, Cairo.
Special exhibition: «l’Espoir Fellah», Galerie Autres Regard, Paris.
1998
Special exhibition: «l’Espoir Fellah», Centre Social et Culturel, Colombes.
Retrospective exhibition: Galerie Mashrabia, Cairo.
1999
Collective exhibition: «Pioneers of Art», Gallery Safar Khan, Cairo.
2004
Exhibition: «Oum Saber et le Paysan éloquent», French Cultural Center of Alexandria.
2008
Auktion : «Modern and Calligraphic Arab and Iranian Art»
2009
Exhibition: «Hamed Abdalla, Selected Works», Galerie Karim Francis, Cairo.
2013
Collective exhibition: TAJREED, Arab Abstract Art, CAP Koweit.
2014
Abdalla’s collection at Museum of Modern Art, Cairo, february.
Installation «Talisman», French Embassy, Cairo, february.
Exhibition: «Hamed Abdalla, Selected Works», Beyrouth, february.
Exhibition: «Hamed Abdalla, Selected Works»,
Art Dubaï, march.
Gwangju Biennale : “People from the Caverns”, september.
2015
Exhibition: «Hamed Abdalla, Selected Works», Cairo, january.
Art 15, London, May.
2018
« The Skabende Ord », Art Dubai, galerie Mark Hachem
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International art fairs2018 Art Dubai
2014 Art Dubai
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