An art exhibition of renowned Egyptian Artist Gazbia Sirry is held this month to celebrate her centennial. Photo courtesy of Amira El-Noshokaty.
It was a packed house at the Zamalek Art Gallery last week, as a talk about the exceptional artist was led by renowned writer Mohamed Salmawy and Art critic Mostafa Al-Razzaz.
The world of Gazeby Serry is vivid and saturated with colour. Her strokes are bold, twisting and turning like life itself, reflecting the influence of several art schools and a league of her own. The exhibition walks you through the major artistic phases of Gazbia Sirry, where the cross-cutting theme is vibrant, intense colours that flow with ease and grace between cool and warm tones, always in a bright-light composition.
The portraits phase (1945-1964)
She portrayed people in her life with vibrant colours and attention to detail. Mabrouka was one of the famous portraits where she drew on her relationship with her sitter, revealing a rare human connection with the woman she grew up with. She portrayed her mother, her husband, and her close friends. Such portraits are more of a record of social intimacy and a high sense of humanity.
Gradually, her portraits rooted into Egyptian heritage, from which she borrowed the symbols and their effect. Her iconic painting “The Kite” from 1960, is what the Metropolitan, where the painting now hangs, claims to symbolise: “The emergence of new political and cultural anxieties as the promised recently independent Egypt began to fade. The painting, explained the website of the Metropolitan, was exhibited at the 1963 Sao Paulo Biennale under the title Al-Khamasin” (The Sandstorms).
From Human Composition 1976 to Untitled 2006
This is a phase in which she moved from portraits to capturing the complex relationship between humans and the spaces they occupy. Leaning on abstraction, she cleverly shaped humans into geometrical forms and saw human aspects in geometrical motifs. This line of thought is regarded as one of her richest artistic phases, as she highlighted the fine relationship between the place and the people who live there.
The 1980s
This is known to be her most dynamic phase, where all her painting strokes were dynamic and rhythmic, leaning towards urban themes, waltzing between abstraction and faint human composition.
About the artist:
(1925-2021) Gazbia Sirry was born in Al-Helmeya District in the heart of Cairo. Her brilliance has shimmered ever since she was in high school. In 1948, she graduated from the High Institute for Girls, Fine Art department, and received a diploma in art education in 1949. Postgraduate studies were conducted in Paris, Rome, and London between 1951 and 1955.
She worked as an art teacher at high schools from 1949 to 1955, became a Professor of painting at the American University in Cairo in 1980-1981, and at the Faculty of Art Education - Helwan University in 1981. Her vibrant artistic journey continues to inspire generations of artists and art lovers.
Gazbia Sirry Centennial at Zamalek Art Gallery runs until 20 October.
Daily from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM except Fridays.
11 Brazil St., Zamalek, Cairo.
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