An exhibition titled 'Saroukhan Comes Back', which opened at Tahrir Lounge (Goethe Institut, Cairo) on 25 March, is a result of a caricature competition launched a few weeks ago revolving around the famed cartoonist.

Cartoonists and caricaturists from around the globe submitted their works depicting Egyptian political cartoon pioneer Alexander Saroukhan (1898-1977), who was of Armenian origin.

The winner of the competition was Yoemnis Del Toro (Cuba) and five honorary awards were given to Marwa Ibrahim (Egypt), Omar Turcios (Spain), Ahmed Wahid (Egypt), Guo Ye (China) and Antonio Santos (Portugal).

Honorary Awards: works by [L] Marwa Ibrahim (Egypt) and [R] Omar Turcios (Spain)

The special jury prize was granted to Djoko Susilo from Indonesia. 

The jury members included Egyptian and international artists Mohamed Abla, Jitet Kustana, Marco De Angelis, JBosco Azevedo and Adham Lotfy

"Saroukhan established political cartoons as a consistent feature of the Egyptian press, and more than 20,000 of his art pieces are kept in his family’s private collection awaiting an opportunity to be taken care of by state organisations, private art galleries, artistic agents, or academic art institutions," writes Nahed Nasr in a 2016 article about the artist. 

Honorary Awards: works by [L] Ahmed Wahid (Egypt) and [R] Guo Ye (China)

The article further reads that the artist published his first satirical magazine in primary school, collaborating with his brother, and then went on to study art in Vienna. 

He was one of the most prolific cartoonists in terms of both quantity and quality, producing many kinds of cartoons dealing with political, social, and cultural subjects.

Apart from his work published in established Egyptian daily and weekly publications, Saroukhan published thousands of cartoons in up to 20 different periodicals in Egypt and abroad.

According to a 1934 issue of Akher Saa magazine, Saroukhan produced 53 cartoons in one week.  

Honorary Award [L]: work by Antonio Santos (Portugal) and Jury Prize [R]: work by Djoko Susilo (Indonesia)

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