Mahmoud Said (Egypt, 1897-1964) Le Chômeur (The Vagabond)
Provenance : [Timeline chronologique]
1952-10-01 | Cairo: Editions Aladin, 1 October 1952, (illustrated);Guézireh, Société des Amis de l'Art sous le Patronage de S.M
[Propriété non datée]
- 'LE CHOMEUR' A MASTERPIECE BY MAHMOUD SAID FORMERLY EXHIBITED AT THE LOUVRE FROM THE COLLECTION OF RENOWNED ACTRESS LEILA SHEIR Provenance:Property from the collection of the renowned actress Leila Sheir, Cairo,The artists collection until 1964, thence by descent to Nadia Mahmoud Said, the artists daughteracquired from the above by Raouf Abou Esbe circa 1977 and gifted to his wife, the present owner Exhibited: Paris, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Louvre, Egypt Exhibit, 1949, No 757Alexandria, Solo exhibition at the Amitiés Françaises, 1950Guezireh Palace, Cairo, Retrospective Exhibition: Mahmoud Said, 1951, No.100 Alexandria, Museum of Fine Arts, Mahmoud Said, 1960, No.53Alexandria, Museum of Fine Arts, 1964, Mahmoud Said, No.131 Literature: Boctor, Gabriel
- Artistes contemporains d'Egypte: Mahmoud Saïd
- Le Roi, Catalogue de la rétrospective des oeuvres de Mahmoud Saïd. 1921-1951Makarius, La Revue Du Caire, 1951, No.142Rassem, 1952, plate 23 Al-Sharouni, 1965, p.76 (illustrated)Mustafa, 1966 (illustrated)Abu Ghazi, 1972 (illustrated)Dawastashy, Esmat
- Mahmoud Saïd: Memorial Book on the Pioneer ofContemporary Egyptian Painting On the 100th Anniversary of his Birth, Cairo: Ministry of Culture - The Cultural Development Fund. 1997, no. 43 (illustrated No.172)Abdul Salam, 2009, p.151Al-Shafei, Rawya Ossama
- Artist Mahmoud Saïd: An Artistic and Analytical Study
- Faculty of Fine Arts of Alexandria, 2012, illustrated fig 157Valerie Didier Hess and Hussam Rashwan, Mahmoud Said: Catalogue Raisonne Volume 1, Paintings, Skira Editore, 2016, illustrated on page 252 Note: The present work is included in the Artists Catalogue Raisonne; Valerie Didier Hess and Hussam Rashwan, Mahmoud Said: Catalogue Raisonne Volume 1, Paintings, Skira Editore, 2016, illustrated on page 252 'In Said's works where people are present, we see them expressing their pleasures and dreams' we witness feminine intrigues, the murmurs of street peddlers, the frenzies of the 'Zar'
- In this fabulous Egypt, where the women are golden, the sea is indigo and the palm trees are as loaded as the fishermen's nets miraculously, a witness seems to have come from another world: he is the Chomeur Lightning bolts that sting the sky of Alexandria's Corniche point to the distress of his grey jacket, of his abandoned hands, recalling that he is an Egypt that no magic brush can transfigure
- In an atmosphere of enchantment, one sunbeam almost transforms his ragged clothing into a brocade, transforms a puddle into a lake of bliss, transforms a horizon of hovels and mud into a city of Venetian prestige
- The beam fades before an ageing face, marked by discouragement
- There is poetry in his rags, whose holes withstand the cold wind, and he who wears them refuses to bow to humiliation Witness the Chomeur of Mahmoud Said: is this not, within this retrospective, which is one of the paramount display in Egyptian art history, an example of Egyptian arts ability not only to transform the aspect of things, but also the gaze which falls upon them? ' Laura Makarius 'Witness the Chomeur of Mahmoud Said: is this not, within this retrospective, which is one of the paramount display in Egyptian art history, an example of Egyptian arts ability not only to transform the aspect of things, but also the gaze which falls upon them? ' Laura Makarius Bonhams have the rare privilege of presenting one of the most iconic and moving works by the doyen of Egyptian art, Mahmoud Said, ever to come to the market
- Poignant, enigmatic and graceful, Le Chomeur or the Vagabond, is the archetypal synthesis of Said's inimitable portraits of noble Egyptian peasants and is specifically identified by leading art critics of the time as a sem
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Notes : This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: *. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Condition_report : in excellent overall condition and in original artists frame, the work has recently undergone cleaning and restoration by a museum grade restorer in London, the restorers report is below: 'The canvas was slightly saggy with one or two very minor dents. There was craquelure on the surface which is quite stable, the paint surface was not flaking. We cleaned the painting and removed it from its strainer to flatten the dents and repair the damages in the canvas without patching. We edge lined the taking edge of the canvas and strained back up on its original strainer to increase the tension to improve on the undulations in the canvas. we only restored what is absolutely necessary, small damages, losses etc. Surface clean the framed and restore any damages and wax to finish'
