Samir Rafi' (Egyptian, 1926-2004)
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Note : PROPERTY OF AN EGYPTIAN PRIVATE COLLECTORThis is a fine early work by Samir Rafi', one of the leading artists of Egypt's second generation of modern artists. Executed in vivid yellow tones and strong outlines, this work embodies the concerns and artistic sensibilities of a pioneering group of young painters active in Egypt in the 1950s. There is little sense of perspective in his works, the flat shapes resembling collages, and reminiscent of the child-like designs on the walls of the poor streets of Cairo, and the murals on the facades of the Nubian Houses.Samir Rafi' was a member of the Group of Contemporary Art, which included such artists as Youssef Kamel, Ibrahim Masuda, al-Habshi, Mohamad Khalil and Ahmad Mahaer, and was among its leading proponents of surrealism, along with his colleagues Abdel Hadi El-Gazzar and Hamed Nada.As in the 1950s work of Nada and El-Gazzar, there is a strong social message in Rafi's painting, as he sought to highlight the condition of ordinary working-class people, to ennoble the everyday man and woman through stong outline and colour.Surrealist iconography abounds, and Samir Rafi's work is suffused with symbols, such as fish, the devil's eye, totems, talismans, the hand of Fatima, empty plates and pots, light bulbs and lamps placed around human figures.
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