By Georges Bahgoury At 20, I was torn between art and journalism. I had just graduated from the College of Fine Arts in Zamalek and begun publishing illustrations in Rose al-Yusuf. It was quite a swift change of career, for my graduation project, hailed as a breakthrough at the time, had nothing to do with illustration. It was a collection of ten oil paintings to which I gave the name Awlad al-Harah (Sons of the Alley). To illustrate for the press is to keep jesting with the reader, which I turned out to be good at. It wasn't long before I developed a distinctive style, one that drew inspiration from the art of such great cartoonists as Rakha, Saroukhan, Abdel Samie, Zohdi and Toghan. I was thrilled to see my illustrations published in the wide-circulation Rose al-Yusuf, but I couldn't possibly keep up with my oil paintings while doing the cartoons. I spent the next 20 years doing thousands of illustrations for newspapers. But eventually, the day came when I needed a change. So I went back to oil painting and held an exhibition at the Hoda Shaarawi Palace (now a parking lot off Tahrir Square). My success as an oil painter further eroded my work in cartoons. I didn't mind; I enjoyed exhibiting my work at prestigious places like the Woodstock Gallery on Oxford Street, right in the middle of London. Once I took my exhibition to Paris, there was no going back. I fell in love with Paris and ended up living there for more than 20 years. It was only after my return from Paris in 1995 that coincidence brought me in touch with Al-Ahram Weekly. I was totally immersed in oil painting at the time, and had cast journalism and cartoons from my mind. I was having an exhibition at Khan Maghrabi when a lovely lady introduced herself to me. Her name was Fayza Hassan and she was interested in profiling me for her publication, the Weekly. Standing at her side was a tall man I later came to know was Sherif Sunbul, one of our most talented photographers. I consented to the interview only to find out that Hassan was challenging me every step of the way, not only about my art but about my way of life. She later wrote that I was torn between two worlds. I liked her. And without hesitation agreed to meet her chief editor, Hosni Guindi. Shortly after, the profile appeared on the last page of the Weekly, accompanied by Sunbul's photos In my first encounter with Guindi, a few days later, I began to sense what the Weekly was all about. It was just as young, slick and self-respecting as those who worked for it. Enchanted by the opportunity to be part of such a promising team, I agreed to do cartoons for the new publication, something I hadn't done for years. In my work for the Weekly, I launched a new style in portraiture, with the entire drawing done in one, uninterrupted, line. I kept illustrating for the Weekly to this day, perhaps less regularly than I should. But for the Weekly 's anniversary, I managed to come up with an entire page of drawings. I remember with fondness Hosni Guindi, the man who talked me into going back to illustration. And I wish all the best for the current chief editor, Assem al-Kersh, and the wonderful team of the Weekly.
