The Masar Gallery in Zamalek is to host a retrospective exhibition of the works of the veteran artist George Bahgory. Rania Khallaf reports George Bahgory, painter and sculptor, is mostly famous for being a prominent caricaturist. The popular Egyptian magazines he has worked on for almost half a century include Sabah Al-Kheir (Good Morning) and Rose El-Youssef. After graduating from the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University in 1955, Bahgory lived between Paris and Cairo for almost 30 years. For part of that time he attended the Paris Art Academy, from where he graduated in 1970. Bahgory's most notable exhibition was held in 2009 at the Picasso Art Gallery in Zamalek and featured paintings of Egypt's favorite singing diva Umm Kalthoum. His last exhibition was held last year in the Mashrabiya Gallery, where he exhibited paintings that could be said to reflect, albeit with an added oriental touch, famous paintings by Van Gogh and Picasso. His new exhibition at Zamalek's Masar Gallery shows paintings that recall his life back in Paris. The exhibition will open next Sunday, 16 January, and will continue until 7 February. Bahgory has also had some success as a writer, his published works being Ayqonet Faltas (The Faltas Icons) and Alrosum almuharaka (Banned Paintings). He also has reflected on the long years he spent in France in his second autobiographical novel Bahgar fi Al-mahgar (Bahgar the Expat). Bahgory, who was born in 1935 in Luxor, has shown a superior talent for drawing portraits. His subjects have included famous characters such as Umm Kalthoum and veteran singer Abdel-Halim Hafez. He is also well- known for his compulsion to paint and sketch Egyptian street scenes, capturing the lives of ordinary people. His paintings are a mixture of cartoon and illustration, and his works carry an oriental spirit that is very Egyptian in character. They have won him several prestigious prizes in Italy, Spain, France and Yugoslavia, and some of his works have been acquired by the Modern Art museums in Cairo and Amman. The 28 paintings due to be exhibited at the Masar Gallery include self-portraits of the artist with his pencils and brushes, some portraits of Umm Kalthoum and works that feature life in lively areas such as Al-Hussein. Other paintings such as Le Violinist and Le Marche feature the festival and musical life of Paris. The upcoming exhibition is a brilliant chance for Bahgory fans to take a closer look at his life in France, which up to now we have known little about. It offers a glimpse of the things that affected his imagination and helped produce this extraordinary talent. I am sure that Bahgory, already popular among Egyptian artists and writers for his excellent and unique style will gain a wider popularity with this new exhibition which will uncover a good part of his rich and vibrant artistic and human identity. The timing of the exhibition is also perfect in that there is nothing that could reflect the true and cohesive spirit of Egyptian society with its different cultures and religions than this sincere and tolerant vision through the eye of a Coptic artist.
