The face of Egypt's president Gamal Abdel-Nasser has been hailed by a group of artists. Rania Khallaf sees the show and questions the motives An exhibition opened at the Picasso Art Gallery in Zamalek on 25 September that commemorates Egypt's charismatic leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser and the principles of the 1952 revolution that he helped orchestrate, the consequences of which influenced the entire Arab world. Entitled simply "Abdel-Nasser, the Dream", the exhibition shows 45 paintings that vary in time and concept; most were produced in 1950s and 1960s by such pioneer artists as Hamed Ewais, Kamal Baktur and Toghan, among others, while others were painted only this year. Among these fresh, imaginative views of Nasser are two works by the leading artist Samir Fouad, who deserves his place as the legitimate representative of the 1970s generation. The first of these depicts the face of Nasser: Nasser's skin is ochre coloured, representing the colour of Egyptian sand, with a blue background; it is a neutral portrait that shows times past without the implication that this is the view of the artist. The second of the chosen paintings by Fouad, who came up with the title of the exhibition, depicts a portrait of a young revolutionist, his face painted in the colours of the Egyptian flag. Fouad told Al-Ahram Weekly that the first painting was neutral in character because it reflected his personal view of the Nasserist period with its negative and positive aspects, while the second represented "a link between the two revolutions". The young revolutionist, one of the million faces that played a part in the 25 January uprising, still carries the hopes and expectations of the dream first envisioned by Nasser in 1952. The artist said the painting would be seen in Fouad's next exhibition on Egyptian faces. This announcement, the argued link between the two revolutions, in itself is a paradox: if Nasser should be the symbol of dreams of justice, freedom, and equality among people both rich and poor, then why on earth are we still suffering from injustice and lack of freedom in Egyptian society? And if the principles of the 1952 Revolution have failed to survive, then why are we still celebrating the dream? The dream, in other words, that turned out to be a nightmare. Well, one certainly cannot ignore the achievements of the Nasser period, and that includes the building of the Aswan High Dam and Egypt's contribution to the liberation movement in other Arab countries. An exhibition like this one, however, should have tackled the subject from all its aspects. Officially elected president in 1956, Nasser is one of the most controversial leaders -- and characters -- in Egypt's modern history, and this should have been put forward for consideration. Nasser was, undoubtedly, the foremost Arab leader of his time. He restored Arab dignity after 72 years of occupation and humiliation under Western domination. However, opinions of the Nasser period and his policies in the region have always been sharply divided. While his enemies stress his police-state methods and his strenuous stance against intellectual and political opposition, and while they criticise not only his internal policies, including the banning of political parties, but also his foreign policies, which involved Egypt in a war in Yemen (1962 �ê" 1967) that drained Egypt's financial resources, others praise his internal reforms and see him as the man who rescued Egypt from the grasp of foreigners and a decadent monarchy and gave it back to the Egyptians. The paintings, without a single exception, highlight the positive side of the Nasser period. A number of paintings depict Nasser in his relationship with the masses and fellahin (peasants). The famous and established cartoonist Mustafa Hussein opted for a caricature of a general view of Egypt with its people and pyramids, with Nasser is on top of it as the patriarch, or possibly an idol. Perhaps Abdel-Aal's portrait of Nasser with stern and even slightly cruel facial features, surrounded by a frame of hashed lines that resemble thorns, is the only exception, and implies a dialectic relationship between the artist and Nasser. Mustafa Rahma also portrayed Nasser in a cartoonish way, on a red background and with black and white shadows in a hint of a total loyalty to the Egyptian flag. Nasser was generally regarded as an eloquent speaker who easily captured the hearts of his people and audiences everywhere. A huge painting by Mohamed Sabri depicts Nasser making his landmark appearance to deliver a speech before the United Nations. Other paintings depict Nasser's profile in an imaginative way. George Bahgory's huge illustration catches the eye of the viewer with its fantastic colours and Nasser's very individual expression. Draughted in Baghory's caricaturist style, it shows as a smiling face and a hand raised in a showy gesture. The painting that artist Mustafa El-Razaz produced this year is one of the exhibition's most unique. In four vertical panels in black and white, it depicts the history of Egypt with the first two panels showing Egypt at different times from ancient history up to the time of Mohamed Naguib, Egypt's first post-1952 president, who was ousted from power by Nasser in 1954. In the third panel Nasser and people of Egypt are shown in warm cohesion, and the last strip shows the achievements of the Nasser period: the Aswan High Dam, industry and factories -- this time with no trace of people. Fouad attributes the one-sided view of the exhibition to the fact that most of the paintings were produced in decades past, and most in the time of Nasser. So does this mean that in Nasser's day artists did not have the freedom to criticise his regime, or at least to represent it in a dialectic way? According to Fouad, despite their dispute with Nasser, the intellectuals and artists in the 1950s and 60s empathised with the noble principles advocated by the president. A clear example of this, he added, was the famous colloquial poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, who was imprisoned for 18 years because of his opposition to the regimes of both Nasser and Sadat; when Nasser died, however, Negm wrote a poem to show his sympathy with the Egyptian leader. "Unlike the following two presidents, Nasser supported the poor, but Sadat and Mubarak followed the wrong track in the application of his principles. They obviously supported the rich," Fouad said. "We can argue that until the 1967 defeat artists were part of the political regime. After that, though, democracy faded and the negative aspects of the regime began to appear, so some artists found themselves on the side of the opposition, while some remained on the same lines with Nasserist policy." Conversely, some paintings have nothing to do with the idea of the exhibition; they just depict merry-faced peasants with in the fields or labourers in a factory. Kamal Bektur's huge painting produced in 1968, shows peasants relaxing peacefully and gaily in the land. Among the artworks were three by leading artist Hamed Ewais produced in 1957, 1967 and 1974. The first portrays a peasant carrying a rifle, with a group of Egyptian people beneath him; the second shows Nasser with his huge, stiff body, in official dress, addressing a massed crowd of happy-looking people; while the third is of a labourer carrying an axe, with a slogan that reads, "No to War". Swords beaten into ploughshares. The sole contribution by Mohamed Selima was produced in 1970, the year of Nasser's unexpected death. It is a vague illustration in black and white of angels, with a text that reads, "Nasser, Egypt has not yet slept!" By the 1960s Nasser had become a hero in the Arab world because of his support for liberation movements in Arab countries. In 1958, Syria and Egypt united under his presidency to become the United Arab Republic. This union broke up in 1961 after an officers' coup in Syria. None of the works in the exhibition reflect Nasser's obsession with liberation movements in the Arab world and Africa, and none was painted by an Arab artist. There were also few statues on show compared with the large number of paintings. The exhibition, despite its rather flat vision, reflects a sense of loyalty to an idea, to a leader, to a dream that is still being cherished. It is not a big disappointment; it is always good to remember our heroes, even if the dark side of their faces has been hidden for some reason. The exhibition runs for one month.
