A PIONEER Egyptian artist was remembered in Cairo this week. Egyptian artists and art lovers flocked last Sunday to Al- Masar Gallery for the opening of the first exhibition in 50 years of late Egyptian artist Hussein Youssef Amin. The exhibition, inaugurated by Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni, also highlights some works of members of the Contemporary Art Group that Amin founded in 1946. The exhibition is proving very popular with the younger generation who are thrilled to see how the pioneers worked. As for the older generation and the members of the artists' families who are still alive, the exhibition has brought back fond memories of the good old days. Hussein Youssef Amin was one of the pioneers of Egyptian modern art in the 20th century. He was born in Cairo in 1904. Filled with ambitions about his artistic future, Amin decided to travel to France in 1942. After many travels, he returned to Egypt having obtained a diploma in the history and philosophy of art from Sao Paulo Academy in Brazil. In his paintings, Amin came up with a new technique, displaying his masterful control of the composition and the model. His artistic skills soon gained him many disciples in Egypt's flourishing artistic community. Perhaps he is best remembered for founding the Contemporary Art Group. He recruited into his group Egypt's most talented young artists, spotted by Amin's expert eye. The group was dedicated to the quest for the Egyptian soul. Inspired by folk symbols, popular traditions and notions of the collective unconscious, their works were steeped in social realism. Among the prominent members of the group were Abdel-Hadi e -Gazzar, Samir Rafei, Hamed Nada, Maher Raeef, Salem el-Habashi and Mahmoud Khalil. All of them became stars in the world of Egyptian art in the last century. In the same year, Amin organised Egypt's first contemporary art exhibition, at the Lycée Français du Caire. It created a commotion, as it exhibited 190 works by young artists dealing with the popular life of Egypt ��" poverty, superstition and magic, as well as their criticisms of these things. In 1949, the group opened its second exhibition and later in the same year took the same exhibition to Paris, to the Pavillion de Marsan, where el-Gazzar presented his most important work, The Theatre of Life. It also created a commotion, getting el-Gazzar and Amin locked up for a few hours. "When I decided to commemorate my father's works, I couldn't overlook the Contemporary Art Group, because its creation was one of his greatest achievements," says Ahmed Amin, the artist's son, who has therefore included paintings by some of his late father's students in the exhibition. "My father used to keep open house for these talented artists. They used to share their ideas, but everyone retained his own individual style," he adds, explaining that his father, who died in 1984, wanted to see an Egyptian generation producing international art with Egyptian themes. Touring the exhibition, you find yourself in front of an artist who was deeply revolutionary, producing this very kind of art. When your eyes fall upon his two works Nubian Dancer and Musician and Nubian Dancer, Singer and Flutist, you realise that his paintings have an Egyptian soul. In The Dancer and the Percussion Musician, you find a European-looking girl standing next to a very Egyptian-looking musician with a traditional drum. In another section of the exhibition, you meet the revolutionary soul of Amin, with his several sketches of nude women, all very shocking at the time. Critic Amie Azar said that Amin managed to breathe life into his paintings. "Nearly all of the members of the group have passed away, but their works live on and inspire young artists today," says veteran Egyptian artist George Bahgouri, who has himself been inspired by the group. The exhibition ‘Hussein Youssef Amin Remembered' runs until March 21 at Al- Masar Gallery, Behler's Mansion, 157b, 26 July St., Ground Floor, Zamalek (02-2736-8537).
