22 - ‡ EFFAT NAGUI (EGYPTIAN 1905-1994)

‡ EFFAT NAGUI (EGYPTIAN 1905-1994) KERDASA signed, dated and titled Kerdasa / Effat Nagui / 90 in Arabic lower left textile, yarn, paper, charcoal and chalk collage on cardboard 99 x 68cm (102 x 71cm framed) Property from the Zulficar Family Collection, Alexandria Effat Nagui, born into an aristocratic family in Alexandria and sister to artist Mohammed Naghi, developed a passion for art during her travels across Egypt. She studied sculpture, fresco painting and decorative arts at Rome’s Accademia Di Belle Arti from 1947 to 1950, which greatly influenced her work. Returning to Egypt, Nagui pursued a distinctive nationalistic artistic style, depicting peasant life and folkloric celebrations. Her early works reflected Fauvist and European influences, shaped further by private tutoring and travels with her father and elder brother. These experiences deepened her appreciation of Egypt’s ancient heritage and in 1937 she was awarded a Ministry of Culture scholarship, enabling deeper immersion into the subject. Early on in her career, Nagui exhibited Fauvist-inspired pieces in Alexandria, focusing on rural scenes. From the 1960s, her art evolved as she researched history extensively at the Great Library of Cairo, drawing inspiration from various eras and disciplines. She moved away from academic linear perspectives early in her career. She instead championed a heavily textured primitive abstraction that directly drew inspiration from local Egyptian folklore, ancient artifacts, and traditional crafts. Kerdasa, the title of this work, is a well-known historic town in Giza, Egypt, highly celebrated for its traditional textile weaving, embroidery, and artisanal garment craft. The piece relies on bold, geometric segments of contrasting colours with deep greens, blues, vivid reds, and stark blacks. The jagged colour planes are linked together visually by meticulous rows of white and red "X" shaped patterns. This motif strongly mimics handmade embroidery stitching, serving as a direct homage to the textile culture of Kerdasa. Effat was a uniquely creative figure of her time, finding myriad ways to celebrate the richness of Egyptian heritage through art. Following her death in 1994, her house and workshop in the Alexandrian neighbourhood of Moharram Bey were tragically demolished. However, as stipulated in her will, The Ministry of Culture converted Effat and her husband, Saad El Khadem’s house in Cairo’s Zeytoun district into an art museum dedicated to the couple’s memory. The museum displays 198 works by the couple, as well as folk pottery and a library, preserving their crucial roles in Egyptian popular art and scholarship.