Pioneer of Egyptian modernism at the Kleezentrum in Bern
Published: Thursday, Jan 25th 2024, 10:30
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The Paul Klee Center in Bern is dedicating an exhibition to the Egyptian artist Hamed Abdalla (1917 - 1985) for the first time in Switzerland. As an artist of the so-called Hurufiyya movement, he combined new artistic possibilities with traditional calligraphy.
For example, Abdalla translated Arabic words into colors, bringing together abstraction and human figuration, the secular and the sacred, the poetic and the political.
Abdalla was born into a simple farming family in Upper Egypt. He never attended an art academy. His origins, the villages and landscapes of the Nubian region, but also the cafés of Cairo served him as motifs at the beginning of his career.
In the middle of the last century, the artist lived in Copenhagen and Paris. There he repeatedly referred to the unstable political situation in his home country in his works. In his art, he searched for an expression that could give a voice to the desperate and oppressed far beyond Egypt.
To this end, the artist used universal symbols such as the depiction of mothers holding their children or fragmented bodies.
Towards the end of his life, the painter incorporated his fascination for prehistoric caves into his work. He called a cycle "Gens de cavernes" (Cave Men), in which he combined his explorations in the caves of southern France and the rocky landscapes of Nubia with texts from the Koran.
Abdalla was also intensively involved with European modernism, particularly Paul Klee. The Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern is now showing around 50 of Abdalla's works as part of the Focus series. The corresponding room is part of the dynamic permanent exhibition "Kosmos Klee". Abdalla's works can be seen until the end of May.
www.zpk.org
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