Page 188 - Ahmed Fouad Selim
P. 188
chances of achieving an international recognition. He had a rare opportunity
as he was invited to travel to London and stage an exhibition of his paintings at the
well-known Woodstock Art Gallery. However, the travel restrictions, which were too
strict or almost impossible, prevented him from fulfilling his dream of travel, but
he managed to send the artworks of the exhibition, which was held there without
his presence. His elder brother, Gamal Selim, helped him launch a press campaign
denouncing the prevention of an Egyptian artist from taking a golden opportunity
to exhibit his art at such an important gallery in London. This campaign resulted in
allowing Selim to travel and mount another exhibition at the same gallery shortly
before the 1967 defeat.
From there, Selim wrote at Al-Masaa newspaper, at the time of its success under
the direction of Abdel Fattah El-Gamal, Hassan Othman and Al-Hilal magazine under
the direction of Kamel Zuhairy, and published a weekly series of his artistic views
in London with an elaborated description of the renowned Tate Gallery and many
other galleries there. He described the modern art currents and their manifestation,
opening a new window that was difficult to open due to the scarcity of references and
communications, and the travel restrictions and its exaggerated cost in comparison
with our income then. In his important correspondence from London, Selim presented
significant examples of contemporary British art in London at the time. With this
early step, he began his remarkable professional writing about art as an enlightened
critic and theorist, introducing himself as an artist, whose works were celebrated at
the long-established gallery, and who was interviewed and written about by critics
of importance.
At this stage of his artistic career, Selim was a colleague of some artists at the
National Society of Fine Arts, which they founded in the last year of the fifties. Saleh
Reda was among them, and his experience was parallel to Selim's. They used to go
to the same studio in Kasr El-Nil Street as mentioned before. Both were preoccupied
with the inclination to experimentation
with media, materials, and techniques.
Selim observed Saleh Reda in his Oil on toile - 2006
important exhibition, held in 1968, of
collage and monotype works, saying
that the artist used adjacent, parallel,
and curve-edged lines and strips,
forming a world of sometimes complete
circles, and other times intersecting,
common, divided, or opposite circles.
The composition was eloquently
mathematical, as its design was the
center of both elements and fabric. What
Selim said in this regard was almost a
description of his own experience at the
time. Reda and Selim's artworks in the
186
as he was invited to travel to London and stage an exhibition of his paintings at the
well-known Woodstock Art Gallery. However, the travel restrictions, which were too
strict or almost impossible, prevented him from fulfilling his dream of travel, but
he managed to send the artworks of the exhibition, which was held there without
his presence. His elder brother, Gamal Selim, helped him launch a press campaign
denouncing the prevention of an Egyptian artist from taking a golden opportunity
to exhibit his art at such an important gallery in London. This campaign resulted in
allowing Selim to travel and mount another exhibition at the same gallery shortly
before the 1967 defeat.
From there, Selim wrote at Al-Masaa newspaper, at the time of its success under
the direction of Abdel Fattah El-Gamal, Hassan Othman and Al-Hilal magazine under
the direction of Kamel Zuhairy, and published a weekly series of his artistic views
in London with an elaborated description of the renowned Tate Gallery and many
other galleries there. He described the modern art currents and their manifestation,
opening a new window that was difficult to open due to the scarcity of references and
communications, and the travel restrictions and its exaggerated cost in comparison
with our income then. In his important correspondence from London, Selim presented
significant examples of contemporary British art in London at the time. With this
early step, he began his remarkable professional writing about art as an enlightened
critic and theorist, introducing himself as an artist, whose works were celebrated at
the long-established gallery, and who was interviewed and written about by critics
of importance.
At this stage of his artistic career, Selim was a colleague of some artists at the
National Society of Fine Arts, which they founded in the last year of the fifties. Saleh
Reda was among them, and his experience was parallel to Selim's. They used to go
to the same studio in Kasr El-Nil Street as mentioned before. Both were preoccupied
with the inclination to experimentation
with media, materials, and techniques.
Selim observed Saleh Reda in his Oil on toile - 2006
important exhibition, held in 1968, of
collage and monotype works, saying
that the artist used adjacent, parallel,
and curve-edged lines and strips,
forming a world of sometimes complete
circles, and other times intersecting,
common, divided, or opposite circles.
The composition was eloquently
mathematical, as its design was the
center of both elements and fabric. What
Selim said in this regard was almost a
description of his own experience at the
time. Reda and Selim's artworks in the
186
