Page 191 - Ahmed Fouad Selim
P. 191
He was raised in the alleys of Fayoum and was fascinated by the huge old
waterwheels raising water. There, he developed intimate friendships; however, the
friends of his childhood and life were his two brothers Abdel Moneim Selim and
Gamal Selim, who were intellectuals and writers. As for Ahmed Fouad Selim, he
liked poetry and drawing. Between 1945 and 1951, Selim was devoted to drawing
figures such as King Farouk, Abbas El-Akkad, Taha Hussein, Iqbal, Tagore, Gandhi
and his sister Rawda Selim in pencil on paper. On the pages of the daily (Al-Zaman)
newspaper, his first drawing was published on the anniversary of the poet Mohamed
Iqbal. In the same year, he received the first prize in charcoal drawing. Selim said
about a small magazine named Al-Isslah, whose founder used to collect donations
from many governorates for publishing. Gamal Selim, who was writing in it, asked
the newspaper to publish one of his brother Ahmed Fouad Selim’s articles there. That
article was followed by a series of successive articles; twenty-five articles (poems
and articles) were published until 1955. In 1954 and 1955, Selim graduated from
secondary school, and he felt that the Faculty of Law represented justice and equality,
so he joined it. After graduation, Selim became an employee, writer, and painter. He
used to ride a taxi three days a week, paying on the whole salary. In 1958, he met the
architect Dr. Mohamed Hammad, who held a degree in the restoration of artworks
from Venice, in addition to a Ph.D. in architecture from Cairo University. He was
fluent in several languages and a great painter as well. His office was at 50 Kasr
El-Nil Street, the same place where the National Society of Fine Arts was founded.
He donated the place to serve art and artists; the studios of artists Rushdi Iskandar,
doctor and painter Ramses Hassib, Ramzy Mustafa, Saleh Reda, and Ahmed Fouad
Selim, were held there. They used to stage regular exhibitions in this apartment and
artist Salah Taher inaugurated their exhibitions. The late writer Ahmed Rushdi Saleh
published some of Selim’s poems from 1959 to 1965 in the Al-Akhbar newspaper.
In 1963, he held his first exhibition jointly with musician Abou Bakr Khairat, where
he presented his work on Sayed Darwish’s melody, "Eh El-Ibara", and delivered two
lectures during this exhibition, with the participation of the late sculptor Abdel Salam
Ahmed, and the late music critic Suleiman Gamil.
In 1965, Selim met an official at the Czech Embassy, who asked him to run
the Czech Cultural Center in Cairo in 1966. Therefore, he left the Arab Center for
Engineering Designs to take over the administration of art and culture at the Czech
Center, beginning a new stage of his cultural career. He get acquainted to more
people and started his initiatives in running the creative activities and establishing art
galleries, theaters, and cinemas, where he became famous as a competent expert in
running the artistic and cultural activities.
At this stage, Selim founded the Hundred-Chair Theater, where the creators: Saad
Ardash, Ahmed Zaki, Samiha Ayoub, Galal El-Sharkawy, Mohsena Tawfik, Mohamed
Sobhy, Mohy Ismail, Mahmoud Hegazy, Hala Fakher, Magda El-Khateeb, Ahmed
Abdel Halim, Aida Riyad, Fahmy El-Kholy, Magdy Megahed, Aida Abdel Aziz, Nabil
Badr, and others glow on its stage.
Soon, the Hundred-Chair Theater became the focus of the attention of the theater
189
waterwheels raising water. There, he developed intimate friendships; however, the
friends of his childhood and life were his two brothers Abdel Moneim Selim and
Gamal Selim, who were intellectuals and writers. As for Ahmed Fouad Selim, he
liked poetry and drawing. Between 1945 and 1951, Selim was devoted to drawing
figures such as King Farouk, Abbas El-Akkad, Taha Hussein, Iqbal, Tagore, Gandhi
and his sister Rawda Selim in pencil on paper. On the pages of the daily (Al-Zaman)
newspaper, his first drawing was published on the anniversary of the poet Mohamed
Iqbal. In the same year, he received the first prize in charcoal drawing. Selim said
about a small magazine named Al-Isslah, whose founder used to collect donations
from many governorates for publishing. Gamal Selim, who was writing in it, asked
the newspaper to publish one of his brother Ahmed Fouad Selim’s articles there. That
article was followed by a series of successive articles; twenty-five articles (poems
and articles) were published until 1955. In 1954 and 1955, Selim graduated from
secondary school, and he felt that the Faculty of Law represented justice and equality,
so he joined it. After graduation, Selim became an employee, writer, and painter. He
used to ride a taxi three days a week, paying on the whole salary. In 1958, he met the
architect Dr. Mohamed Hammad, who held a degree in the restoration of artworks
from Venice, in addition to a Ph.D. in architecture from Cairo University. He was
fluent in several languages and a great painter as well. His office was at 50 Kasr
El-Nil Street, the same place where the National Society of Fine Arts was founded.
He donated the place to serve art and artists; the studios of artists Rushdi Iskandar,
doctor and painter Ramses Hassib, Ramzy Mustafa, Saleh Reda, and Ahmed Fouad
Selim, were held there. They used to stage regular exhibitions in this apartment and
artist Salah Taher inaugurated their exhibitions. The late writer Ahmed Rushdi Saleh
published some of Selim’s poems from 1959 to 1965 in the Al-Akhbar newspaper.
In 1963, he held his first exhibition jointly with musician Abou Bakr Khairat, where
he presented his work on Sayed Darwish’s melody, "Eh El-Ibara", and delivered two
lectures during this exhibition, with the participation of the late sculptor Abdel Salam
Ahmed, and the late music critic Suleiman Gamil.
In 1965, Selim met an official at the Czech Embassy, who asked him to run
the Czech Cultural Center in Cairo in 1966. Therefore, he left the Arab Center for
Engineering Designs to take over the administration of art and culture at the Czech
Center, beginning a new stage of his cultural career. He get acquainted to more
people and started his initiatives in running the creative activities and establishing art
galleries, theaters, and cinemas, where he became famous as a competent expert in
running the artistic and cultural activities.
At this stage, Selim founded the Hundred-Chair Theater, where the creators: Saad
Ardash, Ahmed Zaki, Samiha Ayoub, Galal El-Sharkawy, Mohsena Tawfik, Mohamed
Sobhy, Mohy Ismail, Mahmoud Hegazy, Hala Fakher, Magda El-Khateeb, Ahmed
Abdel Halim, Aida Riyad, Fahmy El-Kholy, Magdy Megahed, Aida Abdel Aziz, Nabil
Badr, and others glow on its stage.
Soon, the Hundred-Chair Theater became the focus of the attention of the theater
189
