Fille à l’imprime by Mahmoud Said (1897-1964), the father of Egyptian modernism, leads Bonhams Egypt’s Awakening Sale in London on Wednesday, April 18.  The painting, which was executed in 1938, and has never been offered at auction before, is considered Said’s most iconic portrait, and a defining work in the history of Egyptian 20th century art.

Bonhams Head of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, Nima Sagharchi said, “Nowhere does Mahmoud Said capture quiet dignity better than in Fille à l’imprimé. The figure stands in stark contrast – and in rebuke – to those Western Orientalist painters who fetishized middle eastern women as figures of erotic mystery. Although Said came from an Egyptian aristocratic background – he was the uncle of Egypt’s late Queen Farida ­- he found his inspiration in the working lives and struggles of ordinary people. One of his most exquisite works, L'île Heureuse – a touching scene of a mother and her baby on a donkey - sold at Bonhams in 2016 for £ 1,202,500. Said remains Egypt’s most valuable 20th century artist. 

Originally entitled Fellaha au voile noir, Said’s tender and ennobling portrait of an anonymous fellaha (a peasant woman) has long been regarded as the finest manifestation of a central theme that runs through Egyptian Modern Art – restoring the dignity of Egyptian womanhood in the face of Western Orientalism. For Egyptian artists of the period, the fellaha personified Egypt herself, and Said’s Fille à l’imprimé is a perfect symbol of the beauty and dignity of Egypt and her people.

Critics at the time were quick to appreciate the importance of Said’s achievement. On its display at the XIX Salon du Caire in 1939, Fille à l’imprimé was described as the most iconic example of Mahmoud Said’s portraiture. It soon entered the important collection of Hussein Pasha Sirry, a former Prime Minister of Egypt, and the work’s reputation has only grown over the decades. More recently a leading Egyptian art patron has commented, “She is as enigmatic as Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.”

Other works in Egypt’s Awakening and Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sale include:  

• Surrealist Woman by Fouad Kamel (1919-1999). A leading figure in the Egyptian surrealist movement and a founder member of Art et Liberté in the late 1930s which campaigned against Fascist and Nazi moves to supress freedom of artistic expression.
• Fahr El-Nissa Zeid’s Portrait of Rula Shukairy (estimate £100,000-200,000). From one of the Middle East's most ground-breaking and celebrated painters, this larger-than-life portrait depicts Rula Kaddura Shukairy, a student and friend of Fahr El-Nissa Zeid who would become one of her most successful pupils.
• Mohammed Ghani Hikmat Bab El Gharbaa (Gateway to the West) (estimate £50,000-80,000)

Mohammed Ghani's colossal set of carved doors are one of the most impressive, imposing and intensely executed examples of Iraqi art ever to come to auction. A private commission from a distinguished collector who used the doors as the main entrance to his villa in the German countryside, the doors are in excellent condition, and have served as both a functional gateway and sculptural centrepiece of his family home for decades.