UNTITLED
signed Masouda lower right
oil on board
50 x 35cm; 19 3/4 x 13 3/4in
60 x 43cm; 23 1/2 x 17in (framed)

Property from the Zulficar Family Collection, Alexandria

Provenance
Youssef Pasha Zulficar
Thence by descent to the present owner

Ibrahim Massouda, born in either 1925 or 1938 to Jewish parents, was a distinguished Egyptian artist with a distinctive expressive style.

Massouda received his education at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, where he cultivated a unique impressionistic approach, reflecting political sacrifice and struggle. With little written about him, we know that he subsequently joined the Art and Liberty Group as one of its later members and subsequently played an active role in Egypt’s Contemporary Art Group, established around 1945.

The success of the Contemporary Art Group is attributed to its founder, Hussein Youssef Amin. Amin provided training in technical skill and cultural knowledge to his students, including Massouda, before, during, and after their university studies. Having studied in Brazil, Amin introduced Massouda to a wider cultural perspective, including Latin American art, even though Massouda had not studied abroad. Amin encouraged Massouda to develop a personal artistic style, with an emphasis on individual expression. He taught Massouda to look beyond copying physical reality and focus on representing the underlying qualities of subjects. Amin described Massouda’s artistic vision as demonstrating a distinct approach centered on spiritual themes, such as evidenced in the present lot. His works are rare, and a very limited number come to market.

Massouda works have been exhibited by prominent galleries and institutions, including When Art Becomes Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists, Palace of Arts, Cairo, 2016, Surrealism in Egypt: Art et Liberté 1938 - 1948 at TATE Liverpool, 2018, In the Heart of Another Country at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg and the Sharjah Art Foundation, 2022-23.