Written by MYSA KAFIL-HUSSAIN

“All my paintings are special to my heart. Each one of my paintings represents an incident or a special memory. It does not take long for me to finish my drawings; as soon as I feel like drawing, I draw, it is as simple as that”
George Bahgory^[1]

Born in 1932 in the village of Bahgora, just outside Luxor and the village where his family name originates, George Bahgory’s artistic impact has spread far across Egypt and beyond, becoming an increasingly prolific painter and cartoonist over many years. Bahgory’s early life was marked by tragedy, with his mother passing away when he was just three years old. His father, a teacher and a very quiet, introverted man, married another woman who treated Bahgory cruelly as a young child. This made him seek comfort in one of his aunts who would take him out to visit people and places, creating experiences which found their way into his artworks as an adult living abroad when painting his memories of Egypt on canvas.^[2]

Bahgory started drawing from a young age and began to pursue it seriously as a young adult, applying to study painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Helwan in 1950, and was subsequently accepted as a student. Upon his acceptance, the artist’s cousin, Samaan, wrote him a letter of congratulations, adding “don’t forget that I told you that you’re a talented artist, and I left you to draw in my room the entire day. Faltas, you were six years old when you drew a beautiful piece of art. I remember it still today…women, flowers, and birds.”^[3] Bahgory’s given name was actually ‘Faltas’, but he likened it to the word “mefalles” meaning “broke”, which did not sit well with the young artist, later changing it to ‘George’.^[4] Bahgory graduated in 1955, where he was taught by prolific Egyptian artist, Hussein Bicar, who became a mentor to the young artist and had a significant impact on his work.^[5]

Following his graduation, Bahgory started his artistic career as a cartoonist for popular publications Sabah al-Khair and Rose al-Youssef. Focusing on political satire, his work was laced with a humorous spirit which he maintained in his painting later in life. Rejecting convention, caution and traditional notions of allegiance during a wave of Pan-Arabism and the widespread veneration of then-President, Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Bahgory instead chose sarcasm and comedy in his drawings, even depicting Nasser waving and sticking his tongue out at the viewer in later works.^[6] The Six-Day War in 1967 created a shockwave in the region, hitting Nasserism hard and deflating multiple populations across the Arab world. Despite an established and lucrative career as a cartoonist in Egypt, Bahgory decided to leave, partly because of the impact of the war, but also the censorship and resistance to any form of political criticism within the publications he worked with.^[7] He left for Paris in the early 1970s, enrolling in the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and started a love affair with the city that kept him there for the next several decades, ending his career as a newspaper cartoonist in 1975.

However his move to France did not stop his connection with the Arab world. In 1972, Bahgory found himself in Baghdad briefly at the same time as Lebanese sculptor Alfred Basbous, and in that time drew Basbous’ distinctive profile using ink on paper. The artwork, which can be found in the Dalloul Collection, bears a note saying (in Arabic) “With my admiration for the great artist Basbous” and is a striking example of Bahgory’s skilled – yet simple – portraiture techniques, a legacy of his many years sketching cartoons. Aside from images of politicians and other figures from history, Bahgory truly loved to draw his friends and his family, commenting to a journalist whilst in a room full of portraits in his newly-founded museum in 2019: “I like to spend time in this room, because it has portraits of my friends and people I loved.”^[8] His love for portraiture, faces and figures and his overall style was heavily influenced by the likes of Picasso, Klee and Egyptian artist Abdel Hadi Al Gazzar, although the impact of Egyptian Fayoum funerary portraits can also be felt in his techniques and perspectives. His figural style was rarely life-like and often cubist and veered into the dark and surreal, as seen in his 1987 artwork ‘The Little Goal Keeper’, an oil painting on canvas which can also be found in the Dalloul Collection. The subject – a young boy with his arms outstretched to protect the makeshift goal he has created – stands awkwardly and with limbs and facial features so abstracted that they almost feel disjointed. The lessons of Picasso can be seen immediately in his rendering of the child’s face, and despite many of his works being full of vibrancy and energy, this unique atmosphere that Bahgory has created seems to be quite mysterious, static and menacing. His many years of experimentations with cubism developed into more of an expressionist style, with bold lines and colours dancing dynamically on his canvases.

Despite being in Europe, his love for Egypt remained. Bahgory painted aspects of Egyptian heritage, whether it was a local scene or prolific figure, fearful that his memories and the Egypt he once knew would one day vanish: “with every stroke of the brush I recall an Egypt that I don’t want to disappear”.^[9] Some of his most recognisable works, a series of paintings created over many years depicting legendary Egyptian singer, Um Kulthoum, alongside her famous orchestra, are tied into that nostalgia and the mourning of heritage. He exhibited the series in its entirety in Cairo’s Mashrabia Gallery in 2013.^[10]

In 2019, Bahgory opened a private museum in Cairo, something which he referred to himself as “one of my greatest achievements…and the last one, it seems”.^[11] Full of his work over many decades, it also contains volumes of autobiographies he has published and rooms dedicated to paintings, drawings and other works which illustrate his journey as an artist. Bahgory continues to work between Cairo and Paris, and although he doesn’t see himself returning to Egypt full-time, he still has a deep love for his country and his people, especially after everything they have been through in the lead up to the Arab Spring and the subsequent struggle for power. With an endless list of exhibitions, works acquired by various prestigious institutions, the publishing of three non-fiction books and one novel, and a range of prizes for his work, Bahgory does not measure his success with these achievements, but sees his value in the appreciation he receives from his fellow Egyptians: “I draw the people and the people love me for that. And this is my most treasured award.”^[12]

Notes

[1] Mustafa Marie, “Madar, Arteology exhibit exclusive paintings of George Bahgoury”, Egypt Today: The Magazine of Egypt, March 17, 2019, https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/67139/Madar-Arteology-exhibit-exclusive-paintings-of-George-Bahgoury

[2] Rania Khallaf, “’This is one of my greatest achievements’: George Bahgory, Egypt’s renowned artist on his own museum”, Ahram Online, April 05, 2019,

https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/25/329496/Arts--Culture/Visual-Art/This-is-one-of-my-greatest-achievements-George-Bah.aspx

[3] Radwan Adam, “George Bahgoury: Painting Egypt from Exile”, Al-Akhbar English, November 30, 2011, http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/2092

[4] Ibid

[5] Marie, “Madar, Arteology exhibit exclusive paintings of George Bahgoury”

[6] Khallaf, “’This is one of my greatest achievements’: George Bahgory…”

[7] Adam, “George Bahgoury: Painting Egypt from Exile”

[8] Khallaf, “’This is one of my greatest achievements’: George Bahgory…”

[9] Barjeel Art Foundation: “George Bahgory”, Barjeel Art Foundation, N.d.,  https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/artist/egypt/george-bahgory/

[10] Ahram Online: “Art Alert: Egyptian painter Bahgoury pays tribute to music icon Umm Kolthoum”, Ahram Online, April 24, 2013, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/25/70043/Arts--Culture/Visual-Art/Art-Alert-Egyptian-painter-Bahgoury-pays-tribute-t.aspx

[11] Khallaf, “’This is one of my greatest achievements’: George Bahgory…”

[12] Adam, “George Bahgoury: Painting Egypt from Exile”

Sources

Adam, Radwan. “George Bahgoury: Painting Egypt from Exile”. Al-Akhbar English. November 30, 2011. Accessed January 2021. http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/2092

Ahram Online: “Art Alert: Egyptian painter Bahgoury pays tribute to music icon Umm Kolthoum”. Ahram Online. April 24, 2013. Accessed January 2021.  http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/25/70043/Arts--Culture/Visual-Art/Art-Alert-Egyptian-painter-Bahgoury-pays-tribute-t.aspx

Barjeel Art Foundation: “George Bahgory”. Barjeel Art Foundation. N.d. Accessed January 2021. https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/artist/egypt/george-bahgory/

Khallaf, Rania. “’This is one of my greatest achievements’: George Bahgory, Egypt’s renowned artist on his own museum”. Ahram Online. April 05, 2019. Accessed January 2021. https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/25/329496/Arts--Culture/Visual-Art/This-is-one-of-my-greatest-achievements-George-Bah.aspx

Marie, Mustafa. “Madar, Arteology exhibit exclusive paintings of George Bahgoury”. Egypt Today: The Magazine of Egypt. March 17, 2019. Accessed January 2021. https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/67139/Madar-Arteology-exhibit-exclusive-paintings-of-George-Bahgoury