Philippe Jabre is the founder, CIO and CEO of Jabre Capital Partners. A dedicated art collector with a keen eye for contemporary and modern art, Philippe Jabre has showcased his personal collection on Instagram. Beyond collecting, Mr. Jabre reflects his passion for cultural heritage and artistic expression by actively supporting artists and cultural institutions all over the world. This article will look at the celebrated Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said, exploring his life, artistic style and his most important works of art.
Mahmoud Said was born in Alexandria, Egypt on 8th April 1897. Born into high society, Said’s niece, Safinaz Zulficar, went on to become Queen Farida of Egypt, with her reign lasting nearly 11 years. Mahmoud Said’s father, Mohammed Said Pasha, served as prime minister from 1910 to 1914 and again in 1919. Concurrent to pursuing his interest in painting, Mahmoud Said worked as a judge. No one could have known in those early days that he would go on to be one of the Middle East’s most celebrated artists. In 2010, Mahmoud’s Said’s painting The Whirling Dervishes sold for a record $2.5 million at auction at Christie’s Dubai, making history as the most expensive Arab painting ever sold at auction.
During that auction, which featured 30 works by Mahmoud Said, Christie’s Middle East client liaison and sales manager Valerie Didier-Hess said she became enthralled with Said’s works, in particular his use of colour, light and subject matter. Joining forces with prominent Alexandrian art collector Dr. Hussam Rashwan, Didier-Hess helped to compile a catalogue raisonné for Mahmoud Said, the first-of-its-kind for any Arab artists.
This fully comprehensive, annotated listing of all of Said’s known artwork took Valerie Didier-Hess and Dr. Hussam Rashwan five years to compile, tracing and documenting every painting, drawing and sketch the Egyptian artist had ever produced. Next to each piece are its dimensions, annotations on the work and artist, its provenance, current location and details of any exhibitions or literature it has appeared in. Published by the Italian publishing house Skira, the final results were published in two volumes, the first subtitled Paintings and featuring 430 works in total ranging from portraits of family and friends to paintings of peasant women. The second volume, subtitled Drawings, contained sketches from Said’s notebooks, along with other drawings and essays written about Said during his lifetime.
Widely regarded as the founder of modern Egyptian painting, Mahmoud Said started his artistic journey in his teens. Having attended one of Alexandria’s most prestigious schools, he embarked on a cultural tour of Europe in the 1920s. Said took art classes in Paris, immersing himself in the French art scene and exploring European museums and churches, visiting Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain and discovering masterpieces of Western art. He took a particular interest in the works of 15th Century Flemish artists such as Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Jan van Eyck. Said was also drawn to the vivid colours of the early Italian Renaissance painters such as Vittore Carpaccio and the Bellini brothers, which had a particular impact on the young artist.
However, due to his aristocratic lineage, Mahmoud Said was expected to pursue a legal career. In keeping with his father’s wishes, he studied at the French Law School of Cairo, graduating in 1919. Nevertheless, painting remained his passion. It was not until the age of 50 that Mahmoud Said permanently resigned from his legal duties as a judge to pursue painting full-time.
Figurative in style and classical in subject matter, Mahmoud Said’s work was groundbreaking. Today, the artist is recognised as a pioneer of modern Arab art. Said exhibited one time at the International Exhibition in Paris and four times at the Venice Biennale. His most famous works include Assouan – Iles et Dunes, La Fille aux Yeux Verts (Réplique) and La Ville, which today hangs in the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in Cairo.
