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Eclectic Wonders: The Collection of Timothy Egert

6^* — Louay Kayyali (Syria, 1934-1978) The Young Lovers (Al Ashiqan Al Saghiran)

£50,000 - £80,000

7^* — Naim Ismail (Syria, 1930-1979) Hayy ibn Yaqzan (Alive, son of Awake)

£40,000 - £60,000

8^* — Saliba Douaihy (Lebanon, 1915-1994) Mar Gerges Church, Ehden

£20,000 - £30,000

9^* — Jewad Selim (Iraq, 1919-1961) Still life with Statuette

£50,000 - £80,000

10^* — Mamdouh Kashlan (Syria, 1929-2022) Before The Light Fades (Kabl An Yazoul Al Djaw)

£12,000 - £15,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

11 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Study of a Rural Family

£15,000 - £25,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

12 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Mother and Child

£100,000 - £150,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

13 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Public Bath

£40,000 - £60,000

Property from the Artist's Estate

14 — Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) H20 + AG + AiR (From the Quantum Realism Series)

£50,000 - £80,000

15^* — Sliman Mansour (Palestine, born 1947) Woman From Bethlehem

£60,000 - £80,000

16^* — Etel Adnan (Lebanon, 1925-2021) Belles Creatures

£60,000 - £80,000

17^* — Saloua Raouda Choucair (Lebanon, 1916-2017) Untitled (from the Repetitive Dual series)

£30,000 - £50,000

18^*,AR — Chaouki Choukini (Lebanon, born 1946) Equation Existentielle

£30,000 - £40,000

19^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Al Shamr

£40,000 - £60,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

20^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Arabic Image II

£30,000 - £50,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

21^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Drawings Consecrated to Love

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

22^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Horse

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

23^AR — Dia Al-Azzawi (Iraq, born 1939) Composition

£4,000 - £6,000

Property from the collection of the late George Touma Yacoub

24^AR — Shafic Abboud (Lebanon, 1926-2004) Le Cafe a Gien

£2,000 - £3,000

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Lot 13^*

Samir Rafi
(Egypt, 1926-2004)
The Ritual

Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art

28 November 2017, 15:00 GMT

London, New Bond Street

£14,000 - £18,000

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Samir Rafi (Egypt, 1926-2004)

The Ritual
oil on wood panel, framed
signed "S.Rafi" and dated "1970" in English (with an unfinished painting on the verso), executed in 1970
85 x 43cm (33 7/16 x 16 15/16in).

Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Cairo

Representations of Egyptian daily life infused with surrealism and symbolism characterised Samir Rafi's oeuvre. He emphatically subscribed to the surrealist movement spearheaded by Ramsis Yunan and Georges Henein. The artist received critical acclaim during the 1950s from Aimé Azar, a teacher of aesthetics at Ain Shams University, who noted how Rafi accentuated the tragedy of modern life.

Samir Rafi was born in 1926 in Cairo. Rafi's artistic talent was discovered early on in his life. After attending secondary school under the mentorship of the prominent art scholar Hussain Youssef Amin, Rafi went on to obtaining a degree in Fine Arts at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo. In 1943, when Rafi was only seventeen Youssef Amin organised Rafi's first art exhibition. A major work from this exhibition was acquired by the Art Museum of the Ministry of Education.

In 1953, Rafi moved to Europe to pursue a PhD programme in art history at the University of Sorbonne in Paris. He exhibited widely and took part in numerous international exhibitions during this period. Upon Rafi's return to Cairo he assumed a role as an art professor at the School of Fine Arts and engage in art journalism.

Rafi was a prominent member of the Contemporary Art Group founded in 1946 by Hussein Youssef Amin, an artist collective that emphasised the relationship of art to society and popular culture and the adaptation of modern forms and techniques.

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- Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art