Footnotes

Provenance:
Property from a private collection,

Literature:
Cairo, Al-Ahram Newspaper, At the Occasion of Mansour Farag being Awarded the State Distinction Prize , 1995


Bonhams have the rare privilege of presenting one of the most significant works ever to be created by Mansour Farag. Considered to be one of the most prominent Egyptian sculptors of his generation, Mansour Farag belonged to the second generation of modern Egyptian sculptors along with his counterpart Ahmed Osman, following Mahmoud Mokhtar and preceding Mahmoud Moussa.

In 1930, Farag graduated from the School of Arts & Crafts now known as the Faculty of Applied Arts in Cairo. He spent the following year in Aswan working as an art teacher before being granted a state scholarship to undertake a post-graduate degree in sculpture in Europe. Between the years of 1931 and 1935, Farag spent the first two years in London, a year in the Beaux-Arts de Paris and his final year in Florence. After completing his studies, Farag returned to his beloved Egypt and became the head of the sculpture department until 1970.

1935 was a monumental year for Farag, the year he realized his iconic masterpiece the Sellers of Aswan Souk. That same year he was awarded the first prize in the Société des Amis des Arts, where he obtained the Gold Medal for The Sellers of Aswan Souk. This artwork was also exhibited at the fifteenth Venice Biennale in 1938. The work depicts the dynamic everyday market scene in the ancient city of Aswan in the 1930s where he draws heavy influences from pharaonic sculptures and African tribal art. The three Nubian women are presented standing tall and bare while they offer their products such as fish, dates and fruits for sale on the crowded streets of Aswan alongside their cows and donkeys.

In the 1940s, Farag realized numerous sculpture projects, mostly reliefs, in public spaces such as the Giza Zoo, Saraye El Qobba subway station and the Ministry of Defence. In 1947, he sculpted the bronze reliefs decorating the pedestal of the monument to commemorate Ibrahim Pacha statue on the Opera square in Cairo in collaboration with his colleague and sculptor Ahmed Osman. He was also commissioned to do numerous statues and portraits of the third President of Egypt Anwar Sadat's. Sadat's bust was known to be the most famous. In 1994, Mansour Farag was awarded the State Distinction Prize in honour of his artstic achievements.