Noor Soussi
Head of Department
Lot 49*
Inji Efflatoun(Egypt, 1924-1989)The Brick Workers
25 November 2025, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£40,000 - £60,000
Ask about this lot
Nima Sagharchi
Group Head
Lylia Hafiz
Sale Coordinator
Inji Efflatoun (Egypt, 1924-1989)
The Brick Workers
oil on canvas, framed
signed "I.Efflatoun" and and dated "71" (lower right), executed in 1971
50 x 100cm (19 11/16 x 39 3/8in).
oil on canvas, framed
signed "I.Efflatoun" and and dated "71" (lower right), executed in 1971
50 x 100cm (19 11/16 x 39 3/8in).
Footnotes
Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Cairo
Formerly in the collection of Hassan Khafaga
Acquired directly from the Artist in the early 1970s by the above
Inji Efflatoun stands among Egypt's most important modern painters, renowned for her deeply humanist depictions of labor and rural life. Painted in 1971, The Brick Workers reflects the mature phase of her career, when her art became a powerful vehicle for social commentary.
Set against a backdrop of warm desert tones, the scene depicts men and women engaged in the strenuous task of stacking and transporting bricks. Efflatoun's use of thick, textured paint and a vivid palette transforms the everyday into the monumental. The figures, rendered in rhythmic harmony, embody both exhaustion and resilience, expressing the dignity of collective effort.
Efflatoun's empathy for the working class was born of conviction and lived experience. A feminist and political activist, she was imprisoned in the late 1950s, and her later paintings turned toward honoring Egypt's laborers—peasants, fishermen, and factory workers—whose strength she regarded as the foundation of national identity.
The Brick Workers exemplifies Efflatoun's unique blend of social realism and expressive abstraction. Its chromatic warmth and structural clarity reveal an artist deeply committed to portraying human perseverance with grace and sincerity. Comparable works from this period are held in the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, Cairo, and have featured in key retrospectives of her career.