S
HASSAN KAMEL:
THE EGYPTIAN TRADITION
Hassan Kamel is an Egyptian artist living in Cairo who wants to revive the ancient pharaonic sculptural tradition in modern form. He is amongst a generation of Egyptian sculptors whose work has become increasingly concerned with abstract principles. Born in 1967, he studied in the faculty of Art Education at Helwan University. He obtained a PH.D in art education philosophy with a specialization in sculpture. The title of his PH.D thesis was, “The benefit of the artistic values of the ancient Egyptian sculpture in patterns of local and international sculpture.” He has taught at Helwan University since 2004.
Kamel’s own work has been inspired by the modern Egyptian artist Mahmond Mahoud Mokhater who entered the Cairo School of Fine Arts the year it opened in 1908 and later studied in Paris. On his return to Egypt, Mokhater began the revival of sculpture in Egypt, long dormant under the influence of Islam. Mokhater was a sensitive realist whose portrayals of modern Egyptians incorporated visual symbols of ancient art. His sculpture, Renaissance or Awakening of Egypt of 1928, expressed the dreams and aspirations of the new nation.
Kamel has spent many years studying the art of ancient Egypt, investigating the compositions and artistic ideas. Initially he made copies to become very familiar with the form and mass, the way of working and the character of the different materials used by those artists. These literal transcriptions include a head of the young Tutankhamun produced in bronze. This study provided him with a vocabulary of form, principles and ideas. From these initial representational renderings, Kamel has increasingly pared down and simplified his forms, working towards a geometric abstraction in a systematic manner.
The cubic form is fundamental to sculpture. Stone sculptors will begin with a geometric lump of stone from which they will seek to derive a particular form. Ancient Egyptian sculptors maintained the integrity of the original blocks from which they carved their monumental figures. In the heads and standing figures of ancient Egypt, the geometric block-like nature of the original hunk of stone, a
The cubic form is fundamental to sculpture.
Name: Born:
Education: Living in:
Hassan Kamel 1967
Faculty of Art Helwan University Cairo
inspiration: Mahoud Mokhater
p PAGE 5 • SUMMER 2010
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