Sagini, Gamal

Sagini was born in 1917 in Cairo in the family of a craftsman engaged in metal stamping at the famous city art market Khan al-Khalili . Watching the work of the master chasers, from an early age he fell in love with working with metal, which later became the main one in his work. In 1938, after graduating from the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, Sagini continued his education at private studios in Paris and Rome. He is most impressed abroad with European expressionism , and especially German, mainly in the person of the famous sculptor Ernst Barlach . ^[1] . Upon returning to Egypt, he begins to teach at the sculpture department at the Cairo School. Sagini died in 1977 at the age of 60. He was awarded the national prize of M. Mukhtar and the gold medal of the International Art Exhibition of the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow. Sagini's works are presented at the A. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts , in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York , and in the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo.

In the initial period of creativity, Sagini works in round plastic. Since the beginning of the 50s, the master has preferred copper forged relief. The highly artistic metal processing, which was widely used in the Muslim Middle Ages, has a long tradition. Already in the choice of material and technology, Sagini's desire was expressed to join the roots of national creativity. From ancient Egyptian art, the author takes a generalized interpretation of the human body, as well as multi-scale images of figures and objects, and from the art of the Arab Middle Ages - filigree processing of details and a generous ornamental frame. The birth of Sagini as an artist, he said, coincided with the 1952 revolution , which largely determined the democratic orientation of his work. ^[1] The most vivid ideological orientation of Sabini’s creativity can be seen in the relief “Freedom”, depicting an Egyptian who breaks the bars of the dungeon. The nude is represented sitting, in a turn characteristic of the art of Ancient Egypt : face and legs in profile, chest in front. The dove released from the dungeon is also conditionally interpreted. At the same time, muscular strong arms stuck through the grate and breaking metal are very vividly transmitted. Such an artistic image is full of humanistic content and is perceived as a symbol of freedom of the people of Egypt . ^[2] Among the author’s famous works are the reliefs “Nile” (1950s), Chains (1952), and “Serpent” (1954).

• Venice Biennale (1956);
• "Contemporary Art of Egypt" in Rome (1957-1958), in Beijing (1957), in Moscow (1957 and 1958), in Bucharest (1959)
• “Art against war” in Cairo (1967), in Leningrad and Moscow (1972 −1973)

• Bogdanov A. A. Fine Arts of the Arab Republic of Egypt; Publisher: M.: Fine Arts, 1975

• Weimarn B. Arab Art