† YOUSSEF KAMEL (EGYPTIAN 1890-1971)

† YOUSSEF KAMEL (EGYPTIAN 1890-1971) A SHEPHERD (PORTRAIT OF A MAN SITTING UNDER A TREE) oil on panel 121 x 97cm; 47 1/2 x 38in 134 x110cm; 52 3/4 x 43 1/4in (framed) Provenance Collection of Dr Mohammed Said Farsi Thence by descent Literature Dr Sobhy Al Sharouny, A Museum in a Book , Cairo, 1998, pp. 62 and 67, illustrated Among the first students to join Cairo's School of Fine Arts in 1908, Youssef Kamel was part of a generation of modernist artists in Egypt often referred to as the Al-Ruwwad Group (The Pioneers Group). He studied under the Italian painter Paolo Forcella and worked alongside influential Egyptian artists such as Ragheb Ayad (see lots 16-19) and Mahmoud Mokhtar. In 1925, Kamel received a scholarship to attend Rome’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He studied under Umberto Coromaldi who, like Forcella, followed the Italian 19th century Macchiaioli movement, which focused on oil painting techniques that emphasise patches of light in nature. Kamel loved the landscape of the Egyptian countryside, and through his use of soft brush strokes and touches of colour, he added a tender poeticism to scenes of everyday life. He returned to Cairo in 1929 to work as a professor of painting at the School of Fine Arts, later serving as its director from 1950 to 1953. Kamel also worked as a curator and director of the Museum of Egyptian Modern Art from 1948 to 1949. Throughout his life he produced over two thousand works, making him one of Egypt's most prolific artists. His paintings can be found in private collections in Egypt including the Cairo Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, the Agricultural Museum in Dokki, the Alexandria Museum of Fine Arts, and abroad in the Museum of Modern Art in Rome and the Barjeel Foundation, Sharjah UAE.