| The
Met, the MOMA, the Victoria and Albert Museum. These are the
images of institutions that one conjures up upon hearing the
word museum. Although Darat Al Funun "little house of arts"
is small in scale, it is just as important an art institution.
Since its inception in 1993, the non-profit making Darat Al
Funun, with Suha Shoman at its helm, has been fostering numerous
art exhibitions and artists in its quest for "the promotion
of the fine arts, through the creation of cultural and creative
dialogue amongst the people of the Arab world, thereby, strengthening
the vitality and appreciation of contemporary Arab artists,
through the use of today's visual expression, in order for
the Arab arts to take its deserved place as a corner stone
in the building of contemporary Arab culture"
In 1978, the Arab Bank established the Abdul Hameed Shoman
Foundation , with the aim of propagating the idea that "artistic
creativity is a key determinant of a peoples identity, culture,
and history".
The most recent exhibition, entitled "Artists from the Nile
and the Sudan", is a part of a lengthy celebration of The
Arab Bank anniversary.
A sense of national identity and pride in their Pharonic heritage
characterizes the Egyptian art in display this fact can be
clearly seen in the works of Abdel Wahab Mursi. His "Pharonic
melodies" stands as a testament to the ancient Pharonic pictograms.
The exhibition also includes the sculptures of the late Egyptian
pioneer, Mahmoud Mukhtar, who transformed his art into a tool
of defiance against occupying British rule, in the 1919 Egyptian
revolution. "Ibn al Balad", a bronze sculpture can be characterized
as having both a caricature and sinister look… |
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