Essentially the most easy method to bear in mind an artist is thru their creative creations, which function their legacy. In relation to Helmi El Touni, nevertheless, remembering his work is akin to remembering one’s personal id — his artwork is deeply intertwined with Egypt’s tradition and historical past.
Once we bear in mind his art work, we aren’t simply remembering him as an artist, we’re additionally reconnecting with Egypt’s tradition.
Final Saturday, Egypt misplaced a cultural icon: Helmi El-Touni, a number one determine in Egyptian folkloric artwork. Famend for pioneering a contemporary Arab aesthetic that challenged Western-centric designs, he’s celebrated for his distinctive oil work of Egyptian ladies in addition to his influential kids’s e-book covers and illustrations.
Many Arab houses displayed his illustrated books, even when they have been hardly ever opened. The distinctive covers alone have been prized as items of artwork or ornamental parts. His e-book covers for famend authors like Ihsan Abdel-Quddous and Anis Mansour, alongside along with his illustrations for Hussein Ahmed Amin’s Alf Hekaya w Hekaya (One Thousand and One Tales, 1984) ensured his imagery was a well-known and enduring presence in Arab houses.
He was a part of a era of Egyptian graphic artists who emerged throughout a time of intense Arab anti-colonial creative and mental enthusiasm, which largely resisted Euro-American aesthetics. His favourite motifs—doves, horses, and Arabic calligraphy—echoed historical, Coptic and Islamic artwork in addition to grassroots tradition.
Remembering a big cultural legacy entails extra than simply recalling what he created as an artist; it additionally means understanding the affect it had.
Listed below are 3 ways El-Touni influenced tradition and made an affect.
Launched Egyptian visible themes to kids’s books
On the time, all kids’s books and magazines in Egypt have been illustrated by foreigners. El-Touni, together with Hussein Bikar, have been among the many first to convey a particular and memorable design to Egyptian kids’s books.
His progressive use of calligraphy, significantly impressed by the Mamluki Thuluth script, a model of Arabic calligraphy utilized in Mamluk structure, set his covers aside.
Lots of his kids’s e-book cowl illustrations additionally integrated parts of Islamic artwork, particularly Islamic structure, as a part of his broader effort to spotlight Islamic artwork as a precursor to European abstraction.
His kids’s e-book covers and tales additionally centered on folks tales and cultural themes, equivalent to Agmal al-Hikayat al-Shabiyya (Most Stunning Folks Tales, 2001) and Arrouset Hanan (Hanan’s Doll, 2007), which aimed to show ladies about embracing their id.
Revolutionized the depiction of rural heritage and rural ladies
El-Touni as soon as remarked, “Each artist has a set of vocabulary, and for me, crucial is ladies. I think about myself a supporter of ladies. I take a look at them with each sympathy and admiration, and regardless of the equity they deserve, they’re usually handled as if they’re a minority.”
From illustrating a lady combing her lengthy black hair to using a bull, carrying water, or carrying the standard rural Egyptian galabeya, El-Touni captured the total spectrum of Egyptian ladies’s every day lives. He highlighted not simply their magnificence and adornments, but in addition their on a regular basis routines and rituals.
Whereas his art work on ladies is definitely recognizable for its constant creative parts, such because the extensive darkish eyes and lengthy darkish hair of his feminine topics, he was additionally unafraid to experiment. He depicted ladies with numerous hair textures and colours, together with curly and blonde hair, and positioned them in a various vary of settings and contexts.
He tackled up to date social points and provided political commentary
El-Touni’s designs additionally captured the human expertise, reflecting his views on social and political points. In 2011, he held a visible exhibition at Zamalek’s Picasso Gallery showcasing Egypt’s evolving political panorama by vibrant folks colours.
His art work featured numerous themes, together with clowns and younger Egyptian ladies with the Egyptian flag within the background, every symbolizing completely different political and social messages. For instance, the clown represented the idiot—a commentary on the political local weather he perceived.
To mark a brand new period of Egyptian patriotism, El-Touni prominently featured the Egyptian flag in his artworks, usually alongside younger ladies and ladies—his favourite motif—symbolizing a brand new sort of life in Egypt.
“I incorporate the flag into my work of ladies and ladies in a delicate method to convey our rising sense of patriotism,” the artist defined.
