Ebdaa Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of its exhibition “Readings in Visual Art – an exhibition of paintings by Chafik Charobim (1894 – 1975)” on Wednesday, January 8th at 7pm.
CHAFIK CHAROBIM was a naturalist and impressionist painter from the generation of Egyptian Pioneers. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1923 and was active between the 20s and late 60s.
The exhibition opening will run through January 30th, 2014. Gallery opening times are daily, from 10am to 10pm.
Ebdaa Art Gallery is located at 23 B Ismail Mohamed Street, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt.
CHAFIK CHAROBIM (1894-1975)
Charobim was the first Egyptian artist to graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome in 1923. When he returned to Cairo with his degree in painting in 1924, he was honored by King Fouad 1st with a teaching position at the new School of Fine Arts of Cairo. Too engrossed in the world of painting, the free-spirited artist rejected the constraints that went with the appointment and opted to follow the path of his passion by focusing on painting.
Of all the pioneer Egyptian painters, Charobim was perhaps the richest in his artistic reproductions of nature, with startling detail. As primarily a landscape painter, the prolific artist accented the truth and reality of color in Egyptian scenery, often flooded with light. His paintings praise the beauty of an eternal, romantic and serene Egypt where life was simple and people were carefree. The artist also loved Lebanon, where he would often take his family to spend summer holidays. The sceneries he painted there depict the magic behind the beauty of Lebanon’s mountains, valleys and villages.
Charobim also regularly painted his family, friends, as well as bedouins in the desert and other characters typically considered Egyptian. Besides capturing the feelings of the subject behind the features in his portraits, he excelled in his anatomical draughtmanship and was outstanding in his painting of hands, which many artists usually avoid.
In Egypt, Charobim’s works were exhibited at the Friends of the Arts, the Cultural Center for Diplomats, the Union of the French, Belgian and Swiss Universities as well as the Italo-Egyptian Art Exhibition Center. Charobim’s works can be found today at the Egyptian Modern Art Museum in Cairo. The artist also held a number of exhibitions of his work in Europe during his early career. Several of his paintings were purchased by museums of contemporary art and private collectors in France, Great Britain, Italy, Norway and Switzerland
