Bio

Born in 1929 in Cairo, Mahmoud Khalil studied philosophy and evolved on the local intellectual scene frequenting the philosophers and writers. In his early twenties, he started realizing some drawings and paintings. Later on, he joined, as the youngest pupil, the Contemporary Art Group, founded in 1946 and participated in its first exhibition. Within that group, the artist’s paintings were distinguished by their recalling of the Persian miniatures through the colorful compositions and the enigmatic scenes. His mentor Hussein Youssef Amin encouraged him to keep his style, which can be associated with naïve art or even primitivism. Slightly using detailed brush strokes or sometimes China ink, he liked to fill the space of the composition freeing himself from the academic norms of perspective. He represented the Egyptian and Sudanese landscapes and farm life depicting the desert, palm trees, and animals. Mahmoud Khalil died in 1955.

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Exhibitions