In Conversation With : Valérie Didier-Hess Part 1

Author Daf Beirut

A series of in depth interviews with Arthur Debsi, writer and researcher at Dalloul Art Foundation where he discusses various subjects with professionals in the Arab world.

Valérie Didier-Hess – Co-author of the Catalogue Raisonné of Mahmoud Saïd

Part 1. Published in 2016, the catalogue raisonné of modern Egyptian painter Mahmoud Saïd (1897-1964) is the first publication of its kind dedicated to a Middle Eastern artist. In the first part of the conversation, Valérie Didier-Hess explains the core of a catalogue raisonné, and the specificity of Mahmoud Saïd’s one, which also includes archival material. In an interview conducted by Italian poet Jean Moscatelli (1905-1965) in 1936, Mahmoud Saïd (1897-1964) recalled his trips in Europe in the early 1920s, and revealed how he was inspired by the art of Italian Renaissance, as well as the works of Flemish primitives. In her essay entitled Mahmoud Saïd’s Pioneering Dialogue with European Art, Didier-Hess analyses the artist’s inspirations through different visual comparisons with artworks by Vittore Carpaccio (1465-1520), and Roger van der Weyden (1400-1464). However, the author insists on the fact that the oeuvre of Mahmoud Saïd (1897-1964) goes beyond the concept of a simple pastiche. On the contrary, it demonstrates both his understanding of European art, and his ability to then translate it in a very personal style to depict his own subjects related to Egypt.

Video recorded on Zoom by Arthur Debsi

Edited by Christine Labban