NAKED WOMEN SMOKING SHISHA, OIL ON CANVAS PAINTING, SAID ABD AL HALEEM (EGYPTIAN 20TH CENTURY), AFTER JEAN-LÉON GÉRÔME
Naked women lying down on a white sheet smoking shisha/hooka
signed and inscribed S. A. Halim / c. de. J. L. Gerome (lower left)
Oil on canvas, framed
100 x 75 cm (39.37 x 29.53 in)
PROVENANCE
Dr. Mohamed Said Farsi
Dr. Mohamed Said Farsi (1934-2019) was a notable patron of Egyptian art. In 1956, he was among 35 Saudi Arabian students sent abroad for further education. He earned a BA in Architecture and Town Planning from the University of Alexandria in Egypt. Returning to Saudi Arabia, he became the Mayor of Jeddah in 1972. Over his lifetime, he curated the most significant private collection of Modern Egyptian art.
This collection was the first of its kind to be comprehensively documented with the publication of ‘A Museum in a Book: The Farsi Art Collection – the “Egyptian Works” owned by Dr. Mohammed Said Farsi’ by critic and scholar Dr. Sobhy Sharouny in 1998.
