Gazbia Sirry

Gazbia Sirry (Arabic: جاذبية سري‎) (born 1925) is an Egyptian painter.

Born in Cairo, Gazbia Sirry studied fine arts and became a professor in the painting department of the Faculty of Art Education, Helwan University. She was also a professor at the American University in Cairo. She has had more than 50 personal exhibitions, official purchases by international museums, international prizes, scholarships and university chairs.

Her dissertation traces Egypt's politic history. The paintings of Sirry capture the relationship between feminist consciousness and advocacy of women, history, fascism, and Islamic futurism. Because of their eclecticism and heterogeneity of modern Egypt, Sirry's paintings were known. Her work is dominated by women in unmistakable pose of power stemming from female unity, performing roles in the public and private spheres. Her earlier work deals with polygamy and strengthening the fertility and reproductive power of women. In the late 1950s, Sirry made stylistic and thematic changes to reflect the grim mood created by discontent with the crackdown on dissent and curtailment of political freedom across the country. Through her work in the mid 1960s, when it becomes highly abstract, these dramatic changes are apparent. The full abstraction was replaced in the early 1970s by the reappearance of human forms, but the dark paintings represent the fears of Sirry about the fortunes of women's emancipation. The dominant bright colors and pyramidal shapes of her paintings show the national pride and enthusiasm following the Ramadan/Yom Kippur War of 1973 in the later part of the 1970s.[1]

Membership
  • Member of the Fine Artists Association, since 1979 (painting).
  • The Group of Modern Art.
  • Board member of the Fine Artists Association, 1979-1983.
  • The Art Lovers Society in Cairo.
  • The Egyptian Engravers Society in Cairo.
  • The Group of Artists and Writers in Cairo Atelier.
  • Al-Ghoury Artists Association in Cairo.
  • Fine Arts Committee of the Supreme Council of Culture,
  • The International AICA in Paris.

International exhibitions
  • Venice Biennale, 1952,1956,1958,1984.
  • São Paulo Biennale, 1952, 1963.
  • Alexandria International Biennale, 1959,1961,1963.
  • Afro Asian Exhibition in Cairo and Middle East, 1956, 1957.
  • African Arts Exhibition in Dakar, Senegal, 1966.
  • Monaco International Exhibition, 1969.
  • The 1st African Arts Exhibition in Algeria, 1969.
  • The International Painting Exhibition (Can Sur Mere), France, 1969.
  • The African Art Exhibition in Lagos, Nigeria, 1977.
  • The 1st Print Exhibition in Spain, 1981.
  • Baghdad International Biennale, 1988.
  • The Arab Female Artists Exhibition at the National Museum of Woman Arts in Washington, Houston, Los Anglos.
  • Egyptian Female Artists in UNESCO, Paris, 1995.
  • "Arab Eyes", in Sharjah, 1995.
  • "Hope Right", celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in Johannesburg, 1996.
  • "Creative Women", 1997.
  • The 7th Cairo International Biennale (guest of honour), 1998.
  • "Creative Women" art exhibition in Rhodes, Greece, 2000.
  • Exhibition of the Arab artists at Horizon One gallery at Mr. and Mrs. Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil, 2008.
International recognition

Rome prizes for painting, 1952. Honoring prize for oil painting from Venice International Biennale, 1956. Second prize for print from Alexandria International Biennale, 1959. Top prize for painting from Alexandria International Biennale, 1963. The fourth grand prix of International Contemporary Art, Monaco, 1968.

State collection

Egypt Modern Art Museum, Cairo. Alexandria Modern Art Museum. Marine Museum in Alexandria. The Egyptian National Bank in Cairo. Al-Ahram newspaper, Cairo. The Ministry of Foreigners and Egyptian embassies abroad. The Egyptian Art Academy in Rome. Arts and Sciences Museum in Evansville, Indiana, USA. Vincent Price Art Collection in Los Anglos, USA. Faculties of fine arts and art education in Cairo, Alexandria and Menia. Josef Museum of Unaligned Countries in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Living Art Museum in Tunis. The Grand Conference Hall at Cairo Opera House and Cairo. The National Museum of Woman Arts in Washington. Arab World Institute in Paris. Museum of Art and Sciences in Evansville, Indiana, USA. Unaligned Countries Museum in Yugoslavia. The American University in Cairo. Cairo Opera House. Great Cairo Library. Mubarak Public Library in Giza. The Supreme Council of Culture, Cairo. Press Syndicate, Cairo. Novetille Hotel in Cairo Airport. Sheraton Hotel in Giza. Sheraton Atoun Hotel in Nuba.

Bibliography
  • Okeke-Agulu, Chika."Politics by Other Means: Two Egyptian Artists, Gazbia Sirry and Ghada Amer."Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism - Volume 6, Number 2, pp. 117-149.Indiana University Press. 2006.
  • [El-Din, Mursi Saad. "Gazbia Sirry: Lust for Color", Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1998.]
  • [Karnouk, Liliane. "Contemporary Egyptian Art", Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1995.]

References
  1. Nnaemeka, Obioma (2006). "Meridians: Women, Creativity, and Dissidence". Introduction: Sideline Insurgencies and Gendered Art. 6 (2): 1–21. JSTOR 40338699.
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