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Samir Fouad was born in Heliopolis, Cairo, in 1944 into an art-loving family, as his father was an Islamic ornamentation artist. His elder brother, a pilot and amateur artist, taught him painting in watercolors and violin-playing. Although he wanted to pursue art, he went instead to Cairo University Faculty of Engineering under pressure from his family.
He graduated with a B.Sc. in Communication Engineering in 1966 and joined a British computer company, starting a long career in information technology. In 1964 he went to London on summer training where he was profoundly taken by British watercolorists, especially Turner and Flint. He continued to practice art in parallel and held his first solo exhibition in 1971.
He went to Kenya on a job assignment in 1975 and actively participated in the art movement in Nairobi. When he returned to Cairo in 1977 he held an exhibition of works executed in Kenya. In 1980 he worked with the eminent Egyptian artist Hassan Soliman, who helped him develop his abilities and introduced him to the Egyptian art scene.
In 1997 he held a solo exhibition dedicated to his watercolors, which made him one of the leading Egyptian watercolor artists. This was followed by an exhibition for oil works in 1999. At the beginning of 2001 he retired from his career to devote himself entirely to art. His intimacy with Egyptian subjects such as swings, the oriental dancer, and maidens of the Nile began to show.
“His art is said to be anti-static and counter-arrest and has been described as capturing the flight of the moment and the essence of the passing of time on the subjects of his canvases.”
He has held ten solo exhibitions since 2001 and represented Egypt in the Mexico 2002 Watercolor Biennale and the 2011 International Luxor Symposium. His works have been exhibited in the USA, UK, Russia, Dubai, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. He wrote a book about watercolors considered the only reference in Arabic about this medium.
His world is driven by various streams, with music an integral part of his conscience. Growing up in Heliopolis gave him a cosmopolitan feeling. He searches beyond the visual and does not cease to experiment, drawing from the heritage of painting to the horizons of modernism. Deep inside he is thoroughly Egyptian, selecting his subjects from the culture and soil of his land.
Q: What defines Samir Fouad’s artistic style
A: His ability to capture the flight of the moment and the essence of passing time, blending Egyptian cultural subjects with a cosmopolitan vision. He works in both watercolors and oils, and his art is described as anti-static and counter-arrest. His deep connection to Egyptian culture and his continuous experimentation define his distinctive artistic vision.