Nazli Madkour brings “A Thousand and One Nights to life
Once upon a time, in every Arab’s childhood, lived the mystical fairytales of “A Thousand and One Nights. Until today, the stories of Ali Baba, Sinbad the Sailor and Aladdin entertain children across the globe.
The medieval Middle Eastern literary epic has many versions; in 1995, Nobel Prize winning novelist Naguib Mahfouz wrote his own take on the renowned story titled “Arabian Days and Nights. Last year, the Limited Edition Club (New York) published a rare book collector’s version, illustrated by artist Nazli Madkour.
The classical hadoota (fairytale) begins in the palace of Sultan Schahriar, famous for beheading each of his wives in the morning after their wedding, until one day when he marries the cunning Scheherazade, who is able to change her destiny by telling the king gripping stories and stop right before the climax, keeping the king engrossed enough to keep her alive as to hear the end of the tale the following night.
When Madkour was first asked to illustrate Mahfouz’s novel, it was a challenging yet flattering proposition. She contemplated how she was going to represent it, and decided to directly reflect the text, not her own vision,
“[Mahfouz] is such a good writer so out of respect for him I thought I would accompany the book, not push him aside and impose my abstract work on the book, she explains.
She chose to concentrate on some of the more charming characters in the novel, picking up the book numerous times to follow their tale.
“They have a meaning in our subconscious as Egyptians . they are part of our imagination I want to cling to that, says Madkour.
For example, among the prints on display is that of Abou Zeid El Hilaly on his horse, a traditional Egyptian story of a man who does good deeds. Another, which is more metaphorical, is of the harem, in this case the women of Schahriar, where each woman is shaped like a tombstone.
The artist uses a blend of abstract and figurative techniques to portray the characters, staying away from a classic “Miniatures concept and instead moving toward a modern, popular Arabic style of art.
The manner she uses is inspired by a traditional Egyptian concept of drawing on the back of glass. It is a concept that is very local and never reached the upper class art scene, she explains.
The printing technique used is called Giclee printing, where paintings are scanned into high resolution digital scans and prints with archival quality to provide the best color accuracy.
Each picture is quite colorful, and yet there is no specific color theme. Every individual painting has colors that suit the character.
Madkour has been a professional artist since the early 80’s, when she resigned her post of Economic Expert at the Industrial Development Center for Arab States (Arab League). Although she has studied much in the field (received a Masters Degree in political Economy from the American University in Cairo), she has no regrets leaving economics for art.
“I am very satisfied, she says. “Once I put my foot in art I realized this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Madkour has exhibited different works all over the world, Egypt, Portugal, France, Lebanon, Japan and many others.
The original designs and portfolio containing 10 original prints were exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C in June 2005.
Masterpieces Exhibition IV is hosting the exhibition in Cairo that includes the original paintings (35 by 35 cm) signed by both the author and the artist, as well as the portfolio signed by the artist. The exhibition opened in June and is open until the end of August at the Zamalek Art Gallery, 11 Brazil Street, Zamalek.
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“They have a meaning in our subconscious as Egyptians”
