Biography-3

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During that particular period of flourishing arts in Egypt, "The Friends of
Arts" was founded. Charobim together with his colleagues and friends, the
sculptor Moukhtar and the painter Ahmed Sabri, were of course founding
members.

Living in his villa in Helouan, Charobim devoted his life to painting; the
talented artist could now work as he pleased. Chafik also had another
passion, hunting. Using his hunting skills, he traveled everywhere in Egypt
and came to love the beauty of the Egyptian nature. His strong, attractive
personality, his unlimited sense of humor and his love for the intellect, art
and music surrounded him with a multitude of friends, who accompanied
him in countless social activities, namely musical sessions where he
excelled at the Piano (Chafik was an accomplished pianist) and hunting
trips. Charobim often remarked a happy man is a busy man and indeed he
was very busy and happy, always conveying happiness to those who were
lucky to be around him.

But his greatest moments were the ones he spent at his easel. To
Charobim nature revealed itself in confusion of its immense being; in
anxiety it questions the mystery of organic life, of universe; skies, seas,
mountains, meadows, fields, countryside. He painted with pure and tender
love the Egyptian nature. With an aptitude to retain the aspects of the
world, the permanent and not the passing, Charobim is surely of the
impressionist family. Of all the Egyptian painters, perhaps he was the
richest in his artistic traits of reproducing nature. As a landscape painter,
he portrays the accent of truth and the color of reality, of rural life.

Inclined to conciseness and to simplicity, Charobim excels in small
paintings, masterpieces of moderate dimensions, of limited meticulous
designs and ranges. Large format and extended compositions were not his
specialty.

While at the fine Arts School, Charobim met Roger Breval who was
teaching painting in Cairo. Together with Mahmoud Mokhtar they
established "La Chimère", an art society; they rented premises located on
the ground floor of a building in Antikhana Street and dedicated it to
receptions, banquets and naturally Exhibitions. Members of "La Chimère"
included artists of the academies, namely Beby Martin, Mahmoud Said,
Mohamed Hassan, Nagy, Youssef Kamel, and Chafik Charobim, to
name a few. The artists worked there in the evenings or simply sent their
paintings for exhibition. The atmosphere was cordial and joyful, reminding
one of the Montparnasse studios of Paris; Roushdi Pacha, President
Emeritus of "La Chimère", never missed an occasion to be there with the
Artists. Eventually with the departure of Breval "La Chimère" like any other
"chimère" vanished with the death of Mokhtar and other artists parted.

The first exhibition organized by the "Friends of Arts" was inaugurated by
King Fouad the First. Impressed with the works, the King bought one of
Charobim's paintings "the dog". The years Chafik spent in Helouan had
given the artist a great love for the desert. His love for nature included
animals and he kept in his garden dogs and goats.

Mahmoud Mokhtar

Mokhtar (1891-1934) was
a genius pioneer who
revived classical Egyptian
sculpting experience
blending it with
contemporary art
movements and reality
derived from the Egyptian
society, particularly its rural
community.

Born in the Nile Delta
region, he moved to Cairo
in 1908 where he joined
the then newly founded
School of Fine Arts. In
1911, he was granted a
scholarship to study art at
the Ecole des Beaux Arts in
Paris. During his stay in
France, he befriended
members of the Egyptian
Wafd Party and was
inspired to create the
prototype for his most
famous statue, “Nahdit
Misr” (Egypt’s
Renaissance), which was
initially unveiled in Ramses
Square in Cairo (1928) and
now stands opposite the
Cairo University Bridge.

Mokhtar also became
famous for his two
monumental statues of
Egypt's nationalist leader,
Saad Zaghloul Pasha
(1858-1927). Other
prominent sculptures
include “The Secret
Keeper” and “Isis”.

The Mokhtar Museum in
Zamalek, Cairo, where his
sculptures were neglected
for years, was finally
restored and reopened to
the public in October
2003.

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