George Bahgoury

George Bahgoury
George Abdel Masih Al Bahgoury or George Bahgoury (جورج البهجورى) is an Egyptian-French artist. An accomplished painter and sculptor, he is most famous as a caricaturist and political cartoonist.
Life and career
Bahgoury was born in 1932 into a Coptic Christian family in Bahgora, a small village in Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt hence the name of his family, ‘Bahgoury’ (coming from Bahgora). In 1953, he embarked on his career as a political cartoonist, a role that would see him featured in Sabah Al Khair and Rose El Youssef. In 1955, he studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Zamalek, Cairo, under the guidance of the Egyptian artist Hussein Bikar. In 1970, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. Soon thereafter, in 1975, he ceased publishing as a cartoonist.
A Silver Medalist for his painting "A Face from Egypt", Bahgoury's artwork has been widely displayed in galleries and museums, including the Louvre Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Amman, the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo, and the Al Masar Gallery for Contemporary Art in Zamalek, Cairo.
Exhibitions
He staged many exhibitions in Egypt and abroad around. Some of the most important:
Local exhibitions
1976, 15th Spring Exhibition – Cairo.
2004, 1st Exhibition of Press Illustrations, at Palace of Arts. Cairo.
2005, 29th National Exhibition of Fine Arts. Cairo.
2006, "Ramdaniat" Exhibition at Salama Gallery – Mohandessen. Cairo.
2007, "Art and Grant" Exhibition at Al-Oruba Rotary Club. Cairo.
2007, 1st Festival of Fine Creation, "30th General Exhibition and 1st Fine Art Fair". Cairo.
2008, Festival of Sketches and Mini Tableaus at Shadecor Gallery – Heliopolis. Cairo.
2008, Caricature Exhibition at Mahmoud Saeed Center of Museums – Alexandria.
International exhibitions
1966, Venice Biennail – Italy.
1965, Alexandria Biennail – Egypt.
1977, Exhibition of the Contemporary Art – Sudan.
1984, Contemporary Arab Art Exhibition – Tunisia.
2005, 2nd International Biennail of Book Fancy – Alexandria Library. Egypt.
2007, "Egyptian Smiles" Exhibition – 18th Gabrufu Biennale – Bulgueria.
2008, 13th Aswan International Symposium of Sculpture – Egypt.
Solo shows
More than 100 exhibitions all over the world. The most important done in Egypt:
1973, at Fine Arts Gallery – Cairo.
1998, at Mashrabia Gallery of Cont. Art, Downtown - Cairo
1996, at Mashrabia Gallery of Cont. Art, Downtown - Cairo
1996, at Khan Al-Maghraby Gallery – Cairo.
1999, at Arabesque Gallery – Cairo.
2000, at Picasso Gallery – Cairo.
2005, "Bahgoury Cafe" Exhibition, at Picasso Gallery – Cairo.
2007, At Nahdet Misr Gallery – Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum, Giza. Cairo.
2007, at Picasso Gallery, Zamalek – Cairo.
2017, at Picasso East Gallery, New Cairo - Cairo.
2019, at Liwan Gallery, Zamalek - Cairo.
2020, at Mashrabia Gallery of Cont. Art, Downtown - Cairo
Writings
Books : Port Said 65 – Sadat 80 – Paris 1990.
Novels: " Trilogy of Icon" .
Prizes
1978, Prize from Biennial of Caricature. Italy.
1979, Honorary Prize of Comic Strip in Damascus. Syria.
Prize and Golden Medal by Franco Character Caricature. Spain.
Collections
State collections
Loumansi Museum. France.
Museum of the Modern Art. Amman.
Museum of the Modern Egyptian Art. Cairo, Egypt.
Al-Shouna Museum. Alexandria, Egypt.
Private Collections
Egyptian Embassy in France.
Egyptian Embassy in England.
Gallery
References
External links
BahgouryDead Link
1932 births
Egyptian painters
Egyptian sculptors
Egyptian editorial cartoonists
Egyptian caricaturists
Egyptian emigrants to France
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
French male painters
21st-century French painters
21st-century Egyptian male artists
French editorial cartoonists
Egyptian novelists
Egyptian people of Coptic descent
Coptic painters
Coptic sculptors
Living people
People from Luxor
20th-century French sculptors
French male sculptors
20th-century French printmakers
Egyptian lithographers
20th-century French lithographers
21st-century French lithographers
20th-century Egyptian male artists
20th-century Egyptian writers