London Calling
Christie’s is hosting the largest exhibition of Arab art in London this week. Menhat Helmy's "Space Exploration" masterpiece is among the featured works.
For the first time in 45 years, Menhat Helmy’s work will be exhibited in London, England, as part of renowned auction house Christie’s “Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World” summer showcase.
The loan exhibition, which takes place between July 20-August 23, is one of the most expansive and significant exhibitions of modern Arab art in London to date, and will feature more than 150 works from across the Middle East and North Africa. The works are distinguished through a gender-balanced selection which allows for visitors to appreciate the role that modern women artists played in the flourishing modern art movement in the region.
The exhibition will be divided into two captivating sections, “Kawkaba: Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation” and “Emirati Art Reimagined: Hassan Sharif and the Contemporary Voices.” Helmy's work will be featured as part of the former.
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation noted in the official press release that the “exhibition is a rare opportunity to view in person a selection of artworks from some of the most prominent artists from West Asia and North Africa that have been collected over 20 years. The vast majority of the artworks in the exhibition have never been seen in the U.K. before. The works include a gender balanced selection which allows for visitors to appreciate the role that modern women artists played in the establishment of a flourishing Modern art movement in the region. Barjeel Art Foundation is especially proud to be collaborating with Christie’s on this unique exhibition from whom many of these works have been collected over the years.”
Among the artworks in the exhibition that have not been displayed in London in the past is Helmy’s “Space Exploration”—a masterpiece of geometric abstraction that is among the most fascinating in her oeuvre.
I had the opportunity to discuss Space Exploration during a visit to New York in 2020, while the work was on tour in the United States as part of the Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s – 1980s. You can watch that video below.
While Space Exploration may not have been featured in the United Kingdom in the past, my grandmother did spend a significant portion of her artistic career in London. She studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts in the 1950s, just the second Egyptian woman to do so at the time. It was there that she developed her fascination for printmaking, a fascination that led to numerous awards, including the Slade Prize for Etching in 1955, and propelled her to become one of the finest printmakers of her generation in the Arab world.
My grandmother later returned to the United Kingdom in the 1970s, this time with her husband, Abdelghaffar, and two daughters, Nihal and Sara. She enrolled in Morley College and continued her studies in printmaking. It was during this period that she produced some of her most notable and avant-garde work: a collection of abstract prints inspired by the race to space, technological advancements, and spirituality.
Helmy began with abstract works that were still based on real-life observations, such as ‘The River Thames’ in London (1974), ‘Tenerife’ (1976) on the Canary Islands, or the Eiffel Tower in Paris (1975). As she grew comfortable with the style, Helmy freed herself of representational art and achieved full abstraction with pieces such as ‘Corridors’ (1976) and ‘To the Point’ (1978) — pieces that bore little attachment to specific real world events or monuments but still maintained remarkable geometric synergy and a colour palette of warm tones that brought about a deep sense of tranquility.
Many of the works that Helmy created during this period remain among the most popular in her oeuvre. A selection of her abstract prints went on display at the Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg in Germany as part of the “Konkret Global” exhibition in 2022. Many of the prints were also featured in a “Visions of Abstraction” exhibition at the Library of Alexandria in May 2023.
Not only was Helmy ahead of her time — revolting against the customary traditions of classical paintings in favour of new mediums — she was also a tireless experimenter, searching for new horizons. Her work transcended the boundaries of traditional art and bucked the trends set by fine art schools at the time. Her work was a creative adventure — a journey into one woman’s desire for expressionism in the age of political change, technology and man-made miracles.
Now, an entirely new generation of art lovers will have the opportunity to see one of my grandmother’s most remarkable abstract works in London. If you happen to be in the city, the exhibition opens on 20 July and will run until the end of the day on 23 August. Entry is free.
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