Nazli Madkour

Nazli Madkour was born in Cairo, where she lives and works. She holds a master’s degree in Political Economy from the American University in Cairo. Since 1982, she held more than forty solo shows and took part in numerous collective exhibitions in Egypt and abroad. She has exhibited in Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, the U.K., Holland, Greece, Lebanon, Sharjah, Qatar, Bahrein, Kuwait, Ecuador, Japan, China, the U.S., and Canada. Her works have been acquired by numerous private and public collections in Egypt and abroad. Madkour is the author of the book Women and Art in Egypt (in Arabic, 1989; in English, 1993). She illustrated a deluxe edition of Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz’s book Arabian Days and Nights, published by the “Limited Editions Club” in New York in 2005. The book and the originals were first exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. (U.S.), in June 2005; they were then shown in Egypt, Holland, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, the U.K., and Canada.

Madkour was a member of the Plastic Arts Committee of the Supreme Council for Culture from 2002 to 2005, a member of the Jury of Cairo International Biennale 2010, a member of the Jury of Persbook Art Competition for 2011 and 2012, and head of the Jury of Cairo Youth Salon 2012.

In almost four decades of practice, Madkour’s art has moved from figuration to abstraction. Her subject matter has been women and nature, namely the desert, rural landscape, and foliage. Her works have undergone a great deal of experimentation with mediums, techniques, and additives, opting for a textured surface and an earthy message. Her serene early works revolved around investigating new ways of looking at Egyptian women and landscape, but since the mid-1990s her works have become more expressionist and spontaneous, allowing for both chance and the medium to create “meaning.” Her works divulge the specific sensibilities of an Egyptian woman artist living and working in between two centuries and two cultures.