[EGYPTIAN SURREALISM - POSTCOLONIAL ART HISTORY] Déraisons d'être. Textes de Georges Henein, images de Kamel Telmisany

Scarce volume of poetry by Georges Henein, with four illustrations by fellow Egyptian surrealist and member of the "Art et Liberté" group, Kamel el-Telmisany (1915-1972). Due to his origins, Henein was predestined to establish and organize the exchange between Egyptian and European avant-gardists. As the son of a Coptic diplomat, he was familiar with moving between different cultures. He learned French in Rome when he attended the French grammar school Lycée Chateaubriand. English, French, and Italian were spoken fluently in his family. However, he only learned Arabic later from a Greek-Catholic monk. He began his law studies in Paris, which he eventually completed in Cairo. There he came across the francophone cultural organization "Les Essayistes" (The Essayists), which was founded in Cairo in 1928 on the initiative of a number of intellectuals. Its publication organ, the journal "Un Effort", was a shining platform for the presentation and discussion of the various currents of the European avant-garde. Henein became one of its most important and best-known authors.

After visiting Breton in Paris, he devoted himself entirely to surrealism and the task of making it known in Egypt. In 1937, he organized a conference broadcast on the radio as part of "Les Essayistes", which made him Breton's ambassador in Cairo. The first supporters of Surrealism in Egypt gathered around him: the poet Edmond Jabès, the journalist Émile Simon and the painters Kamel Telmisany, Angelo de Riz and Ramses Younan. In 1938, the group gave itself the name "Art and Freedom", in reference to the manifesto "Pour un art révolutionnaire indépendant", which Breton had written in Mexico in collaboration with Trotsky. This was followed by a series of exhibitions and individual publications. The war interrupted personal contact with Breton, whom Heinen did not visit again until 1947 in Paris.

Telmisany (or el-Telmisany) was born north of Cairo, in Al-Qalyubiya, and would study veterinary medicine, although his true calling was in the arts. He would co-found the "Art et Liberté" group with Henein and Ramses Younan, but his career as a painter and draughtsman was short-lived, because he eventually felt that surrealism would not manage to assert itself in Egypt's political and cultural climate. After World War II, he became active as a Marxist filmmaker and is known primarily for cinematic works.

One of 250 copies printed.

Rare. As of March 2024, KVK, OCLC show three copies in North America, at McGill, Missouri, and Yale. Scarce volume of poetry by Georges Henein, with four illustrations by fellow Egyptian surrealist and member of the "Art et Liberté" group, Kamel el-Telmisany (1915-1972). Due to his origins, Henein was predestined to establish and organize the exchange between Egyptian and European avant-gardists. As the son of a Coptic diplomat, he was familiar with moving between different cultures. He learned French in Rome when he attended the French grammar school Lycée Chateaubriand. English, French, and Italian were spoken fluently in his family. However, he only learned Arabic later from a Greek-Catholic monk. He began his law studies in Paris, which he eventually completed in Cairo. There he came across the francophone cultural organization "Les Essayistes" (The Essayists), which was founded in Cairo in 1928 on the initiative of a number of intellectuals. Its publication organ, the journal "Un Effort", was a shining platform for the presentation and discussion of the various currents of the European avant-garde. Henein became one of its most important and best-known authors.

After visiting Breton in Paris, he devoted himself entirely to surrealism and the task of making it known in Egypt. In 1937, he organized a conference broadcast on the radio as part of "Les Essayistes", which made him Breton's ambassador in Cairo. The first supporters of Surrealism in Egypt gathered around him: the poet Edmond Jabès, the journalist Émile Simon and the painters Kamel Telmisany, Angelo de Riz and Ramses Younan. In 1938, the group gave itself the name "Art and Freedom", in reference to the manifesto "Pour un art révolutionnaire indépendant", which Breton had written in Mexico in collaboration with Trotsky. This was followed by a series of exhibitions and individual publications. The war interrupted personal contact with Breton, whom Heinen did not visit again until 1947 in Paris.

Telmisany (or el-Telmisany) was born north of Cairo, in Al-Qalyubiya, and would study veterinary medicine, although his true calling was in the arts. He would co-found the "Art et Liberté" group with Henein and Ramses Younan, but his career as a painter and draughtsman was short-lived, because he eventually felt that surrealism would not manage to assert itself in Egypt's political and cultural climate. After World War II, he became active as a Marxist filmmaker and is known primarily for cinematic works.

One of 250 copies printed.

Rare. As of March 2024, KVK, OCLC show three copies in North America, at McGill, Missouri, and Yale.