Produced for Ubuntu Art Gallery for Abu Dhabi Art Fair 2024
A master of caricature art, illustration, painting, and animation, Ihab Shaker is a prominent figure in Egyptian Art. Born in 1933, Shaker refined his talent and career between Cairo and Paris. His artistic practice has constantly highlighted aspects of Egyptian Heritage through portrayals of women, music, and folk tales with a poetic touch. Posing an essence of fantasia, Shaker’s paintings object mediocracy as he played with figures and compositions.
His paintings have been part of major exhibitions in many countries including Japan, Austria, France, Italy, and Egypt that witnessed his last exhibition in 2017 at Ofok Hall in Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Giza.
Ihab started his career as an illustrator for El-Gamhoriya newspaper in 1952 while he was still a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts. Upon his graduation in 1957, he had already established himself as a cartoonist and illustrator for many newspapers and organizations in Egypt. He had created the famous characters of Shamsa and Dana written by his wife, the journalist writer Samira Shafik for Majed Magazine (Abu Dhabi) in addition to many more beloved characters in plays alongside his brother the director and puppeteer Nagi Shaker.
Shaker moved to France in 1965 to study animation with Paul Grimault. With 5 short animated films to his name, Shaker’s work in film and animation has been celebrated with several awards such as “Le prix de qualité du Centre national Français”, he was also the first Egyptian and African member of ASIFA (International Animated Film Association) and member of the jury at several animation festivals.
Ihab Shaker was a contemporary and a companion to distinguished names in the Egyptian art movement including Mohi-Eldin El-Labad, Bahgoury, Adam Henin and others. Ihab Shaker returned to Cairo in 1975 and then moved to Canada in 2010 where he lived until his passing in 2019.
Shaker’s paintings are mostly defined by creatures of magical shapes, revealing compositions that are almost theatrical. Each artwork resembles a performance within its elements or a poem that speaks to you as you witness it. The mystical nature of Shaker’s artworks is deeply rooted in the heritage and daily life scenes of Egypt, as well as the philosophical ideas he explored as an intellectual with profound love of music and diverse life experiences.
A recurring theme in his paintings is duality, where elements often appear in pairs, creating a sense of symmetry that reflects careful structuring and embodies balance, musical harmony, and love.
The artist’s techniques in oil painting and mixed media possess a unique quality, almost as if he is illustrating in a style influenced by his background in caricature and animation. Ihab Shaker’s work showcases remarkable skill intertwined with his vivid imagination, which he effectively harnessed from his rich legacy of artworks, caricature, fondness of music and spirituality.
In this collection of Ihab Shaker’s paintings, created between 1957 and 1987, we witness a significant phase in the artist’s career during which he worked as a caricature artist, writer, director, and animator. This period allowed him to gather and refine his skills, culminating in the mesmerizing paintings he later unveiled at his first solo exhibition in Egypt in 1988 at the Arts Complex in Zamalek, Cairo.
