Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

KAMAL KHALIFA
"Innocence" Painting 22" x 14" inch (circa 1970) by KAMAL KHALIFA

circa 1970

$2,750
£2,054.12
€2,381.42
CA$3,818.31
A$4,279.83
CHF 2,228.38
MX$52,258.55
NOK 28,292.35
SEK 26,818.61
DKK 17,767.99
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

"Innocence" Painting 22" x 14" inch (circa 1970) by KAMAL KHALIFA Kamal Khalifa is regarded as one of Egypt’s most prolific modern artists. He left the art world with several categories of his intensely unique artwork consisting of sculpture, paintings, and black-and-white drawings. He produced his sculptures by combining a structured traditional method with a loosely stylized and erratic abstract form he became renowned for. It was important for him that his bronze and gypsum sculptures displayed flow and movement, and it is that feeling of movement that emanates so powerfully from Khalifa's work, rather than that of absolute form. While Khalifa was a student in his fourth year at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, he quit, claiming that his studies added nothing to his art. He lived all his life in the Bab El Luq district of Cairo, in one room on the rooftop of an dilapidated informal settlement, and it was in these modest living quarters where he produced all his great work and where he eventually met his demise in the form of tuberculosis. His black-and-white drawings and watercolor works demonstrate Khalifa’s evocative and unrestrained abstract compositional method, which shunned conventional methods in favor of a style of art the Modernist period in Egypt had not yet been exposed to until Khalifa's bold artistic irreverence. Khalifa employed two techniques in his colored still-life paintings, which focused predominantly on floral displays. The first involves an interplay of colour coupled with a characteristic flirtation with abstraction. The second establishes a rich variety of traumatic emotions drawn from the artist’s life. To summarize his work, we can say that above all it was the artist's own personal suffering that was indelibly imbued in his sculptures and paintings. This was a suffering that while comprehensible and relatable to a universal audience, was innately unique to Khalifa allowing him to produce works the often contained within them a distinct otherworldly essence.
  • Creator:
    KAMAL KHALIFA (1926 - 1968, Egyptian)
  • Creation Year:
    circa 1970
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)Width: 14 in (35.56 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Culver City, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1085113716922

More From This Seller

View All
"Abstract Visage" Painting 16" x 10" inch (1970) by KAMAL KHALIFA
Located in Culver City, CA
"Abstract Visage" Painting 16" x 10" inch (1970) by KAMAL KHALIFA Kamal Khalifa is regarded as one of Egypt’s most prolific modern artists. He left the art world with several catego...
Category

20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

"Abstract Composition 4" Abstract Oil Painting 20" x 16" inch by Youssef Sida
By Youssef Sida
Located in Culver City, CA
"Abstract Composition 4" Abstract Oil Painting 20" x 16" inch by Youssef Sida Signed Circa 1989 Youssef Sida 1922-1994 Born in 1922 in Damietta, and in 1945 he got his degree fro...
Category

20th Century Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

"Seated Figure II" Abstract Painting 16" x 10" inch (c. 1960) by KAMAL KHALIFA
Located in Culver City, CA
"Seated Figure II" Abstract Painting 16" x 10" inch (c. 1960) by KAMAL KHALIFA Kamal Khalifa is regarded as one of Egypt’s most prolific modern artists. He left the art world with s...
Category

20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

"Abstract Composition" Oil painting 19" x 13" by Tahia Halim
Located in Culver City, CA
"Abstract Composition" Oil painting 19" x 13" by Tahia Halim Oil on cartoon / signed & not dated Tahia Halim was born in Cairo in 1919. Her primary e...
Category

20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

"Maiden" Abstract Oil Painting 24" x 20" inch by Ashraf Zamzami
By Ashraf Zamzami
Located in Culver City, CA
"Maiden" Abstract Oil Painting 24" x 20" inch by Ashraf Zamzami ABOUT A characteristically bold and optimistic palette does not belie the inescapably pensive nature and at times, i...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Faces I" Oil on Carton Abstract Painting 28" x 22" inch by Youssef Sida
By Youssef Sida
Located in Culver City, CA
"Faces I" Oil on Carton Abstract Painting 28" x 22" inch by Youssef Sida Signed and dated 1990 Youssef Sida 1922-1994 Born in 1922 in Damietta, and in 1...
Category

20th Century Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

You May Also Like

Abstract Figure - Painting by Behçet Safa - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Abstract Figure is an original contemporary artwork realized by the artist Behçet Safa (1934-2018). Mixed colored oil on canvas. Hand signed and dated on the back.
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paint, Oil

Untitled Figure (c. 1950s)
By Adine Stix
Located in Summit, NJ
Gorgeous oil and watercolor on paper by abstract expressionist artist Adine Stix. Beautiful shades of pink, purples, cobalt blue with s hint of orange cover the paper to create the h...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil, Watercolor

Mid Century Multi-Color Abstract Expressionist Figurative
By Honora Berg
Located in Soquel, CA
Exceptional mid century Abstract Expressionist figurative painting from her study with David Park by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985). Signed lower right "Honora Berg" and on verso. Unframed. Image 36"H x 30"W. Berg studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff, and James Budd Dixon. Berg's friend Edith Truesdell...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled, Figure Study
By Hans Burkhardt
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Untitled, Figure Study" is an abstract figurative Post War pastel on paper paintings by Hans Burkhardt in 1967. The artwork is 21 1/4 x 16 1/4 inches and, with the frame, is 28 3/4...
Category

20th Century Post-War Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

"Untitled" Edward Zutrau, Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Colorist Painting
Located in New York, NY
Edward Zutrau Untitled Signed and dated on stretcher Oil on linen 26 x 31 1/2 inches Edward Zutrau is among the American artists who worked within the whirlwind of diverse abstract...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Abstract Oil Painting by noted Figurative Expressionist Israeli Artist Joel Kass
By Joël Kass
Located in Surfside, FL
Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: Israel Dimensions: 29" x 21 1/4" x 3/4" Dimensions w/Frame: 29 1/4" x 22" Kass paints in thick layers and realizes unique effects by sublimating...
Category

20th Century Neo-Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil