Cover Art Concept

Gazbia Sirry is one of Egypt's most important modern artists. She was born in 1925 in Cairo, where she lived and worked until her death on November 10, 2021. In 1950 she graduated from the Higher Institute of Art Education for Women Teachers in Cairo, today known as the College of Arts Education (kulliyyat al-tarbiya al-fanniyya). Afterward she traveled to Paris, Rome, and London to further her studies. She is known for her richly colored canvases that she made over seven decades. In the Classroom, on the cover of this issue, was painted in the early 1950s, when Sirry focused her figurative style on depicting Egyptian women of all social classes. Instead of the anonymous female peasant symbol of Egypt, prevalent in 1920s and 1930s painting, sculpture, and popular visual culture, the women in Sirry's paintings range from peasants to urban working-class women to stylish elite women. In the Classroom depicts a young, ochre-skinned teacher with short, wavy hair in a collared pink dress. Her features are bold and simplified, and her gaze directly confronts the viewer. One hand grasps a book, while the other overlaps with the hand of a bisected, monochrome female figure. To the right, another monochrome woman appears in profile, echoing ancient Egyptian iconography, and clutches the central woman's arm. The black square behind the teacher recalls a blackboard, and the white outlines resemble chalk, reinforced by the date in white at the top: October 11, 1951. While this composition of three women does not convey a clear story or message, Sirry does evoke a working, educated woman in a classroom supported by the encouraging touch of two peers. In this and her other paintings of the era, Sirry represents the diversity of working women of the emerging Egyptian republic.

When Sirry died, an outpouring of commemorations appeared in Cairo newspapers as well as across social media. At ninety-six the longest-living female artist of her generation, she worked tirelessly, holding over fifty solo exhibitions around the world. She will be remembered for her tenacious ability to weather Egypt's shifting political and artistic environment through her passionate canvases.