1925 brochure

Contrary to a prevailing notion that Mr. & Mrs. Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil (of the museum by the same name) held a quasi copyright to French impressionism this side of the Mediterranean, during the interwar period Cairo and Alexandria abounded with art collections. So much so that in the 1920s three complimentary and sometimes overlapping institutions were created; their primary task was to catalogue, exhibit and disseminate the appreciation of this rarefied form of art, which, thanks to many private art collectors, had become an integral part of Egypt's cultural landscape.

1. The Society of "Les Amis de l'Art" of Cairo was founded in 1921 under the patronage of avid art collector, Prince Youssef Kamal. Founding members included Emile Miriel, the long time director of the Credit Foncier Egyptien Bank; Senator Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil; former finance minister Youssef Cattaui Pasha; Mohammed Taher Pasha; Sir Ali Ibrahim Pasha; Henri Naus Bey of the Industrial Federation; banker Sir Robert Rolo; Engineer Aldo Ambron; Fouad Abdel Malek (secretary-general of the Society); Charles Boeglin; and finance minister Ali Chamsi Pasha. This male-only society partnered with Le Salon du Caire which was itself patroned by Princess Samiha Hussein. Among  its female members we find Hoda Sharaawy and several other feminists. Eventually Le Salon merged with Les Amis de l'Art.

Before it moved to more permanent headquarters in ex-Tigran Palace on Nubar Street, the Society des Amis de l'Art's first locale was on Antikhana (later renamed Mahmoud Bassiouni) Street in the building designed by Ambroise Aubry for the French Archeological Mission to Egypt (IFAO). The Society lost no time in launching a series of lectures, exhibitions and art and musical seminars.

1928 saw the first exhibition in Cairo of a large collection of contemporary French paintings and sculptures courtesy of the Paris Louvres, the Palais Luxembourg and the Petit Palais as well as a side exhibition of Sevres, Gobelin and Beauvais.

It is thanks to the Societe des Amis de L'Art that Egypt saw the creation in 1928 its first Museum of Modern Art. On 8 February 1931 King Fouad officially inaugurated the Museum then situated in the ex-Palais Mosseri at the corner of Fouad al-Awwal (now 26th of July) Avenue and Emad al-Din Street.

2. The museum itself had been in operation since 1928 collecting and receiving works belonging to the Dutch, French and Italian schools--many of which were donated by private collectors.

On the museum's ground floor was a permanent exhibition for Egyptian paintes and sculptors including George Sabagh, Mahmoud Saiid Bey, Dikran Garabedian, Mohammed Naghi, Ragheb Ayad, Amy Nimr, Mohammed Hassan and Mahmoud Mokhtar. On the same floor were the works of Orientalists who had made Egypt their second home such as Innocenti, Beppi Martin, Edmond Pauty, Gabriel Blessy, B. Barbur and Roger Bréval. The latter would soon open his personal atelier at No. 14 Antique-Khana Street.

Aside from the fabled paintings there were ceramics, statuettes, vases and glassware with labels evidencing a variety of origins: from Rod al-Farag in Cairo all the way to Lyon, France.

The museum's centerpiece was allocated to Jacquemart's scaled down reproduction of Mohammed Ali's statue on the square by the same name in Alexandria.

But all was not modern in the newly opened museum. Among the older pieces were 15th century works by Italian and French masters including Alumon di Foligno, Verrochio (Leonardo De Vinci's teacher), Francesco Mazzola and Panini. The Dutch school was itself represented by Beerstrtaten, Cornelius Dusart, Van Goyen and Jan Steen, all of them from what is known today as The Netherlands. Contemporary Belgian work on exhibit belonged to Alfred Stevens, Franz Courtens, Louis Artan and Emil Baes.

English works of art included Gainsborough, Peter de Wint, Sir William Beechy and Richard Bonnington.

Several halls were dedicated to 19th and 20th century artists, too many to be named here. Suffice to mention: Largillière, Géricault, Descamps, Henri Regnault, Daubigny, Jules Dupré, Sisley, Cottet, Eugene Boudin, Herni Martin and Dégas.

3. The creation in the late 1930s of Ecoles des Beaux-Arts in the then-fashionable district of Shubra. Eventually, the school transferred to Palais Princess Khadiga in Giza (where it is today) in bucolic surroundings near Cairo University. Consisting of five departments: architecture, sculpture, painting, decorative art and gravures, the school was first under the directorship Signor Innocenti from Italy.

Meanwhile in Alexandria a separate Society of les Amis de l'Art was founded in 1925 with poet-Prince Hassan Haidar Fadel as its honorary president and Antoine Benachi as its acting president. Hassan Nachat Pasha was named vice-president. Founding members were Baronne L. de Benoist, M. Furness, Michel Zogheb, Adolphe Cattaui, M. de Rougemont, José Caneri and Henri Thuile.