LONDON.- Since May 2023, Olympia Auctions has sold works by eminent artists in Africa and the Middle East via dedicated sales run by highly regarded expert Janet Rady. It’s May 2024 auction continues the tradition, with seventy-seven exceptional works by artists such as Ablade Glover from Ghana, Hendrick Lilanga from Tanzania, Muraina Oyelami from Nigeria, Kagiso Patrick Mautloa from South Africa. In addition, the sale comprises works by distinguished female artists Malika Agueznay from Morocco and Baya Mahieddine, Algeria. Paintings by Seif Wanly and Kamal Youssef from Egypt, and Dia Al Azzawi, who is British/Iraqi are also among the highlights. Estimates range from £200 - £15,000.

Muraina Oyelmai (b. 1940) is a renowned Nigerian artist and musician who has exhibited around the world. He is known for his vibrant and colourful paintings that draw inspiration from Yoruba culture, mythology and spirituality. Two of his paintings feature in the auction. The distinctive work of Ghanaian artist Ablade Glover (b. 1934) also features in the sale. His pictures encapsulate the markets, landscapes and urban spaces of Ghana. He has international renown, with works in the Imperial Palace Collection of Japan and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Kagiso Patrick Mautloa (b. 1952) who lives and works in Johannesburg, is known for being one of the pioneers of modernist painting in South Africa. He works mainly in painting, drawing and print making but often finds inspiration from the refuse and discarded objects of Johannesburg’s urban culture. Mautloa says about his works, that they are 'observations of objects found on the vibrant streets in the city, not only for their visual qualities but as [a] repository of our quotidan practice.'

Female Moroccan artist Malika Agueznay (b. 1938) attended the Casablanca School of Fine Arts, then directed by Farid Belkahia. She is a modernist abstract artist and has elaborated on seaweed as a motif in her art, evocative of a feminine perspective that she has embraced. Examples of her work are currently also on view at the Sharjah Art Foundation as part of their Casablanca Art School exhibition, titled ‘The Casablanca Art School: Platforms and Patterns for a Postcolonial Avant-Garde (1962–1987)’.

Another female artist, Baya Mahieddine (1931-1998), from Algeria brings an exuberant use of colour and pattern to her work, as well as inventive depictions of human figures, animals, and floral motifs. Her work ‘L’aube et le poisson’ is estimated at £10, 000 - £15,000.

Egyptian Art is well represented in the sale; among the highlights a work by Seif Wanly (1906-1979) who is known for his depictions of Egyptian street life, including entertainers and performers as well as abstract Still Lifes influenced by Cubism such as ‘Untitled’, estimate: £6,500 - £8,500. He and his brother Adham Wanly were pioneers in introducing modern pictorial trends to Alexandria, depicting international subjects, and moving away from the folklorist style of their contemporaries.

Another Egyptian artist, Kamal Youssef, who’s work ‘Tradition’ is pictured at the top underwent rigorous training during his teenage years under a number of prominent artists known for their engagement with Egyptian Surrealism. In 1939, he joined the Art and Liberty Group, one of the most prominent art movements of the time and in 1946, he was a founding member of the Contemporary Art Group and played a crucial role in the development of Egypt's modern art movement. After the 1952 revolution, Youssef made his home in Paris before moving to the US where he worked as an engineer for 20 years.

British Iraqi artist Dia Al Azzawi (b. 1939), his work pictured left, is one of the pioneers of modern Arab art. He is well known for incorporating Arabic script into his paintings. He founded the Iraqi art group known as New Vision in 1969 and has been an inspiration to a generation of young, calligraffiti artists.

After 1983, Al-Azzawi returned to earlier motifs like colour through the form of the Arabic letter and the influences of classic literature such as One Thousand and One Nights but through the medium of prints. Al-Azzawi continued to explore the convergence of visuals and the written word by producing dafatir, or artists books, which reflected the poetry of the great Arab poets. Beginning in 1989, Al-Azzawi produced over 40 dafati and it became a place for him to reflect on political events such as the start of the Gulf War in 1991. See ‘Al-Jawahiri Verses’, painted in 1989.