Overview

The first complete catalogue raisonné of the Egyptian artist featuring paintings and works on paper from the 1930s to his last works This is the first comprehensive book dedicated to Egyptian artist Wassef Boutros-Ghali, offering an in-depth exploration of his storied life, the works produced across his distinct creative phases, and his enduring artistic legacy. Spanning Cairo, Paris, and New York, Boutros-Ghali’s life and practice were shaped by cultural hybridity and political turbulence. Working privately and exhibiting selectively, he left behind a body of work that until now has remained largely unexamined. This catalogue brings coherence to that dispersed legacy, presenting a definitive timeline of his artistic evolution. Wassef Boutros-Ghali (1924–2023) was a visionary Egyptian painter and architect whose late-blooming artistic career spanned decades and continents. Though initially steered toward architecture, Boutros-Ghali painted throughout his life, cultivating a distinctive visual language shaped by an affluent and cultured upbringing, political upheaval, religion and mythology, and a life lived across multiple countries. Rooted in abstraction, his paintings fuse vibrant color fields with architectural precision, informed by modernist movements in both art and design. His bold, geometric compositions reflect a lifelong pursuit of harmony—what he described as a “visual equilibrium of geometric shapes and colors.” As his art evolved, Boutros-Ghali deepened his exploration of color, energy, and form, producing expressive, lyrical works until the end of his life.

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9788857253664

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Lesley Campoy oversees the art collection of Egyptian painter and architect Wassef Boutros-Ghali—her father-in-law—as its Collection Director. Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is a prominent Emirati commentator, cultural advocate, and founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation. Known for his work promoting modern Arab art, he is also a writer and educator, having taught at institutions such as Yale and Boston College. Barbara A. MacAdam is an esteemed American art critic, editor, and writer. Formerly Deputy Editor of ARTnews, she has contributed to Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, and numerous catalogues. Known for her sharp insights into contemporary art, she continues to shape discourse through critical writing and curatorial work. Glenn Adamson is a curator, writer and historian based in New York and London. Formerly the Director of the Museum of Arts and Design and Head of Research at the V&A, Adamson is now the Artistic Director for Design Doha, a biennial in Qatar; curator at large for the Vitra Design Museum; and editor of the online journal Material Intelligence. Sumayya Vally is a South African architect, and the founder and principal of the architecture and research firm Counterspace, based between Johannesburg and London. In 2023, Vally artistically directed and co-curated the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Renowned for her socially engaged and narrative-driven work, she was the youngest architect to design the Serpentine Pavilion in 2021. Donna Honarpisheh is a curator, scholar, and writer focused on global modernism and critical theory. She is the Knight Foundation Associate Curator at ICA Miami and hosts the podcast Tomorrow is the Problem. Honarpisheh holds a PhD from UC Berkeley and was awarded the 2025 Vilcek Prize for Curatorial Work.

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