FROM FATWA TO ZIHAD

A divided society: Where did it all go wrong?
Sujit Chowdhury
A BOOK REVIEW OF ' From Fatwa to Zihad: The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy' by Kenan Malik, published by Atlantic (2009) pages : 253 price: Rs. 399

Published in Deccan Herald Sunday Magazine on Saturday, August 22, 2009


At first, the book seems like a journalistic narrative but gradually Malik brings in historical, political and sociological approaches to diagnose the menace of Islamic terrorism and shows its development in the British society as well as its trans-continental implications.

Kenan Malik, a Britain-based academic and documentary-maker has dealt with the complex subject of Islamic radicalism and its violent manifestations across the globe from an inter-disciplinary perspective. At first, the book seems like a journalistic narrative but gradually Malik brings in historical, political and sociological approaches to diagnose the menace of Islamic terrorism and shows its development in the British society as well as its trans-continental implications. He starts with the Fatwa against Sulman Rushdie for writing Satanic Verses and leads us to the shocking attacks of 9/11 in USA and 7/7 bombing in Britain. He says, “This book is the story of (that) metamorphosis... a guidebook to the road from fatwa to jihad.”

Racism and racial attacks are no new phenomena in British society. It had started in the 1970s and the British government evolved a policy of ‘multiculturalism’ that envisaged different groups have to be treated differently in order to treat them equally. This was the crux of the problem as multiculturalism shifted the focus of ethnic identity of immigrant community from nationality to religion. Earlier, the Muslims were divided on nationality and on the basis of language (eg. Bangladeshi) or further, on the basis of their faith-traditions like Barelwis, Deobandis, Jamaatis etc. But the new policy homogenised them on the basis of religious identity.

From the broader category of ‘Asians’ emerged Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs; all vying for their share in the pie that minority grants and funding under multicultural policy had to offer. The community-based housing policy encouraged flourishing of ghettos based on religion. Such a division on the basis of religion subverted the progressive ideologies that was earlier cutting across religious-ethnic-nationality barriers and consequently each of these groups became a vote bank and religion started shaping politics. Malik rightly says, “Multiculturalism helped create new divisions and more intractable conflicts which made for a less openly racist but a more insidiously tribal Britain.” In other words, the intervention of bringing minority communities into the democratic process ended up with communal politics. Mosques mushroomed in all towns and cities and the Council of Mosque was recognised as the mouthpiece of the Muslim community. Mosques became the power centre and their authority became the power-broker with the government on one hand and the custodian of Islamic faith on another. At the same time, Islamist parties started growing in Turkey, Palestine, Algeria, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the disintegration of the Soviet Union opened new avenues for radical Islam to make inroads.There was another psycho-sociological phenomena taking place: a sense of rootlessness, a moral and cultural void among the younger generation Muslims who were born and brought up in Britain. On one hand, they rejected the traditional orthodoxy and on another felt detached in a hostile host country. This sense of ennui (Lewis Mumford) at the psychological level led to social ‘anomie’ (Emile Durkheim) with pathological manifestations. On one side, the traditional Islamists wanted their younger generation to follow the dictates of Quran, whereas on another, the disenchanted youth wanted an anchor to have a sense of belonging. This void was fulfiled by embracing radical Islamic fundamentalism. For Malik, it was ‘an affirmative reconstruction of identity’. He debunks the popular notion that terrorists are uneducated, poor, unintelligent and a psychopathic lot. The landmark study of Marc Sageman shows that most of them are highly educated professionals. Thus, madarssa is not their recruiting ground as generally perceived, rather Western universities are the breeding ground of these terrorists. At a theoretical level, Malik’s conclusions deviate from the much adored ‘Clash of Civilisation’ approach of Samuel Huttington that anticipated the antagonism between two opposing worldviews derived from two different sources. According to Malik, it is not this clash between Western and Islamic Civilisation rather the absence of a cultural space within Western Civilisation to assimilate Islamic aspirations that led to this ‘Islamic War Against West’. The ‘fatwa’ issued against Rushdie was a symbolic beginning that gradually compelled the liberal idea of free speech in the West to be re-interpreted from a defensive stand. Subsequently, there were protests and violence from publication of other books like Monika Ali’s Brick Lane, Danish Cartoons of Prophet Mohammad, Hanif Kuresihi’s My Beautiful Laundrette and Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina. The West has been always apprehensive of Islam, and its own ideological and political insecurities have fuelled the fire of violence. It shows the identity crisis of the West itself. Conclusively, Western liberalism has built, “... a culture of grievance in which being offended has become a badge of identity, cleared a space for radical islamists to flourish.” Malik’s analysis is quite different from other works on the subject. However, he has been unable to maintain the objectivity of an ‘outsider observer’ as on many occasions, his own experiences of an ‘insider’, of a second generation immigrant from India in Britain colour the landscape of racial politics portrayed by him.

Exploring and understanding the Indian psyche

Deccan Herald: Sunday Magazine 12.7.2009

Exploring and understanding the Indian psyche
Sujit Chowdhury

India analysed Sudhir Kakar & Ramin Jahanbegloo Oxford, 2009, pp 90, Rs 395



Sudhir Kakar is the pioneer of psychoanalysis in India who has studied Indian psyche and its varied manifestations in broader contexts from a cultural-specific perspective, yet many of his findings are universalistic. For that, he has been acclaimed as one of the 25 major contemporary thinkers of the world. Apart from his theoretical work, he has written few fictions that are deeply influenced by his psychoanalytic approach.

India Analysed is a book covering conversations between Sudhir Kakar who, now at the age of 70, lives in Goa and Ramin Jahanbegloo, an Iranian-Canadian philosopher.

Ramin did his doctorate on Gandhi’s non-violence and has been writing and commenting on India through his interactions with Indian intellectuals, artists and politicians. This is a unique approach to deal with the complexities of India.

Earlier, he has approached religions and secularism in India through his conversations with Ashish Nandy (Talking India: 2006) and after India Analysed that explores largely the attitudes of Indian people towards sex, mysticism, religion etc., his upcoming book intends to grapple with Indian political philosophy through conversing with Bhiku Parekh. Ramin justifies the significance of ‘dialogue’ as he believes that the essence of any discourse lies in its duality; the engagement in a dialogue that also empowers to think independently.

Sudhir Kakar’s theoretical approach is based upon cultural-relativity and thus his methodology is influenced by the Indian worldview with its mythology and cultural traditions. Though his psychoanalysis is based upon the theories of Freud and Erikson, he discards the universalistic canons as he believes in the distinctive features of the Indian social and spiritual structure to comprehend the Indian psyche and imagination. That is the reason the main source of his research are Indian classical texts, mythology, folklore, popular cultural beside biographies and letters. Thus, he approaches his subject first with Indian cultural viewpoint. Then he applies psychoanalysis.

The book is quite interesting as it also throws light upon the personality development of Sudhir Kakar himself as he recollects his childhood memories, his own identity-crisis, ideological predilections etc. We come to know Sudhir Kakar more intimately and about the links between his theoretical approach and his own life-experiences. One of the major underlying themes in Kakar’s work has been the confrontation and reconciliation between tradition and modernity in India at psychological, social and historical levels. This has a correlation with Kakar’s own personality development.

As a child he grew between conservative and progressive families, and as a young man he spent most of his time in the west. He talks of his childhood, family, partition trauma and studying economics in Germany after graduating in Engineering from Ahmedabad. He returned to India in 1964 and joined IIM(A) as a Research Fellow but he was undergoing a deep identity crisis as he was not sure what he wanted to become.

The book covers the entire spectrum of Kakar’s scholarly interests ranging from his idea about Indian identity and selfhood, gender and sexuality, family, social and mental hierarchy, religion and communalism, healing traditions, guru-shishya traditions, myths, classical texts such as Kamasutra and the Hindu system of ahsrma and dharma etc.
For Kakar, Indian self and its genesis are distinct from the western self and hence, it should be studied within broader socio-cultural and historical contexts. Since the book is written in a dialogic form, it is an interesting and fast-reading.

Title: India Analysed : Sudhir Kakar in conversation with Ramin Jahanbegloo
Author: Sudhir Kakar & Ramin Jahanbegloo
Publisher: Oxford University Press, India
Year : 2009 , Pages: 90
Price: INR 395

Enchanting, Enticing and Somewhat Topnautch

Book Review of Pran Neville's 'Nautch Girls of the Raj' published by Penguin India in 2009. Book Review published in Deccan Herald (Sunday Magazine) on 26.4.2009

The pre-existing Devdasi system disintegrated in North India as it shifted from temples to courts and became confined to royalty and nobility.

Nautch Girls of the Raj is a concise and comprehensive historical account of the emergence and decline of institutionalised dance and music performance called ‘Nautch’ during colonial India. Pran Nevile has traced the origin of this institution from ancient times and treatises like Natya Shashtra. In different eras, the dancing ‘public woman’ had different names and somewhat varied social functions and relevance. Nevile asserts that before the Islamic period, such dancing women had high social standing as ganika, devdasi and nagarvadhu. Preponderance and prosperity of these women find mention in the ancient accounts of Huein Tsang, Alberuni and Kalhana. In the Mughal India, the Persian dancing style coalesced with the classical Indian tradition and gave rise to a new style called later as Kathak. New musical forms like thumri, dadra and ghazal emerged and enriched the dance. Footwork was another element that was added to this dance style. The pre-existing Devdasi system disintegrated in North India as it shifted from temples to courts and became confined to royalty and nobility.

Devdasi system continued in South Indian temples. It also got patronage from the kings particularly in Vijayanagara, Mysore and Tanjore and there was an exchange of dancing women between temples and courts. Thus, classical Indian dance continued and flourished in both secular as well as religious arenas. During British rule, the traditional performance dance acquired a new dimension as it emerged as an entertainment for the sahibs. Nautch became a permanent feature of all sorts of official entertainment. It was quite popular among the British officials and soldiers as evident from their early journals, travelogues, memoirs, diaries and letters. Nautch was an erotic spectacle for the British who had lack of company of British women in India and an all pervasive sense of boredom. On another hand, Nautch was also an integral enchanting part of the ‘exotic Orient’. Neville has cited various comments and poems written by British officers and visitors praising the Nautch and the beauty of Nautch girls. Thus, the institution of nautch flourished in British India as a part of the wider historical process of acculturation of the White sahibs to the culture of the native. After the 1857 mutiny, the empire’s policy changed drastically. Prostitution was one major challenge for the entire British empire across the globe as British soldiers were getting infected with venereal diseases. Indian Contagious Diseases Act was passed in 1864 that established a licensed system of prostitution. At an ideological level, it was a conscious instrument of colonial dominance and white supremacy. The empire wanted to project itself as a moralising authority and since Devdasi system was intertwined with Hindu religion, they called it ‘Temple Prostitution’. Some research has also shown that prosperous courtesans had funded the mutiny. By that time, the population of British women in India and missionaries increased and they disapproved Nautch as immoral. The anti-Nautch campaign by the empire also got support from the reformist educated Indian middle class and followers of Arya Samaj. Pran Nevile has delved into an area and subject of nautch that is not much researched by the historians and social scientists. The book, for its simplicity and broader coverage, gives a fair insight but it lacks a critical analysis of Nautch in the ideological contexts of the empire, race, sexuality and power.
NAUTCH GIRLS OF THE RAJPran NevilePenguin India2009, pp 136, Rs 250

Unravelling the mysteries behind an architectural wonder

Book Review of Giles Tillitson's Tajmahal published in 2008 by Penguin India. Review published in Decan Herald (Sunday Magazine) on 22.3.2009



Giles Tillitson, an India based art historian, has addressed Taj Mahal from various perspectives in a concise book encompassing historical and architectural backgrounds to the recent Taj corridor controversy.


As a monument Taj Mahal has appropriated diverse and competing meanings and symbolic representations; as a national symbol, an edifice to immortalise love and an architectural marvel. It is a part of our collective consciousness. Giles Tillitson, an India based art historian, has addressed Taj Mahal from various perspectives in a concise book encompassing historical and architectural backgrounds to the recent Taj corridor controversy.Tillotson systematically unravels the various layers of the meanings, concepts and metaphorical connotations of Taj Mahal; from its origin as a sepulchral architecture to a cultural icon in the modern India.The construction and design of Taj Mahal has remained a debatable subject, more for the reason that there are no historical records or designs. What we have is ‘Padshahnama’ of Abdul Hamid Lahauri that is an official chronicle of Shah Jahan and travel accounts of Westerners like Francois Bernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and Manucci. In Padshahnama, Taj Mahal is called rauza-i-munawwara (an illumined tomb in a garden) but it hardly talks about its construction. The writings of the contemporary travelers are ambivalent and disoriented because of their ethnocentrism. The same sense of cultural supremacy has biased the British historians and architects who were at a loss to believe that such a structure could have been built without a European association.


There are historians like Ram Nath and P N Oak who consider Taj Mahal as a Hindu architecture. It was only in 2006 that an authentic monograph on Taj Mahal was authored by Ebba Koch whom Tillotson profusely acknowledges. Tillotson asserts that as an architectural design, Taj is not an original conception, rather it is inspired by Timurid (Central Asian), Delhi Sultanate as well as pre-existing Mughal and old Hindu styles. All these styles were assimilated and synthesised to design the unique Taj Mahal. The book also denies lack of historical evidence to corroborate a popular belief that Shah Jahan wanted another Taj in Black marble beside the existing one. There have been controversies regarding the architect who designed Taj Mahal. Tillitson, on the basis of records, tries to put an end to it and cites Ustad Ahmad Lahauri (architect), Amanat Khan (calligrapher), Mir Abdul Karim and Makramat Khan (work supervisors). Since Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was sent to Delhi to design other buildings, the story of cutting hands of Ustad Isa, another name in the guesswork is false. The construction took 17 years and costed 50 lakhs.Tillotson also presents the diverse accounts of Taj Mahal, as seen from the eyes of European travelers, British officers, memsahibs, architects, art historians, Mughal court poets etc. He also analyses the British landscape painters like William Hodges, Daniell Brothers and other company painters including Indians who accentuated its picturesque quality by putting Taj in its landscape setting.In contemporary times, Taj Mahal still acquires different meanings; the ad of ‘Wah Taj!’, for tea of the same brand, Taj Mahal group of Hotels, a lonely Princess Diana standing in front of Taj Mahal, so on and so forth. We also have competing literary perceptions as Sahir Ludhiyanvi, a progressive Urdu poet, considered it as a mockery of the poor people whereas Shakeel Badayuni, in a popular film song said that by constructing Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan left a legacy of love for the world. This legacy enshrined in the mysteries of the marble goes on and on; acquiring new meanings and perceptions and that is truly the mystique of Taj Mahal!

BUILDING BLOCKS OF SIMPLICITY: A TRIBUTE TO LAURIE BAKER

THE DECCAN HERALD, BANGALORE, 15 APR 2007

Building blocks of simplicity

Baker was influenced by Gandhi and applied low cost building techniques in hisprojects.Laurie Baker, the eminent architect, who made India his home, passed away recently leaving behindan inspiring philosophy and legacy. His approach to architecture was radical in the sense that itassimilated our indigenous traditions, eco-friendliness, economy and simplicity in a truly moderniststyle. His statement that “a building should be truthful” encapsulates his approach to architecture.This truthfulness derives its essence from the pragmatism and minimalism of the architecturalelements within the broader socio-economic and ecological contexts. This is what made Laurie Bakera popular one-man mission and his designs, a signature style.A chance meeting with Gandhi in Bombay in 1945 proved to be a turning point in young Baker’s life.After graduating in architecture from the Birmingham School of Architecture in 1937, he hadvolunteered for a group called Quakers to provide medical help to the British soldiers in theJapan-China War. He served in the group for three years in China and Burma but his ill health forcedhim to return home.Visit to IndiaOn his way back to Britain, he had to wait for a couple of months in Bombay and during this periodhe met Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi had expressed his concern for the need of housing for the poorparticularly in the Indian villages. He told Baker that India needed committed architects. This meetinginspired Baker to return to India in 1945 as the member of a leprosy mission.Initially, he lived in Kerala as a guest of Dr PJ Chandy. Subsequently, he travelled extensively thatexposed him to the poverty in the villages as well as the cultural diversity. He was struck by thearchitectural diversity of India and the richness of its localised traditions.He found that every region had its own architectural style depending upon the climatic factors and thelocally available material. One common element that he found was mud which was recyclable wasextensively used everywhere and that these structures stood for ages. Baker felt that native knowledgeand practices need to be preserved.During his travel in India, he realised that a patient’s recovery is faster in a familiar environment. Thismade him construct hospitals and schools with locally available material. Since he utilised theservices of local labourers, he started instructing them with drawings and illustrations.For 16 years, Baker built and operated schools and hospitals in north India and during this time hemarried Dr Elizabeth Chandy, a co-worker and sister of Dr PJ Chandy. In the early 60s, the Bakerssettled down in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, after a brief stay in Vagamon, in Kottayam.
Baker’s influencesLaurie Baker’s upbringing in the Quaker philosophy, Gandhian influence, his commitment to thesocial cause and a deep understanding of the Indian culture shaped his vision. He built modernbuildings with traditional techniques and material.He redefined the concept of low cost housing as it was misunderstood as low quality housing. Hesaid: “low-cost does not reduce or lessen structural stability and durability.” According to him, Indianarchitectural history is testimony to this. Most of the houses are made of mud or bricks baked at thesite are still standing strong.Apart from construction cost, the overall energy requirement on the production of raw materials likecement, steel and glass was also a serious concern for Baker. He commented once: “I have neverdoubted that in a country like ours any of us has any right to squander or waste, or use unnecessarilymoney, materials or energy.”He followed Gandhi’s idea that building materials available within five miles of a construction siteshould be used. It gave Baker innovative ideas to the extent that no two designs of Baker are similar.Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram built by Baker in 1971 is a masterpiece.Other such remarkable buildings are Chapel for Sacred Heart Centre, Chitralekha Studio Complex,Tourist Centre, India Coffee House, Children’s Village, among many others. He hardly cut any tree orlevelled the site to construct any building.Baker co-founded Centre for Science & Technology for Rural Development (COSTFORD) in 1985, anon-profit organisation for propagating low-cost housing particularly mass housing for the poor. Hewrote many ‘Do it Yourself” booklets for construction. He was a consultant on the housing relatedpanels of various state and the Central governments besides HUDCO and the Planning Commission.He was granted Indian citizenship in 1990 and was honoured with the Padmashree the same year. Hewas honoured with the UNO Habitat Award (1992) and World Habitat Award (1993). He wasconferred with honorary Doctorate by the University of Central England (1995) and University ofKerala (2003).Baker was active even at 90 as he worked on a restoration plan for Alappuzha and a sanitation systemfor the Sabarimala temple.Though his designs became his signature style, he was opposed to develop his style as a brand. His mission is reflected in his statement: “My feeling as an architect is that you are not after all trying to put up a monument that will be remembered as a Laurie Baker Building but Mohan Singh’s house where he can live with his Family.”

DEMYTHOLISING MYTHS

This is a book review of 'The Pregnant King' a mythological fiction written by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik and published by Penguin India. This review was published in Deccan Herald, Bangalore.

Taking us back to the Vedic age, this book explores issues of gender identity and power that continue to remain relevant through time.

Deriving from Mahabharata that contains a plethora of myths, Devdutt Pattanaik, in his latest novel The Pregnant King, weaves an interesting narrative with contemporary relevance.Myths, being rooted in historical contexts are indeed a-historical for their inherent messages. These axiomatic messages are conveyed through dialectic between the symbolic representations of opposites; dilemmas and contradictions. Mahabharata is a meta-text having several subtexts; one of them is the story of Yuvanshava, the king of Vallabhi who drinks a magical potion and becomes pregnant. Pattanaik takes creative liberty to change the chronology that makes sub-stories run parallel to or to coalesce with the central story in order to highlight the moral dilemma of gender and power in the Vedic period, that is relevant even today. The narrative starts with the great war for dharma in Kurukshetra, in which all Kshtriya kings from all the kingdoms in Aryavarta are taking sides. But Yuvanshava, the king of Vallabhi, is forbidden by his mother Shilavati as he has no heir even after 13 years of three marriages. He is not allowed to even rule Vallabhi though he is a consecrated king because, “a king must provide proof of virility before he can rule.” On the other hand, Shilavati, an intelligent woman, rules Vallabhi efficiently but being a widow, cannot sit on the throne. She is a proxy ruler. In Vallabhi, there is a temple of Ileshwara, a God who blesses the childless with children. Ileshwara becomes Ileshwari on new moon night and remains in a female form for a fortnight. Ileshwara and Ileshwari bless men and women separately. This reminds Shiva’s form of ardha-narishwara. This resolves the contradictions between masculinity and feminity; some male characters in this novel have feminine qualities like Shikhandi and Bahugami.Shilavati continues to rule Vallabhi on the plea that she will enter vanprastha when her son fathers a son. Then a yagna is organised in which two Sidhas, Yaja (mind and truth) and Upajaya (heart and destiny), invoke forces of nature and manipulate them by various rituals. During the yagna, there is a ceremony in which Yuvanshava and his first wife have to give cows to newly wed Brahmin couples. Here, the tale takes a twist as a Brahmin boy named Somvat dressed as a woman (Somavati) comes to receive cows with his friend Sumedha. It was a disruption in the ceremony that enrages Vallabhi. Somvat, while waiting in the dark cell for the verdict by the king at dawn, encounters a Yaksha. Sthunakarna takes his manhood thus turning him into a woman. The same Yaksha had saved the reputation of Shikhandi who was born a girl but raised as a boy by donating his manhood to prove his gender. Shikhandi never returned the manhood that he had borrowed from Sthunakarna. It had made Sthunakarna genderless. The rules of dharma are rigid as the lineage and gender are given and hence, both Sumedha and Somavati were burnt alive. They became pisachas because they were not allowed to cross Vaitarni due to ambiguity in their gender and lineage. Though the yagna was disrupted, the two sidhas produced a magical potion and left it in a pot in the king’s mahasabha. By mistake, a tired Yuvanshava drank the potion and became pregnant. He delivers a son Mandhata from his thigh. Myths of Nara and Narayana and of Aruni talk of men delivering babies. Yuvanshava starts having motherly emotions conflicting with his gender and identity. Yuvanshava says, “I am seed and soil. Man and woman. Or perhaps neither. A creature suspended in between, neither here or there?”The Pregnant King is an interesting reading for the simplicity of its language and the lyricism. Devdutt Pattanaik transposes us to the Vedic period and makes us draw parallels across epochs with similar socio-cultural definitions of gender and power.

FRANCE IN CAIRO

Article published in Deccan Herald (Bangalore) Sunday Magazine

PHOTOGRAPHS BY SUJIT CHOWDHURY

Sujit Chowdhury stumbles upon the Khalil Museum in Cairo that houses rare French art collection.

While rushing through the various museums and monuments in and around Cairo, I was struck by the mention of Mr and Mrs Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Giza area that houses a priceless and the largest collection of European paintings and sculptures on this side of the Mediterranean. The Museum located on 1, Kafour Street, was originally the mansion of Khalil, a statesman and connoisseur of art. The building as well as the collection has to tell a lot about Mohammed Khalil’s life, Egyptian modern history and its cultural interaction with France.

Mohammed Mahmoud Khail (1877-1953) was born to an aristocratic family and he studied law at the Sorbonne University. It was in France that he fell in love with Emeline Lock Hector who was a student of music and had a passion for art. They married in 1903 in Paris. Khalil developed keen interest in everything French; from cuisine to costumes and from painting to architecture. The Khalils were more interested in the emerging trends in Western art of which Paris was the hub.

The first painting that the couple bought was ‘Water lilies’ by Renoir for merely 400 pounds — the value of which is now estimated to be $ 40 million. By the time, the Khalils returned to Cairo in 1918, they had a handsome collection of paintings, statuettes and other antiques. Initially, the Khalils lived at 11, Kasr al-Neil Street but soon they moved to the palatial building at 1, Kafour Street after Khalil bought this building from Mahmoud Fakhry Pasha, a long time minister to France and a friend of Khalil.


The eastern side of the building overlooks the Nile and it has intricate metal and glass work taken from the French Arnoveau style as revealed from its grand entrance and the massive window.

The western side of the building facing the Murad Street has features of Neo-Classical style with detailed ornamentations. The area of the building is about 1400 sq. meters surrounded by a beautiful garden and has four levels with marble winding staircase and French terrace. The basement of the building now houses the administrative office, library, Information Centre and an auditorium.

The first floor has largely the collection of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist School whereas the second floor has pre-impressionist paintings. ‘Life and Death’ (1889) and ‘Father Jeans Walk’ (1889) are two paintings of Paul Gauguin. Van Gogh’s ‘Vase and Flowers’ is another precious possession. There are paintings of other impressionist and post-impressionist artists like Monet, Renoir, Pissaro, Sisley, Eugene Boudin, Toulose Lautrec, Degas and Marie Cassette.

Many artists represented in the collection are also from different schools who significantly contributed in the emergence of modernism in Western art; prominent among them are Ingres, Gusatve Courbet, Theodore Rousseau, Millet, Constant Troyon, Charles Daubingy, Daumier and Declaroix. In all, there are 208 paintings beside 40 sculptures that include work by Rodin and Cajou. The museum also has a large number of French furniture, ceramics and rare books.

It is interesting to know why and how such a large number of paintings encompassing a longer period of Western art history found its destination in a private collection in Cairo.

One reason is the genuine interest of the Khalils in art and their wealth to buy these masterpieces from the Parisian art dealers. Another reason is the onset of the Second World War when Paris was seized by the Nazi and paintings were looted and confiscated. During that time, art dealers and gallery owners were compelled to sell the paintings at low price.

Khalils used this as an opportunity. Richard Mosseri, an art curator, was the mediator and with every trip to France, the Khalils returned to Cairo with a load of paintings, sculptures and other works of art. This is how Khalil’s mansion turned into a fabulous collection of objects d’arts.

While practicing as an eminent lawyer in Cairo and being in the board of directors of many Egyptian banks and insurance companies, Mahmoud Khalil started actively participating in politics and he was appointed as the minister of agriculture in the Al Wafd Cabinet in 1937 and became the Speaker of the Senate in 1939.
Together with Prince Youssef Kamal, he founded The Society of Lovers of Fine Arts in 1924 and became its chairman from 1942 to 1952. He also supervised the 1937 Egyptian Pavilion in the International Exhibition in Paris and also 1949 exhibition of décor Egypt-France. For his contribution to promote art, the French government rewarded him with the title of Correspondant de l’Académie des Beaux Arts and the Grand Cordon de la Légion d'Honneur.

In 1947, Mahmoud Khalil bequeathed the palatial house of Giza to Emeline and in 1953 he himself drew a will bestowing his beloved wife one third of his estate, including the art collection. Shortly, Mamoud Khalil suffered a massive heart attack and died in Paris on December 27, 1953.

In 1954, Emeline drew a will that upon her death the mansion along with all the art collection would go to the Egyptian government. She died on March 19, 1960. In 1962, the house of the Khalils was inaugurated as Mr and Mrs Mahmoud Khalil Art Museum.

Unfortunately, after Anwar Sadat became the President, he acquired the museum in 1971 and converted it into his office. All the art collection was relocated to a palace in Zamalek. It was only after Sadat’s death in 1981 that Mr and Mrs Khalil’s house was restored as a museum after establishing the authenticity of the retrieved collection from art specialists.

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