Fifth Arab Forum for Pioneers of Caricature.. * Emad Gomaa: I founded the Arab Forum to save the rest of our caricature heritage. * Faraj Hassan: Caricatures are declining in newspapers and websites. * Al-Sawy: Two rockets left us with thousands of caricatures that express the political and social history of Egypt. On the second day of its activities, the Arab Forum for Caricature Pioneers organized a symposium honoring the great artist and the pioneer of caricature, Alexander Sarukhan, the guest of honor for the session, and the great artist Farag Hassan, former head of the cartoon department at Al-Ahram newspaper. The artist Faraj Hassan and the artist Abdullah Al-Sawy spoke in it, and it was moderated by the founder and director of the forum, the artist and satirical writer Imad Gomaa, in the presence of a remarkable presence of caricaturists, led by the artist Mohamed Omar, Amr Abdel Atti, Raghda Hegazy, Sally Al-Qassas, Abdel Wahab El-Shahawi and a group of media professionals. At the beginning of his speech, the director of the forum, Imad Gomaa, confirmed that he sought to establish this forum and seeks to establish the Arab Caricature Museum, to save the rest of the origins of our great pioneers who are honored annually through the forum, so that generations will remember them, generation after generation, and be led by their works of art.

The artist, Farag Hassan, talked about his artistic career and how he used to draw in the primary stage and find encouragement from his teachers as well as his family, and he sometimes draws aesthetic forms on the walls before turning to the art of caricature, referring to his studies at the College of Fine Arts and how it affected him to find himself in love with the art of caricature and heading to him. He added that his work at Al-Ahram newspaper spanned decades, and he met Tawfiq Al-Hakim, Youssef Idris, Naguib Mahfouz, Muhammad Hassanein Heikal and other giants of thought, culture and art at that time, to participate in drawing the covers of their books and their stories published in the newspaper. Farag said that he does not like drawing with digital, stressing that the beauty of the drawing when it carries the pulse of the painter’s hand and his feelings and his feelings are transferred to the paper, so they come out vibrant, and not artificially mechanical, pointing out that the original works of Salah Jaheen and his drawings and cartoons of Al-Ahram, turned into digital electronic, pointing to Caricatures appear in newspapers and websites. In the symposium, researcher Abdullah El-Sawy spoke about the pioneer of cartoons, Alexander Sarukhan, referring to his upbringing in Armenia and the discovery of his drawing abilities, and how he came to Egypt in the early twenties to participate with his Spanish colleagues, Joan Sants, and my Turkish companion, who were drawing in Khayal Al-Shad magazine and the notebook with creative fingers and colors. A hot spring, referring to the relationship between the great journalist Muhammad Al-Tabi’i and two rockets, and how Al-Tabi’i attracted him to work in Rosal-Youssef magazine to become one of its most important painters in its history. In the founding of this prestigious newspaper. Al-Sawy pointed out that Sarukhan was honored by the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1955, and he was granted Egyptian citizenship after he spent most of his years in Egypt. On the political and social history of Egypt, referring to their participation in this session of the forum with dozens of rare paintings that were displayed for the first time in an Arab and international forum. It is noteworthy that the activities of the fifth session of the Arab Forum for Caricature Pioneers will be held from March 2 to 8, and it opened in Salah Taher Hall in the Opera House, in the presence of large numbers of artists, painters and media professionals, led by artist Heba Maraj, Director of the Department of Fine Arts and Museums at the Egyptian Opera House, and the family of The artist Sarukhan, and the great artist Faraj Hassan, the great artist Hassan Al-Masry, and the Palestinian artist Maher Al-Ha were honored.

Courtesy:Emad Gomaa Emam

Greetings From:  India Toons