Artist Database

Born in 1891 in Egypt, Mahmoud Mokhtar is said to have grown up sculpting clay figurines on the banks of the Nile. He enrolled at the new School of Fine Arts in Cairo, founded by Prince Yusuf Kamal and studied sculpture under the French sculptor Guillaume Laplagne. Seeing the calibre of Mokhtar’s work, the prince funded his education at the famed École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1912. Here, Mokhtar studied under the sculptor Jules-Felix Coutan and learnt to hone his sculpting techniques.

Mokhtar witnessed the start of “Egyptomania” in Paris, a craze that led to global imitations of Ancient Egyptian art and architecture. This exoticism further incited decolonial sentiments in Egypt. In Paris, Mokhtar met many Egyptian activists and developed a sense of nationalism that is evident in his works. He followed Neo-Pharaonism, an aesthetic move towards modern Egyptian art and design. His contribution to the movement is present in his merged art deco and ancient Egyptian-style pieces. These sculptures depict the political tensions and visual language of modern Egypt, while representing the bright future of the newly independent Egypt.

He is therefore known not only as Egypt’s first artist activist, but Mokhtar is also considered the Father of Egyptian Modernist Sculpture. He returned to Egypt and began to create monumental sculptures. His most notable works include Nahdat Misr (Egypt awakening) and various Fellaha (peasant woman) sculptures. He injured his hand in 1932, which stunted his sculpting abilities, and he sadly died two years later at the age of forty-two. In 2003, the Mokhtar Museum reopened and houses a selection of his sculptures, and his tomb can be found in the basement. Internationally, Mokhtar’s artworks have been exhibited in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (2017), Cairo; Dalloul Art Foundation (2026), Beirut; Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (2024) and Centre Pompidou Paris (2013-2015), Paris; Meem Gallery (2020), Dubai. and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (2013-2014), Doha.