Salah Taher (1911–2007) was an Egyptian painter. He worked for some time as a drawing and art teacher in Al-Abaseyya High School in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

. He went on to fame in the 1960s as he was appointed head of the Museum of Modern Arts. In 1962, he was appointed head of the

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

. In 1966, he joined

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

. He painted more than 35 paintings, for

that decorate the walls of its building. Overall, he painted 15000 paintings and held more than 80

art fairs An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is occasionally true, it is stated to be a "permanen ...

for his work in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

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and

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

.Egyptian embassy in USA website
/ref> He also participated in 67 collective fairs in Egypt. He’s work is also part of the White House collection and is on rotation and often displayed in the White House His work was shown in numerous exhibitions sometimes in collaboration with institutions like the ''

Institut des cultures arabes et méditerranéennes The Institut des cultures arabes et méditerranéennes (Institute for Arab and Mediterranean Cultures (ICAM)) is an association and Geneva cultural center for the promotion of Arab and Mediterranean cultures in Switzerland. History Founded in ...

'' in Geneva.2017. He was granted the highest awards in Egypt and internationally, among them in 1961 was the

Guggenheim Award Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

. In 2001, he was honored alongside Nobel laureate

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through wo ...

in the soft opening of the

Bibliotheca Alexandrina The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Latin, 'Library of Alexandria'; , ) (BA) is a major library and cultural center on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, Egypt. It is a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria, once one of the larg ...

, which was entitled “The brush and the pen," by publishing a book about his work. He remained in the position of the artistic consultant for

till his death. He died, at the age of 95, on February 6, 2007 of

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

. He is survived by a son, Ayman, who is also a painter, and two grandchildren.Ahram weekly article
His work in collected by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, and included in its permanent exhibition. In 2018, his work titled 'Metaphysic' was acquired by the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah and is now part of a long-term exhibition at the

Sharjah Art Museum The Sharjah Art Museum is an art museum in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.Sharjah Art Museum

References

External links

Zamalek art gallerySalah Taher Official Gallery
*https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/exhibitions/a-century-in-flux/ 1911 births 2007 deaths Helwan University alumni 20th-century Egyptian painters Deaths from cancer in Egypt Deaths from bladder cancer {{Egypt-painter-stub