Nabil Al Solami

EGYPT-DDR

Egyptian Cartoonist and Caricature Artist. He lived most of his life in Eastern Germany.

Nabil Al Solami

Nabil Al-Solami or “Mohamed Nabil Al-Solami” is an Egyptian artist and cartoonist, born in Aswan on January 2, 1941, and is considered one of the pioneers of contemporary Egyptian caricature. He was influenced by giants of Egyptian caricature artists such as Abdel Samie, Salah Jaheen and Abu El Enin. He lived a large part of his life in Eastern Europe, specifically in East Germany, until he returned in the eighties of the last century to the State of Kuwait, where he died on July 4, 1987

Education

Higher Institute of Art Education in the Department of Drawing and Painting – Cairo. Egypt 1961
Sculpture (Graphic) in East Berlin, GDR

His Work

People newspaper 1961 – Egypt (unofficial)
Al-Gomhoria newspaper from 1961 to 1973 – Egypt
B.A Caricature Magazine – GDR 1973
Eulenspiegel Caricature Magazine – GDR 1973
Instructor at the University Service at Humboldt University in Berlin from 1973 to 1975
Full-time illustrator in the German Democratic Republic of children’s books and designer of public posters for the Film Foundation 1975
Al Alamiah for Computers – Saudi Arabia (the author of the book “Gamleuter” was the first to present the computer cartoons on “Sakhr” page and in all the books produced by Al Alamiah from the Computer Culture series)
Al-Watan Newspaper – Kuwait
Al-Arabi Al-Saghir Magazine – Kuwait

Awards

No Information Available

Exhibitions & Publications

Exhibitions

Participated in several international exhibitions. He won several prizes, and participated in the judging committees of these exhibitions: (Montreal, Berlin, Skopje), Yugoslavia, Damascus, Belgium, and Bulgaria and Italy Gallery.
A traveling exhibition with the painter Maher Daoud in 1968 entitled “Aggression in 1967” that started from Beirut, then Turkey, then to Bulgaria, then Paris, and finally in East Berlin – the German Democratic Republic
Participated in the 10th Moscow International Film Festival in 1977 with posters and wall facades for the exhibition
Exhibitions in Cottbus, Suhl and Berlin
International Caricature Festival, British Council Gallery, Cairo, Egypt 1997 (where a group of his paintings were displayed)
The exhibition “Victory October in the Memory of the Egyptian Caricature” in Hangar 2020 (where a group of his paintings were displayed)

Books

Under the shadows of the pyramids 1971
I thought you were me 1980
Tabacomic (matchstick) 1984
Cameluter 1986
Rapid Ignition 1989 (a book that included a selection of his works collected by the artist Mohi El-Din El-Labbad)

Additional Information

Al-Salami said about Caricature

“It is an expression of the soul, and a deeper knowledge of people and phenomena, and some believe that caricatures are for laughter only, but I think that it is not only for humor, but for meditation and a deep consideration of the big and small things in life as well. If you look at a face drawn as a caricature or it didn’t have a facial expression and psyche? this means that the painter did not succeed. As for the caricature, it is a kind of research into the human being and the things surrounding the person.

Caricatures have a great goal, as they can be used as a weapon in the political and social fields and to combat the manifestations of backwardness in society. It is a form of art, and perhaps even direct everyday art. I think it is the painter’s job to reveal to the ordinary man, who is preoccupied with the issues of daily life, those aspects that he passes through. Arousing ridicule is to awaken his sense of criticism, and propaganda for change is not done through sarcasm alone. And that is the issue of the difficulty of expressing the caricature. It is very easy to say this thing is bad. And that is the difficult equation in the caricature. The painter should present it smoothly and attractively.”