Born in Cairo in 1944, Liliane Karnouk has lived in Vancouver since 1967. She obtained her M.A. in art and communication from the University of British Columbia. Her own work as a visual artist has earned her several grants and awards, and she has exhibited in Egypt, Europe, and Canada. She speaks English, French, Italian and Arabic. Her illustrated study Modern Egyptian Art 1910-2003 examines the work of more than 70 artists from 1910 until the early 21st century. According to her publisher's catalogue: "From the early years of the twentieth century, with the rejection of European political and cultural domination in Europe, modern artistic expression in Egypt was influenced by and often reflected the country's growing national consciousness. In the years following the 1952 revolution, wealthy patrons of the arts disappeared from Egypt's cosmopolitan art world and were replaced by the state, which by the 1960s exercised full control over all cultural activities, including the arts. In the 1990s, as elsewhere throughout the world, Egyptian art was affected by general shifts in culture brought about by globalization. The disruption of a sense of place and feelings of belonging were a response to the influx of the challenging and, at times, disquieting information available to whole cultures and communities through new media." Her 2005 book is a composite of work that has appeared in preceding volumes, Contemporary Egyptian Art (1995) Modern Egyptian Art: The Emergence of a National Style (1998).

BOOKS:

Contemporary Egyptian Art (1995)

Modern Egyptian Art: The Emergence of a National Style (American University in Cairo Press, 1988).

Modern Egyptian Art 1910-2003 (The American University in Cairo Press, 2005). $39.95 U.S.ISBN: 9774248597

[BCBW 2006] "Art"