The Khedival period of Egypt (1805 – 1879) was marked by architectural changes and the development of a visual culture. The biggest changes during this period were instigated by the reigns of Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805 – 1848) and Isma’il Pasha (1863- 1879) with their reformations to modernize Egypt. During this period, Egyptian society was consumed by continuous political turmoil due to outside French and British forces.
Egyptian urban planning and architecture reflected the involvements of outside influences. Cairo wanted to differentiate between a modern and romanticized Downtown and a medieval Old Cairo. Architecturally, a new fusion of Italian, Islamic, and Ottoman styles reflect the globalization of that time. The Sabil-Kuttab of Tusun Pasha and the Muhammad Ali Mosque replicated the Ottoman style. Meanwhile the Abdeen Palace, built by Khedive Ismail, was an official government headquarters designed by a French architect.
Moreover, the urban planning of Cairo was signified by Haussmann Paris-inspired boulevards and town squares. Ismail Pasha‘s Khedival opera-house, built for the purpose of entertaining the elite Europeans invited to the opening of the Suez canal, modeled the French rococo style. The flurry of urban planning during his rule was catalyzed by the Universal Exposition at Paris that he attended in 1867, which evidently seemed to impress and inspire him thoroughly. These plans took account of a modern way of living, a new interest in hygiene and modern transportation, and intentional areas to build memorandums of the Khedives.
Modern visual culture, on the other hand, was speaking back to European occupation and Orientalist tropes, and in effect contributed to the development of an Egyptian national identity immensely. With the help of modern printing techniques imported from France and a burgeoning transnational audience subsisting of not only European countries but also the general Egyptian public, the works of James Sanua and Princess Nazli Fazl incorporated European styles which inevitably facilitated political discourse. Sanua’s Abu Naddara (Four Eyes), a satirical magazine, utilized British visual systems to underscore Egypt’s problematic government leaders. Fazl’s self-portraits employed crossing of gender, ethnicity, and class, which thereby created an image with loaded implications pertaining to the political atmosphere of Egypt. Her salon brought together great intellectuals, including Sanua and Sheikh Muhammad Abduh. Sheikh Muhammad Abduh justified the use of images through his advocation for educational reform. Comparing images to poetry, he argued for their historical importance and thus elevated the status of image-making in the eyes of the Muslim and Egyptian public. These three leaders played a major role in uniting the Egyptian public and spurring a nationalist and intellectual movement.
Questions:
- How did the Muhammad Ali Dynasty modernize and shape Egypt?
- What is the reaction of Egypt’s artistic society to Orientalism and Modernism?
- How has politics, especially Western imperialism, affected Egyptian urbanism? How did Britain influence Egypt?
- Was Egypt’s modern architecture and visual arts unique in its own development (was it diagonal), or did it merely incorporate Ottoman Islamic elements and European art techniques?
- What kind of legacy did the Egyptians try to create during these formative years?
- How much did Istanbul (and other non-European places) play in influencing Egyptian art and why?
- How did the urban designing Cairo shape it’s society?
- What are the architectural and visual distinctions of Khedive Ismail in Egypt?
- How did Muhammad Ali’s nationalist and imperialist views create the modern Egypt?
- What are the three main cultural influences that historians look to for explaining the architectural influence of Egypt?
- How do we define the visual culture of Egypt?
- What is the defining characteristics of 19th century Egypt?
[Introduction written in collaboration with Najwa Alsheikh, Pande Putu Sri Wahyuni, Zoe Weisner, Mahrukh Khan, and Nina Godridge of ARH280, Age of Imperial Encounters]