Cairo, monotype

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Cairo, monotype, 10.3 x 11.8 cm, 2011

This was made some years ago in Cairo and then forgotten about.

It was painted from the nice Bristol Hotel- completely empty except for myself and an obese American woman, heavily painted and in late middle-age (rather conceited, who was married to an Algerian in whose country she lived. She had worked as a dancer and I believe that this talent as well as her girth made her favourable to male Arab taste. She was enthusiastic about the military in Algeria, and seemed to lead a life of ease. But though she boasted of her lifestyle she wore a sour face and seemed miserable) and the ironical and elegant men who seemed to have no object other than to be amiable and who staff the place. This was during Egypt's hapless"revolution" and there were few tourists in the city.

The hotel was  calm amid the general hubbub and ghastliness of the city.

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