Noha Sobhi, a participant from the Art Education in Egypt reading and research group, brought us these books to look at the recent history of Egyptian art education curricula in schools. Both books are called ”
Art Criticism and History of Art
“, the one on the left is for art teachers (Ed. 1963) and the one on the right for high school students (Ed. 2003). The first has a richer content on history of art, next to Egyptian art it refers to Ancient Syrian, Greek, Coptic, Islamic,
Renaissance
and Modern Europan Art (Surrealism and Cubism included), while the second focuses on Anicent and Modern Egyptian art only. Both books depicts Egyptian “folk” art, but the examples in the book on the left are more extensive. The differences found in the books are not related to the different audiences (one written for students, the other for teachers) but rather reflect changing discources in the Ministy of Education in two different periods.