Margo Veillon (Egyptian Harvests)

Margo Veillon, one of Egypt’s best known and best loved artists, has long been fascinated by the Egyptian countryside and the world of the fellahin—the color and bustle of their villages, their hard labor in the fields. Here in this exceptional book is her collected vision of that world: decades’ worth of paintings, sketches, and photographs that capture all the color, vitality, toil, and dignity of life on the land under Egypt’s blazing but beneficent sun. She records the women’s chores, the floodwaters, the irrigation of the fields, their ploughing, the reaping of wheat and sugar cane, the picking of tomatoes and bananas. Her strong, rapid lines translate the calm, slow movements of the laborers with brio but also with serenity. This remarkable collection of images is a celebration of the agrarian scene: the sights, sounds, and smells of the Egyptian rural landscape rise from its pages.