Nazek Hamdi Abou Gabal (1926 – 2019) was a prominent Egyptian painter, visual artist, and academic. She was the first woman to join the teaching faculty at the Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, and the only one to teach the techniques of tempera and batik painting. Her work was deeply influenced by Indian art and culture, due to her studies there. In 1977, she established the Art Department at the Center for Community Service and Continuing Education at Kuwait University.

Born in 1926, Nazek earned a diploma from the Higher Institute of Girls’ Arts in 1949, followed by a Fine Arts diploma from Tagore University in India in 1957. She later earned a PhD in Art from the same university in 1959, and obtained further specialization in mural painting from both Tagore and Rajasthan Universities in India.

She served as a professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts at Helwan University, becoming the first woman on its teaching staff. She taught mural painting, mosaic, tempera, and batik. Nazek also lectured at the Faculties of Fine Arts at Cairo and Alexandria Universities, and at the American University in Cairo (AUC), where she taught drawing and batik advertising design. She was appointed Head of Art Departments at AUC’s service division. Later, she was seconded by UNICEF to supervise the organization’s studies on arts in Egypt. She also worked as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts and became a full-time professor in the Decoration Department in 1972.

Nazek chose batik as her primary form of expression. She succeeded in transforming the traditionally decorative nature of batik, as practiced in India and Indonesia, into a refined form of colored painting with equal artistic value to oil painting. Batik works can be placed in front of a light source to create a fully immersive color effect. She further developed the medium by encasing it in transparent polyester, offering a durable and heat-resistant alternative to traditional stained or leaded glass. This made it usable in functions where traditional stained glass could not be applied.

Nazek held the first batik exhibition in Egypt in 1961, followed by three more exhibitions dedicated to batik. A fourth exhibition combined her oil paintings, silk drawings, and mural works, held at the Goethe Institute and at university galleries. In January 1970, she held a batik exhibition at the AUC gallery. In March 1975, she presented the fourth batik exhibition at the German Cultural Center. In 1988, she held a show at the Akhenaten Gallery at the Gezira Arts Center. She also exhibited at the Spanish Cultural Center in Cairo in February 1999. In December 2003, she held the exhibition “Fantasia” at the main gallery of the Faculty of Applied Arts. In 2006, she presented two exhibitions at the Maulana Azad Indian Cultural Center in Cairo titled “Tribute to India” and “For the Love of India.”

Nazek participated in numerous group exhibitions in Egypt and abroad. These included shows at the Free Atelier of Fine Arts and the Applied Arts Exhibition in Cairo in 1961 and 1963. She took part in the Fine Arts Creativity Festival for Children at the Palace of Arts in January 2006. She also participated in the “1839 History of the Faculty of Applied Arts” exhibition, which honored pioneers of the faculty and its Decoration Department in May 2006. In 2009, she exhibited at the “Egyptian Women Pioneers” group show held by the Egyptian, Syrian, and Algerian Cultural Centers in Paris, France. In December 2015, she took part in a group exhibition titled “Modern Egyptian Impressions” at Mohsen Shalaan Hall at the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art. Her last documented group show was “Selections from the Past”, held at the Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center (Beit El-Umma Museum) in December 2018. She also exhibited internationally, most notably in the “All India” exhibition held in Calcutta, India.

Nazek was honored with several awards throughout her career, including gold medals in both Egypt and India, a first prize and certificate of appreciation from the Applied Arts Exhibition in Cairo, and a Medal of Appreciation from Kuwait University in recognition of her contributions to art and education.

Her artworks are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in Cairo and the Museum of Modern Art in India.