[1] The origins of Art et Liberté lie in a manifesto published by Henein and others on 22 December 1938 titled Vive L'Art Dégéneré!

It was originally used as a demeaning term by Germany's Nazi Party in the Entartete Kunst exhibition as a way to ridicule modern art.

[5] The group was officially formed on 19 January 1939, and brought together Henein and other Cairo Surrealists, such as Kamel el-Telmissany and Ramses Younan, with various anarchists and Marxists.

He left to attend the Sorbonne in Paris but eventually returned for the first time in 1930 to give a series of lectures on Futurism to the city's Italian-Egyptian community.

[8] Henein, Jean Moscatelli and Georges Santini were in attendance and caused an uproar in opposition to what Marinetti preached.

The term was originally used by the Nazi Party as a way to ridicule art that they felt stood against the fascist ideals of the state.

Over 700 artworks that had been confiscated and seized by the Nazi Government, mainly Cubist, Dada and Surrealist, were shown with derogatory slogans painted on the walls.

"[12] Ahead of the show's opening, nearly ten thousand pamphlet invitations were distributed in order to attract the largest number of "educated youth."

In one of the pamphlets, entitled "We Are Still in Turmoil", Ramses Younan published his translation of Arthur Rimbaud's "A Season in Hell.

The interior was described as such: "Pots of paint and plaster were scattered here and there... Fastened on the walls were hand silhouettes pointing towards an open door from which loud humming was escaping.

Mohammed Sadek wrote: "The opening was gratifyingly successful, to the point that we consider the Cairene public, which is accustomed to academic art of greater artifice, took genuine notice of this show.

Ahead of its opening, Georges Henein wrote an article titled "Message of Free Art" in which he encouraged the modern artist to persist in the face of fascist regimes that wished to stifle them.

"[12] The fourth show, titled "For Independent Art," was held on Friday May 12, 1944 in the dining hall of the Lyceé Francais School on Hawayaty Street in Babelouq, Cairo.

[12] The art critic Richard Mouseiry for the newspaper Le Progrés Egyptien praised the group for pulling off the exhibition despite several obstacles that stood in their way.

Artists exhibited included: Mahmoud Sa'id, Fathy el-Bakri, Fouad Kamel, Samir Rafei, Saad el-Khadem, Rateb Sidik, Angelo de Riz, Suzy Green, Art Topalian, Idabel, Hassia, and the Surrey brother who contributed photographs.

New artists included: Ibrahim Masoud, Lutfi Zaki, Kamel Youssef, Aziz Riad, Edwin Gallahan, Robert Meadley, and Kenneth Wood.