levent tuncer

b. 1929, Cairo, Egypt.

archive material : correspondence, photographs, artworks.

 Adam Henien was born into a family of metalworkers in Egypt and at age eight, he sculpted a model of Ramses II with clay.  At age twenty, he joined the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, and moved to Upper Egypt upon his graduation in 1953. There he spent his time advocating ancient Egyptian art to be part of the curriculum of Egyptian art schools.

Henein draws on ancient Egyptian themes and traditions and marries it with universal themes such as birds, prayer, and parenthood, in his work. He became renowned as a sculptor in the 1950s, receiving a Luxor Prize in 1954-56 and having showcased works in Cairo, Alexandria and Munich. In 1957, he travelled to Munich to pursue his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts with a scholarship. He tried his hand in painting after moving to Paris in 1971, where he stayed for the next 25 years. Upon his return to Egypt in 1998, he was internationally renowned in his sphere of work, and between 1989-1998, he even worked with the Ministry of Culture in the restoration of the Giza Sphinx. He founded the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium, which was an annual workshop and exhibition attracting sculptors from around the world to create work with the local granite. His contribution to Arab Art, particularly in contemporary sculpture is well-renowned and largely celebrated.

EXHIBITIONS

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Egyptian Academy – Rome, Italy, 1980.

Sultan Gallery – Kuwait, 1983.

Egyptian Cultural Center – Paris, France, 1987.

ASB Gallery – Munich, Germany, 1988. 

Institut du Monde Arabe – Paris, France, 1991.

The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art – New York, United States of America. 1999-2000.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Egyptian State Merit Award – 1998.