Said El-Adawi (Egyptian, 1938-1973)

Said El-Adawi was one of the most talented artists in his generation and his wild imagination was fed by dramatic reality events occurring in the 1960s. In the 1960s El-Adawi worked closely with Mahmoud Abdallah and Mustafa Abdel Moity, and his influence can be seen in both their work. Together they established their movement called the Alexandrian Experimentalists Society (the Tagribiyin). The figures in his paintings are treated as if they were cartoons, their appearances are distorted and abstract. These contortions resemble the work of Pablo Picasso and Joan Mirò, but are combined with calligraphic forms and motifs derived from Islamic art. Underlying El-Adawi's abstract surrealist compositions are figural scenes with a moral message, inspired by the important political events of that time and by the sweeping social changes.