Adam Henein (Egyptian, b. 1929)

Adam Henein is probably Egypt's most respected living artist. His powerful sculptures build on the elements of pharaonic arts seen in the work of Mokhtar, combining them with the abstraction of modern masters such as Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore to produce an elegant, coherent and characteristic style of his own.

Graduating from the Cairo Academy of Fine Arts in 1953, he later received a grant that allowed him to spend two years near Thebes, studying the paintings of the pharaonic tombs. It was during this time that he was also able to observe and experience life in Upper Egyptian villages, which was to become the subject of much of his subsequent work. Since that time he has spent much of his working life in Upper Egypt, establishing both an open air museum and also the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium, which is renowned worldwide.