Hamed Ewais (Egyptian, 1919-2011)

Depicted in the present painting, Dr Mostafa Sweif was a professor of philosophy and psychology at Cairo University and a close friend of Hamed Ewais. The two would spend hours discussing humanity and philosophy across both global and local issues. Dr Sweif was influential in the development of Ewais’ convictions, which in turn, translated into his artistic practice heavily inspired by social realism, as a philosophy expressed by society and adopting the people’s concerns. Ewais moved to Cairo in the 1940s to study at the School of Fine Arts and was inspired by modernists such as Picasso, Matisse and the Fauves, most notably finding an affinity with Mexican Social Realists, such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. A founder of the Group of Modern Art in 1947, together with artists Gamal El-Seguini, Gazbia Sirry and others, Ewais and the likes countered the Group of Contemporary Art that included Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar and Hamed Nada, believing instead that art should touch the masses and reflect social ideologies.