Painter
Adli Rizkallah
Adli was born in 1939 in Assyout where he spent his early childhood there and was hugely impacted by the colors and scents of his village.
Rizkallah declared his intention to be an artist early on and indeed he succeeded in convincing others, proving that he could render anything as exactly as possible. He received scholarships and thus could pursue his art studies; he started with engravings. He was also a great reader, and it was said that words were as important to him as images. later he was instrumental in designing children’s books and illustrating them, Dar El Fata, a defunct children’s publishing house, would not have made the same impact without him.
In the wake of the 1967 War, a defeat that changed the life of all Arabs, Rizkallah settled in France for a while, seeking to escape the depression that followed that setback, back then, Rizkallah needed some distance, and in Paris, he found his true voice. He spent a few years there and then returned to Egypt never to leave again, determined to live by the inspiration and the essence of his work.In Paris he learned all he could study at the School of Beaux-Arts and the School of Coptic Art, where he met prestigious artists including Wissa Wassef.
Rizkallah’s work captures the fragility of watercolor and speaks to the fragility of all things at the same time it depicts the permanence of stones and structures, simultaneously rendering the evanescence and solidity of all things.
