Painter
Said El Adawi
Born in 1938 and passing away in 1973 in Alexandria, Egypt, Said El-Adawi was a highly skilled artist of his generation, drawing inspiration from the tumultuous events of the 1960s. He enrolled in the inaugural class of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 1957 and earned his MA in Engrave Art focusing on Arabic Calligraphy in 1972. During the 1960s, El-Adawi collaborated closely with Mahmoud Abdallah and Mustafa Abdel Moity, exerting a palpable influence on their work. Together, they founded the Alexandrian Experimentalists Society (Tagribiyin) and organized its inaugural exhibitions in 1965, with the conceptualization starting in 1958.
The characters in El-Adawi’s artworks are presented in a cartoon-like manner, with distorted and abstract features reminiscent of the styles of Pablo Picasso and Joan Mirò. However, these distortions are intertwined with calligraphic shapes and patterns drawn from Islamic art. Beneath the abstract surrealist compositions lie figurative scenes conveying moral messages, inspired by the significant political events and societal transformations of the time.
El-Adawi was a member of the Syndicate of Fine Artists and showcased his work in numerous solo exhibitions in Cairo and Alexandria, as well as in both local and international art shows. He was awarded the 2nd prize at the Alexandria Biennale and his works are included in several state collections, such as the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in Cairo, the Museum of Modern Art in Alexandria, the Museum of the Institute of the Arab World in Paris, and the Museum of the Egyptian National Bank.
