Ramses Wissa Wassef (1911–1974) was an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

Coptic architect and professor of art and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo and founder of the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre.

Biography

Ramses Wissa Wassef was born in Cairo. His father was a lawyer, a leader of Egypt's nationalist movement and an art patron who promoted the development of the arts in Egypt. After high school, Wassef wanted to become a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

but changed his mind and studied architecture in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris. His thesis project "A Potter's House in Old Cairo" received the first prize in 1935. He had a passion for beauty in form and believed "one cannot separate beauty from utility, the form from the material, the work from its function, man from his creative art " After Wassef's death, his family donated his original architecture drawings to th
Rare Books and Special Collections Library
at the American University in Cairo.

Architectural and design career

Banque Misr Building and Hotel at Opera Square - Perspective

At the beginning of his career in 1935, Wassef was struck by the beauty of the medieval towns and the old quarters of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

. He felt that ancient craftsmen had managed to derive from their traditional heritage an infinite variety of expression and created effects distinguished by local character. He developed an architectural style that bore the stamp of his own strong personality and responded to the challenge of the times without breaking away from the past. Impressed as he was by the beauty of the

Nubian Nubian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Nubia, a region along the Nile river in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. *Nubian people *Nubian languages *Anglo-Nubian goat, a breed of goat * Nubian ibex * , several ships of the Britis ...

houses in the villages around Aswan, which still preserved the domes and vaults, inherited form the earliest Pharaonic dynasties, he resolved to maintain their presence in his own architectural work for reasons of aesthetics, climate and economics. He made use of traditional craftsmen such as stonecutters, traditional carpenters, glass blowers and potters who had inherited the techniques and traditions of the Egyptian vernacular heritage. Wassef taught architecture and art at the Department of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, Cairo, which he also chaired.

Designs

Potter's House in Old CairoFrench College of DaherFrench School of Cairo
* Mahmoud Mokhtar Sculpture Museum (),

Saint Mary Coptic Church
in Zamalek,

* Several churches in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

and Damanhour, including th
Church of St. George
in Heliopolis * The Junior Lycee school at Bab al-Louq

* His home in Agouza,

and several private houses along the Saqqara road near the

Pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

* Adam Henein House
Harrania
Giza. Adam was his student at the college of fine art. * Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center compound, Harrania Giza, including tapestry workshops and gallery, the Habib Georgi sculpture museum.

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre

Wissa Wassef founded the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre in 1951, located in the Harrania district of Giza, near the

Giza pyramids The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Men ...

in the

Greater Cairo The Greater Cairo Region (GCR; ar, القاهرة الكبرى, Al-Qāhira al-Kubrā) is th an economic region with no administrative body comprising the three governorates of Cairo, Giza and Qalyubia. Within it lies the largest metopolitan are ...

region. He established it to teach young Egyptian villagers how to create art, including

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

. He believed that children are endowed with creative power and potential. Wissa Wassef wanted to prove that artistic creativity is innate in everyone, and regardless of deadening influences from mass-produced objects, it can flourish within supportive settings such as the Art Centre. The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre won the

Aga Khan Award for Architecture The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize established by Aga Khan IV in 1977. It aims to identify and reward architectural concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the field ...

from the

Aga Khan Development Network The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a network of private, non-denominational (de jure) development agencies founded by the Aga Khan that work primarily in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa. Aga Khan IV succeeded to the office of the 49t ...

in 1983. The Art Centre is open to the public, with an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...

exhibiting its early tapestry works, and a museum shop selling contemporary tapestry works by Art Centre artists. Tours are available, upon contacting the Art Centre in advance to schedule. The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre has operated continuously since opening in 1951, with its artists creating tapestries there for over 60 years. The Centre's artists create the designs and weave the tapestries directly from their imaginations onto the looms. Pre-designed patterns have never been used, supporting Wissa Wassef's belief that artistic creativity is intrinsic, and can be expressed when a supportive context is available. The renowned

textile artist Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials u ...

s Ali Selim and Karima Ali, who began as children at the Centre in the 1960s and 1970s, continue to weave tapestry masterworks, now up to in width.

Exhibitions

The tapestries have been internationally recognized since the late 1950s. Many exhibitions have been held in Europe and the Smithsonian Institution organized a traveling exhibit in the USA in 1975-76. The most recent exhibition was at the Coningsby Gallery in London, UK, during November 2012. A simple paperback catalog was published for the 2006 for an exhibition at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

to mark the center's 50th anniversary. "Egyptian Landscapes" is a book of photographs that highlights the work of the center. 1954 - Organized by the group Amities Francaises,Cairo, Alexandria and Ismallia, Egypt 1954 - Egyptian Art Exhibition,Italy 1956 - The Near East College Association, New York, USA 1958 - Gewerbemuseum, Zurich & Basel, Switzerland 1959 - Bilddteppiche, Krefeild, Germany 1960 - Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden 1961 - Kunstindustrimusset, Germany 1961 - National Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Sweden 1962 - Fodor Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1963 - Museum Am ost Wall Dortmund, Munich, Germany 1964 - Stedelijk Museum, Groninger Museum Voor Stad en Lande, The Netherlands 1964 - Neue Sammlung Munchen, Munich, Germany 1965 - Musee D’ Arts Decoratifs, Rosenthal Studio-Haus-Delvaux, Paris, France 1966 - Museum of Modern Art, Skovde Konsthall Skovde, Stockholm, Lunds, Sweden 1966 - Congress Mondial, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1967 - Musee D’Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland 1967 - Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden 1969 - Royal College of Art, London, England 1971 - Gallery Brand Strupp, Oslo, Norway 1972 - Ideal Home Exhibition, London, England 1973 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France 1974 - Al Palazzo Dellarejario, Milan, Italy 1975 - New York Natural History Museum, New York City, USA 1975 - Textile Museum, Washington, DC, USA 1975 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France 1977 - Italian Culture Centre, Cairo, Egypt 1978 - Touring exhibition, Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart, Germany 1978 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France 1979 - Roemer - und Pelizaeus - Museum, Hildesheim, Germany 1979 - Anneberg Gallery, San Francisco, USA 1979 - Modern Art Museum, Stockholm, Sweden 1981 - University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA 1981 - Egyptian Art Academy, Rome, Italy 1985 - The Barbican Centre, London, UK 1985 - Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle, UK 1986 - ArtSpace, Aberdeen, UK 1986 - City of Edinburgh Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK 1986 - Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK 1990 - First Tapestry Triennale, Tournai, Belgium 1991 - Musee Jean Lurcat, Angers, France 1993 - Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris, France 1995 - Culture Centre, Ha, Norway 1995 - Lebanese/ Egyptian Businessmen’s Association, Beirut, Lebanon 1999 - Egyptian Culture week, Tones, Tunisia 2000 - United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland 2001 - Conservatoire et Jardin Botanique, Geneva, Switzerland 2003 - Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE 2004 - Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany 2006 - Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London, London, UK 2009 - Nature in Art Trust, Gloucestershire, UK 2012 - Children's Museum, Take Me There: Egypt!, Indianapolis, USA 2012 - The Coningsby Gallery, London, UK

Publications

In 1961, renowned photographer Werner Forman discovered the Art Centre by accident while shooting in Egypt. Forman and later his archive staff have been a primary international ambassador for the tapestries. He published two books available online for used book sellers.

"Tapestries from Egypt" by Ramses Wissa Wassef and Werner Forman, 1961, Hamlin Publishing Group
"Woven by Hand" by Ramses Wissa Wassef and Werner Forman, 1972, Hamlin Publishing Group

Other Publications
"Egyptian Tapestries from the Workshop of Ramses Wissa Wassef: An Experiment in Creativity" by Ceres Wissa Wassef, 1975, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
"Das Land am Nil" by Arne Eggebrecht, Eva Eggebrecht, Wilfried Seipel, 1979, Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim
"Egyptian Landscapes, 1985" by Yoanna Wissa Wassef and Hilary Weir, 1985, Ramses Wissa Wassef (UK) Exhibition Foundation
"Egyptian Landscapes, 2006" by Suzanne Wissa Wassef, Yoanna Wissa Wassef and Hillary Weir, 2006, Ramses Wissa Wassef (UK) Exhibition Trust

Awards

* Egyptian National Award For The Arts - 1961, for his stained-glass window designs for The Egyptian National Assembly building,

* The Aga-Khan Architectural Award - 1983, for his achievements and particularly for the art center at Harrania, Giza

References

* Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center official websit

* ''MIMAR 35: Architecture in Development'' by Taylor, Brian Brace, 1990 * ''Architecture in Continuity'' by Cantacuzino, Sherban, 1985 * ''MIMAR 5: Architecture in Development'' by Noweir, Sawsan, 1985 * ''Egyptian Landscapes Fifty Years of Tapestry Weaving at the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo'', Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center, 2006

External links

Ramses Wissa Wassef architecture

The Ramses Wissa Wassef Architectural Drawings Digital Collection: online archives of drawings and documents for projects designed by Ramses Wissa Wassef (active 1935 to 1972)
— ''ongoing digitization and annotation of over 800 architectural drawings and plans; for over 60 projects, including villas, schools, churches, apartment buildings, banks, and art museums and centers''.
ArchNet: Ramses Wissa Wassef
— ''digital library about the architect and his works''.
Akdn.org—Aga Khan Development Network: comprehensive Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre project submission to AKDN
— ''resulted in winning the 1983 Aga Khan Development Network Award.''
Shelf3d Database: Ramses Wissa Wassef bibliography
— ''extensive links, publications and references, projects and works, new/retrospective exhibits information, and videos.''

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre

Official website
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081003080430/http://www.artplusradio.org/podcasts/shows/ART+Wissa_Wassef_04252007.mp3 Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre 55th Anniversary Celebration (1951-2007)— ''interviews with Ramses Wissa Wassef Trust's trustees (London), and Wissa Wassef Art Centre's directors (Cairo)''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wassef, Ramses Wissa 1911 births 1974 deaths Egyptian architects 20th-century Egyptian architects Egyptian Copts College of Fine Arts in Cairo faculty

Biography

Architectural and design career

Designs

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre

Exhibitions

Publications

Awards

See also

References

External links

Ramses Wissa Wassef architecture

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre