The Adam Henein Museum, which opens Saturday 18 January in Cairo, showcases paintings and sculptures produced by the prominent Egyptian artist since the onset of his career in the 1950s.

A relationship between heritage and modernity pervades Henein's artwork. The artist belongs to a movement of modern sculptors, including Mahmoud Mokhtar and Mohamed Moussa, whose work is heavily influenced by Pharaonic sculpture, yet bears contemporary and experimental principles.

Henein skillfully manipulates bronze, wood, clay and granite to produce modernist sculptures that handle universal themes, such as prayer, motherhood, and animals. His body of work carries references to ancient Egyptian icons, including pyramids and obelisks. In abstract paintings Henein demonstrates his versatility as an artist, and his commitment to poetic simplicity.

Adam Henein, famed for his sculpture, was born in 1929 into a family of metalworkers. He studied sculpture at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, graduating in 1953. After traveling around Egypt he moved to Paris in 1971, and returned in 1996. Then he established the International Sculpture Symposium in Aswan.

"This museum is a treasure generously available to all of us. It is a place of pilgrimage and contemplation. With each visit, the viewer will want to sit in front of a particular piece and slowly, calmly crack its code," writes Mustafa Al Razzaz in the museum's catalog.

Programme:
Museum opens its doors to the public Saturday 18 January at 12pm.
El Lebeini Street, Cairo, Egypt.

Free transportation between the Cairo Opera House and the museum will be available on Saturday 18 January. More information here.