Artist and and head of the painting department at the Faculty of Fine Arts Sameh Al-Banany (1945-2020) passed away a few days ago, following infection with coronavirus.

Al-Banany belongs to an artistic family. He is the son of the late artist Hosny Al-Banany, and the grandson of the late artist Youssef Kamel, one of the pioneers of the plastic art movement in Egypt.

Al-Banany earned his BA in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1969, earning a master's degree in 1975, then travelling to Rome, Italy to for his doctorate, which he completed in 1979.

On the work of Al-Banany, critic Mohamed Al-Nasser said he didn’t echo the style of his father Hosny Al-Banany but rather created his own. Al-Nasser also revealed that a month before his death, Al-Banany told him over the phone that he was planning to compile a book of art with his father and grandfather’s work as well as his own.

As well as a painter, Al-Banany is a remarkable photographer. He is best known for his images of Egyptian nature, rural, tribal and urban life, devising his own rules of harmony in dimensions, proportions and perspective and a unique colour palette.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 25 June, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly