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Ahmed Osman

Ahmed Osman is an Egyptian artist and a well-known contemporary sculptor who was born in 1907 in a small village in Nubia located along the Nile River near Aswan called Eneiba. In 1927, he graduated with decorative arts major in Cairo. His professor at that time was the English painter and interior designer William Arnold Stewart (1882-1953). One year after his graduation, he worked at the University of Pennsylvania as the marker of the Palestinian archaeological excavations. Afterward, he received his first scholarship to study in Rome in 1928. He studied sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts after taking classes in Free School of Nude Design (Scuola Libera del Disegno del Nudo). In 1932 he received his diploma and headed to Italy to study decorative sculpture at Royal Institute of Art (Regio Instituto d’Arte). After finishing his study in sculpture, he returned to Egypt in 1933 to start his career life as a professor of sculpture in the department of Decorative Art at the School of Applied Arts in Giza. In 1937, Osman was the director of sculpture major in the School of Fine Arts in Cairo. Also, Osman designed the decoration of the Egyptian Pavillion at the International Exhibition of arts and techniques applied to modern life in Paris that was led by the Egyptian collector and politician Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil. The year after, Osman along with Mohamed Naghi represented Egypt for the first time in the exhibition at the 15th Venice Biennale. Osman was the founder of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 1957. Not only do Osman work as an artist and professor, but also he looked after the Egyptian cultural heritage. For instance, Osman was there when moving the colossal statue of Ramses second from Mit Rihana to Bab AlHadid Square in Cairo. Osman also developed ways to reassemble and assemble the stones of Abu Simbel Temple.Osman’s early works was linked to the Italian standards. Also he was talented in charcoal paintings. He painted a group of nude paintings for males and females. His works located in the Museum of Egyptian Modern Art in Cairo, the museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria, and Arab Museum of Modern Art In Doha. He was talented in sculpting foliated works. During the late 1930’s, Osman started sculpting bronze sculptures representing the female Egyptian peasant. The female Egyptian peasant’s series was considered a real depiction for the realistic facial features of the peasants Egyptian women as well as their activities. In 1936, the two well-known sculptures, Mohamed Osman and Mansour Farag together worked on ornamenting the entrance gate of the Giza Zoo in Egypt. Moreover, President Jamal Abdel Nasser Ordered Osman to sculpt some governmental areas. For instance, the outer wall of both the Officers club in Zamalek and the Armed Forces Club in Heliopolis. Also in early 1960’s the president ordered Osman to work on sculpting the eagle located in the entrance of Cairo Tower. In 1968, Osman won the Egyptian State Merit Award.