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Zeinab Abd al-Hamid (January 27, 1919 – November 9, 2002) was an Egyptian artist known for her colour saturated paintings of Egyptian cities. Abd al-Hamid used an array of mediums, from watercolours to oils. While art historians struggled to place Abd al-Hamid’s works in a single art movement, the general consensus is that her paintings are part of the Egyptian Modernist movement.

Early Life
Zeinab Abd al-Hamid was born on 27 January 1919 in Egypt, in Qalyubia, an Egyptian governorate located north of Cairo. Her early years were marked by the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 and the waves of social, political and cultural shifts her country was undergoing. These events certainly influenced her anti-conformist personality, her artistic trajectory and her vision of Egypt. From early on, she developed her painting skills and her passion for art during classes at the studio of the Egyptian artist Hamed Abdallah.

Career
After graduating from the Academy of Fine of Arts of Alexandria, Egypt, in 1945, Abd al-Hamid stayed in Egypt for two years. During this time, she participated in the foundation and development of the Modern/Contemporary Arts Group, founded in 1946, which she joined a year later. This group also included her husband Ezzedin Hamouda, as well as other artists such as Abd al-Hadi al-Gazzar or Gazbia Sirry. She was involved in many exhibitions in Egypt with the group, even when she lived abroad. In 1948, her husband was offered by the Egyptian government a scholarship to go to Madrid, Spain, so she left with him, and obtained a graduate degree there from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, Spain. After obtaining her professorship in 1952, she and her husband returned to Cairo, where she started teaching at the Institute of Art Education, which became in 1975 the Faculty of Art Education, a part of the Helwan University.

Legacy
Zeinab Abd El Hamid died in Egypt on 9 November 2002, aged 83 years, leaving behind her a significant collection of paintings and awards. Her work has been exhibited all around the world: Egypt, Italy, Austria, the United States, Hungary, Spain, and Brazil and she was awarded many prizes during her career. With a work consistently reflecting Egyptian modernism, she influenced the perception of Egypt throughout the world and died as one of the most renowned Egyptian female artists.

Selected Exhibitions
Throughout her career, Abd al-Hamid exhibited her work all around the world. Her work remains an important example of Modern Egyptian art and continues to be included in exhibitions representative of the movement.


 * 1947: Exhibition of the Contemporary Art Group, Museum of Modern Art, Cairo, Egypt
 * 1950: 25th Florence International Art Biennale, Florence, Italy
 * 1952: Collective Art Production Exhibition, Fine Art Club, Madrid, Spain
 * 1953: Sao Paolo Biennale, Sao Paolo, Brazil
 * 1958: 29th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
 * 1976: Five Egyptian Artists, International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C., United States of America
 * 1988: Nonaligned Nations Exhibition, Cairo, Egypt
 * 1994: Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C., United States of America
 * 2017: Modernist Women of Egypt, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
 * 2018: A Century in Flux: Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
 * 2019: A la plume, au pinceau, au crayon : dessins du monde arabe, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France