Ramses Wissa Wassef
Encyclopedia
Ramses Wissa Wassef was an Egyptian
architect and professor of art and architecture
at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo.
but changed his mind and studied architecture in France
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 the Rare Books and Special Collections Library at the American University in Cairo
.
Award for Architecture in 1983. In 2006, an exhibition was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London
to mark the center's 50th anniversary. "Egyptian Landscapes" is a book of photographs that highlights the work of the center.
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
architect and professor of art and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo.
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 sculptorSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
but changed his mind and studied architecture in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
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 the Rare Books and Special Collections Library at the American University in Cairo
American University in Cairo
The American University in Cairo is an independent, non-profit, apolitical, secular institution of higher learning located in Cairo, Egypt...
.
Architectural and design career
At the beginning of his career in 1935, Wassef was struck by the beauty of the medieval towns and the old quarters of Cairo. 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 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
- Mahmoud Mokhtar Sculpture Museum (30°2′25.8"N 31°13′22.3"E), CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
- Saint Mary Coptic Church in Zamalek, CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
- Several churches in CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, AlexandriaAlexandriaAlexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and Damanhour, including the Church of St. George in Heliopolis - The Junior Lycee school at Bab al-LouqBab al-LouqBab al-Louq is a neighborhood in downtown Cairo. The Egyptian Ministry of Interior is located here....
CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life... - His home in Agouza, CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
and several private houses along the Saqqara road near the Pyramids - 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 Center and Art Education
Wissa Wassef attempted to prove that art is innate in everyone and can flourish in spite of the deadening influence of mass production He founded the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center in 1951 near the Pyramids to teach young Egyptian villagers how to create art and tapestries. He believed that children are endowed with creative power and potential. The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center won the Aga KhanAga Khan
Aga Khan is the hereditary title of the Imam of the largest branch of the Ismā'īlī followers of the Shī‘a faith. They affirm the Imamat of the descendants of Ismail ibn Jafar, eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, while the larger Twelver branch of Shi`ism follows Ismail's younger brother Musa...
Award for Architecture in 1983. In 2006, an exhibition was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
to mark the center's 50th anniversary. "Egyptian Landscapes" is a book of photographs that highlights the work of the center.
Awards
- Egyptian National Award For The Arts - 1961, for his stained-glass window designs for The Egyptian National Assembly building, CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
- The Aga-Khan Architectural Award - 1983, for his achievements and particularly for the art center at Harrania, Giza
External links
- 50th Anniversary Celebration (2007) Interview with Lady Hilary Weir, Barbara Heller trustees of Ramses Wissa Wassef Trust in London and Suzan Wissa Wassef and Architect Ikram Nosshi who run the Art Center in Cairo
- http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/about1.htm, a site dedicated to the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center
- http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/exhibitioncatalogue.htm, Egyptian Landscapes: Fifty Years of Tapestry Weaving at the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo
- http://archnet.org/, ArchNet, a digital library that features works by and about Ramses Wissa Wassef
- http://www.marlamallett.com/wissawas2.htm a site about Wassef's Harrania Tapestry Workshop
- http://www.akdn.org/ Aga Khan Development Nework