Born in Cairo, in 1929, Adam Henein grew up in the neighborhood of Bab al-Shaariyya, his family were silversmiths, originally from the upper Egyptian city of Asyut. Having discovered a passion for art during a visit to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities on a class trip at the age of eight, Henein began his artistic studies at the School of Fine Arts in Cairo, graduating in 1953. He went on to spend several months at the Luxor Atelier established by the Alexandrian painter, Mohammed Naghi, in 1941. In 1957, Henein won a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich for two years. Henein returned to Cairo and set up his studio in a mud brick house designed by the architect, Ramsis Wissa Wassef in the village of Harraniyya. In 1971, Henein moved to Paris, where he lived for twenty-five years, during that time, he worked from his studio located in the fifteenth arrondissement, developing his practice and attaining international acclaim. From 1989 to 1998, the sculptor led a team commissioned by the Ministry of Culture to restore the great Sphinx in Giza. In 1996, he moved back to Egypt and founded the Aswan International Sculpture Symposium, an annual exhibition inviting sculptors from around the world to create works from the local granite. 

 

Adam Henein's sculptures have been shown extensively in Europe, The Middle East, North Africa and the United States, including group exhibitions at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York. His works can be found in the collections of  the Museum of Egyptian Modern Art, Cairo, Barjeel Art Foundation, The Sharjah Art Foundation, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, as well as at his in own museum in Harraniyya, inaugurated in January 2014.

 

Adam Henein passed away at the age of 91, in May 2020.