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{{Short description|Egyptian architect and professor}}
{{Cleanup|date=December 2007}}
{{POV|date=December 2007}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2018}}
'''Ramses Wissa Wassef''' (1911–1974) was an [[Egyptians|Egyptian]] [[Copts|Coptic]] architect and professor of art and [[architecture]] at the [[College of Fine Arts in Cairo]] and founder of the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre.<ref>Egyptvoyager.com, Wissa Wassef Arts Center [http://www.egyptvoyager.com/artcrafts_wissawassef_biographies_ramses.htm Bio]</ref>


==Biography==
'''Ramses Wissa Wassef''' ([[November 9]] [[1911]] in [[Cairo]], [[Egypt]] - 1974), was a famous [[Egyptians|Egyptian]] architect and designer, and a professor of art and [[architecture]] at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo.<ref>Egyptvoyager.com, Wissa Wassef Arts Center [http://www.egyptvoyager.com/artcrafts_wissawassef_biographies_ramses.htm Bio]</ref> Ramses was also a potter and weaver who taught many disadvantaged Egyptian children to weave tapestries.
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 [[sculpture|sculptor]] but changed his mind and studied architecture in [[France]] at the [[École des Beaux-Arts de Paris|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 "<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wissawassefartcenter.com/|title=Welcome to the Ramses Wissa Wassef Centre|website=www.wissawassefartcenter.com|access-date=2018-02-24}}</ref>


After Wassef's death, his family donated his original architecture drawings to the [http://library.aucegypt.edu/rbscl/ Rare Books and Special Collections Library]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the [[American University in Cairo]].
Ramses Wissa Wassef's father was a lawyer, a leader of Egypt's nationalist movement and an art patron who persuaded the Egyptian Parliament to develop the arts in [[Egypt]]. After finishing high school, Ramses wanted to become a [[sculpture|sculptor]] but changed his mind at his father’s advice and began to study 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 said "One cannot separate beauty from utility, the form from the material, the work from its function, man from his creative art "<ref>The Ramses Wissa Wassef Arts Center [http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/]</ref>


== Architectural and design career==
Ramses Wissa Wassef's family donated all his original architecture drawings to the Rare Books Library at the [[American University in Cairo]].
[[File:Banque Misr Building and Hotel at Opera Square - Perspective.jpg|thumb|left|Banque Misr Building and Hotel at Opera Square - Perspective]]
[[File:Old Cairo Potter's House.jpg|thumb|Old Cairo Potter's House]]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 [[Nubia|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==
== Architecture and Design ==
*[http://digitalcollections.aucegypt.edu/cdm/search/collection/p15795coll5/searchterm/old%20potter/field/title/mode/all/conn/and/order/nosort Potter's House in Old Cairo]
*[http://digitalcollections.aucegypt.edu/cdm/search/collection/p15795coll5/searchterm/French%20College%20of%20Daher/field/source/mode/exact/conn/and/order/nosort French College of Daher]
*[http://digitalcollections.aucegypt.edu/cdm/search/collection/p15795coll5/searchterm/French%20School%20Cairo/field/source/mode/exact/conn/and/order/nosort French School of Cairo]
* Mahmoud Mokhtar Sculpture Museum ({{coord|30|2|25.8|N|31|13|22.3|E|type:landmark|name=Mahmoud Mokhtar Sculpture Museum}}), [[Cairo]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203080016/http://www.copticarchitecture.com/arc/heritage/zama.htm Saint Mary Coptic Church] in Zamalek, [[Cairo]]
* Several churches in [[Cairo]], [[Alexandria]] and Damanhour, including the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203080215/http://www.copticarchitecture.com/arc/heritage/helio.htm Church of St. George] in Heliopolis
* The Junior Lycee school at [[Bab al-Louq]] [[Cairo]]
* His home in Agouza, [[Cairo]] and several private houses along the Saqqara road near the [[Pyramids]]
* [[Adam Henein]] House, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203075416/http://www.copticarchitecture.com/arc/heritage/oth.htm 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 Centre==
At the beginning of his career in 1935 Ramses was struck by the beauty of the medieval towns and the old quarters of [[Cairo]]. His vision was filled with the harmony and picturesque beauty of villages with the simplicity of certain old houses, its narrow lanes which were shaded most of the day. Ramses saw sharp contrast to the coldness of most modern buildings. Why, he would ask himself, was it possible for craftsmen in the past to succeed where present-day architects failed.
[[File:The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - “Wedding in the Village” loom - woven tapestry.jpg|thumb|right|325px|''Wedding in the Village'' — woven in 2007 at the Art Centre by Basima Mohamed.<br/>Collection of [[The Children's Museum of Indianapolis]].]]
Wissa Wassef founded the '''Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre''' in 1951, located in the Harrania district of [[Giza]], near the [[Giza pyramids]] in the [[Greater Cairo]] region. He established it to teach young Egyptian villagers how to create art, including [[tapestry|tapestries]]. He believed that children are endowed with creative power and potential.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wissawassefartcenter.com/intro.htm|title=Welcome to the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art School|website=www.wissawassefartcenter.com|access-date=2018-02-24}}</ref> Wissa Wassef wanted to prove that artistic creativity is innate in everyone, and regardless of deadening influences from mass-produced objects, it can flourish within supportive settings such as the Art Centre.<ref name="archnet">{{Cite web|url=http://archnet.org/library/parties/one-party.tcl?party_id=460|title=Archnet|website=archnet.org|access-date=2018-02-24|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629190011/http://archnet.org/library/parties/one-party.tcl?party_id=460|archivedate=2006-06-29}}</ref>


The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre won the [[Aga Khan Award for Architecture]] from the [[Aga Khan Development Network]] in 1983.<ref name=archnet/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.akdn.org/architecture/project.asp?id=291|title=Ramses Wissa Wassef Arts Centre {{!}} Aga Khan Development Network|website=www.akdn.org|language=en|access-date=2018-02-24}}</ref> The Art Centre is open to the public, with an [[art museum]] exhibiting its early tapestry works, and a museum shop selling contemporary tapestry works by Art Centre artists. Tours are available, upon contacting the Art Centre in advance to schedule.
Ramses once wrote:
{{cquote|The ancient craftsmen had managed to derive from their traditional heritage an infinite variety of expression and created effects distinguished by local character.}}


The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre has operated continuously since opening in 1951, with its artists creating tapestries there for over 60 years. The Centre's artists create the designs and weave the tapestries directly from their imaginations onto the looms. Pre-designed patterns have never been used, supporting Wissa Wassef's belief that artistic creativity is intrinsic, and can be expressed when a supportive context is available.
Ramses did not undertake massive projects, such as the housing blocks and complexes, which are profitable by virtue of their uniformity. This Ramses found, was not genuine to his nature or his interests. Ramses' main concern was the way in which conditions of the individual in a mechanical civilization gradually could be humanized. Helped by his classical architecture training and his studies of the history of art and architecture Ramses gradually conceived elements of an architectural style bearing the stamp of his own strong personality and responding 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.


The renowned [[textile artist]]s Ali Selim and Karima Ali, who began as children at the Centre in the 1960s and 1970s, continue to weave tapestry masterworks, now up to {{convert|10|ft|m}} in width.
Ramses incorporated the skills of a number of traditional craftsmen such as stonecutters, traditional carpenters, glass blowers and potters who had inherited the techniques and traditions of the Egyptian vernacular heritage. The combinations of these varied elements found shape in a number of his universally admired architectural achievements such as:


==Exhibitions==
* The Mahmoud Mokhtar Sculpture Museum ({{coord|30|2|25.8|N|31|13|22.3|E|type:landmark|name=Mahmoud Mokhtar Sculpture Museum}}), [[Cairo]]
* [http://www.copticarchitecture.com/arc/heritage/zama.htm Saint Mary Coptic Church]in Zamalek, [[Cairo]]
* Several other churches in [[Cairo]], [[Alexandria]] and Damanhour, including the [http://www.copticarchitecture.com/arc/heritage/helio.htm Church of St. George] in Heliopolis
* The Junior Lycee school at [[Bab al-Louq]] [[Cairo]]
* His own house in Agouza, [[Cairo]] and several private houses along the Saqqara road near the [[Pyramids]]
* Adam Henein House, [http://www.copticarchitecture.com/arc/heritage/oth.htm Harrania] [[Giza]]. Adam was his student at the college of fine art.
* The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center compound, Harrania [[Giza]], which include: the tapestry workshops and gallery, the Habib Georgi sculpture museum.


The tapestries have been internationally recognized since the late 1950s. Many exhibitions have been held in Europe and the Smithsonian Institution organized a traveling exhibit in the USA in 1975-76. The most recent exhibition was at the Coningsby Gallery in London, UK, during November 2012. A simple paperback catalog was published for the 2006 for an exhibition at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the [[University of London]] to mark the center's 50th anniversary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/report1.htm|title=report1|website=www.wissa-wassef-arts.com|access-date=2018-02-24}}</ref> "Egyptian Landscapes" is a book of photographs that highlights the work of the center.
== Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center and Art Education ==
Wissa Wassef attempted to prove that art is innate in everyone and it can flourish in spite of the deadening influence of mass production <ref>[http://archnet.org/library/parties/one-party.tcl?party_id=460 Ramses Wissa Wassef<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> that he believe killed creativity. He set out to prove that children can all grow up to artists if they are encouraged to work in art and live surrounded by other artists. 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 All children are endowed with a creative power which includes an astonishing variety of potentialities. This power is necessary for the child to build up his own existence. <ref>[http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/intro.htm Welcome to the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art School<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>


1954 - Organized by the group Amities Francaises,Cairo, Alexandria and Ismallia, Egypt
The Art Center gave Ramses the opportunity to design and implement his architectural ideas in total freedom. It was also an opportunity for Ramses to teach local builders the art of building domes and vaults which has been traditionally being executed by builders from Aswan, in Upper Egypt. It is thanks to these local brick layers, that a new generation of dome & vault builders continues this wonderful building tradition. When the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center, won the prestigious [[Aga Khan]] Award for Architecture in 1983, the awarding committee eloquently summed up the project as follows:


1954 - Egyptian Art Exhibition,Italy
{{cquote|For the beauty of its execution, the high value of its objectives, as well as the power of its influence as an example. For its role as a center of art and of life, as represented by its location, its endurance, its continuity, and its promise. The project is perfectly adapted to its environment, enhancing the role of earth as a building material and demonstrating innovation in the organization of volumes and its subtle use of light. The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center, a social as well as a sculpture and spiritual dimension, as it has proved. A place supportive as well as poetic or supportive because it is poetic, Where the young tapestry weavers of the community have been free to develop an artistic hand craft, producing tapestries of great excellence and renown.}}


1956 - The Near East College Association, New York, USA
Wissa Wassef taught the children to express themselves by weaving tapestries. Weaving these tapestries at the Center was a lively and creative process for the children because no preliminary drawings were used. By the end of the 1960s Wissa Wassef's Art Center was well known in many countries and was a favourite stop for tourists in Egypt.


1958 - Gewerbemuseum, Zurich & Basel, Switzerland
Wissa Wassef loved pottery and was an accoplished potter. Part of the Art Center was and still is dedicated to teaching pottery. The Art Center's pottery is well known among the world's potters.


1959 - Bilddteppiche, Krefeild, Germany
Today, the Art Center is thriving and even after its founder died in 1974; the Center is still famous for its experiment in creativity and its lively tapestries. In 2006 the Art Center organized an Exhibition at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the [[University of London]] to commemorate its 50 year journey in creativity. <ref>[http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/report1.htm report1<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>


1960 - Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden
The book, "Egyptian Landscapes" celebrates the Center's 50 years of experiments in creativity. It includes photographs of the center's buildings throughout the years. It has photographs of the early tapestries, and shows how the work developed and the experiment in creativity and education is continuing.


1961 - Kunstindustrimusset, Germany
==Professor of Art and Architecture==
Ramses taught Architecture and Art at the Dapartment of Architecture, College of Fine Arts, [[Cairo]], which he also chaired. Teaching made Ramses think about the conditions required for training an artist; he decided the creative effort was the most important.


1961 - National Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Sweden
Children, he observed, were generously endowed with this creative faculty and that is why he started working with young village children in his art center. After teaching the rudiments of weaving, he deliberately set out to isolate them from any sophisticated external influence. Encouraged by early results, he extended the experiment to other materials:


1962 - Fodor Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
* knotted carpets, fine cotton weaving on horizontal looms, batik
* stoneware ceramics
* stained glass windows, using the oriental technique of colored glass and plaster
* building with traditional materials (adobe bricks and rammed,earth walls)


1963 - Museum Am ost Wall Dortmund, Munich, Germany
The results as in the case of tapestry weaving exceeded the most optimistic forecasts.


1964 - Stedelijk Museum, Groninger Museum Voor Stad en Lande, The Netherlands
Wissa Wassef loved glass and was well known for his experiments with glass and stained glass designs. Hewon a presitigous award in [[Egypt]] for his stained glass window design for the National Peoples Assembley Building.
Ramses Wissa Wassef's life was entirely devoted to art, which he regarded as the best means of communication between human beings. His pioneering teaching method was an act of love and faith in the potential of the child. He proved that nothing was impossible if one’s intelligence stemmed from the heart and if one’s artistic sensibility were genuine enough.


1964 - Neue Sammlung Munchen, Munich, Germany
==Awards==


1965 - Musee D’ Arts Decoratifs, Rosenthal Studio-Haus-Delvaux, Paris, France
* Egyptian National Award For The Arts - 1961, for his stained-glass window designs for The Egyptian National Assembly building, [[Cairo]]
* The Aga-Khan Architectural Award - 1983, for his achievements and particularly for the art center at Harrania, [[Giza]]


1966 - Museum of Modern Art, Skovde Konsthall Skovde, Stockholm, Lunds, Sweden
==Quotations by Ramses Wissa Wassef==


1966 - Congress Mondial, Prague, Czechoslovakia
{{quotation|''I had this vague conviction that every human being was born an artist, but that his gift could be brought out only if artistic creation were encouraged by the practicing of a craft, from the early childhood.''}}


1967 - Musee D’Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland
{{quotation|''It would be very hard to neutralize the various influences- not just the gadgets, magazines, films and so on, that encroach on so much of a child’s emotional life, but above all the educational system of today, which is caught up in a set of all-powerful routines and has become a cog in the mass production machine, it pushes children towards a mindless universal conformism, a monster that paralyses judgment and sensitivity. Only a few exceptionally hardy individuals escape being damaged by it.''}}


1967 - Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden
{{quotation|''Nowadays an artist cannot survive unless he gets his name in the papers, and he is ready to do anything to ensure this. Fame means money and the serious artist is a victim of this sorry situation.''}}


1969 - Royal College of Art, London, England
{{quotation|''An artist’s work is no longer of much use in modern society. Exhibitions in art galleries are visited by people as social events, like race meetings or cocktail parties. Basically, art is dying in the twentieth century because it has been torn as under from daily life. It has become part of the trade in rare, expensive luxuries, or else it is cast aside. It undergoes all day to day caprices of fashion and gains attention by being provocative or sensational, or even by making use of drugs. And then the works that have won fame, or notoriety, are put into museums to be admired.''}}


1971 - Gallery Brand Strupp, Oslo, Norway
{{quotation|''The word handcraft has taken on a pejorative sense and is almost considered the opposite of art. The craftsman is capable only of copying or if he tries really hard to show his skill, he overdoes it, over-elaborates and imitates.''}}

1972 - Ideal Home Exhibition, London, England

1973 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France

1974 - Al Palazzo Dellarejario, Milan, Italy

1975 - New York Natural History Museum, New York City, USA

1975 - Textile Museum, Washington, DC, USA

1975 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France

1977 - Italian Culture Centre, Cairo, Egypt

1978 - Touring exhibition, Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart, Germany

1978 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France

1979 - Roemer - und Pelizaeus - Museum, Hildesheim, Germany

1979 - Anneberg Gallery, San Francisco, USA

1979 - Modern Art Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

1981 - University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

1981 - Egyptian Art Academy, Rome, Italy

1985 - The Barbican Centre, London, UK

1985 - Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle, UK

1986 - ArtSpace, Aberdeen, UK

1986 - City of Edinburgh Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK

1986 - Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK

1990 - First Tapestry Triennale, Tournai, Belgium

1991 - Musee Jean Lurcat, Angers, France

1993 - Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

1995 - Culture Centre, Ha, Norway

1995 - Lebanese/ Egyptian Businessmen’s Association, Beirut, Lebanon

1999 - Egyptian Culture week, Tones, Tunisia

2000 - United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

2001 - Conservatoire et Jardin Botanique, Geneva, Switzerland

2003 - Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2004 - Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany

2006 - Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London, London, UK

2009 - Nature in Art Trust, Gloucestershire, UK

2012 - Children's Museum, Take Me There: Egypt!, Indianapolis, USA

2012 - The Coningsby Gallery, London, UK

==Publications==

In 1961, renowned photographer Werner Forman discovered the Art Centre by accident while shooting in Egypt. Forman and later his archive staff have been a primary international ambassador for the tapestries. He published two books available online for used book sellers. <br />
<br />
"Tapestries from Egypt" by Ramses Wissa Wassef and Werner Forman, 1961, Hamlin Publishing Group<br />
"Woven by Hand" by Ramses Wissa Wassef and Werner Forman, 1972, Hamlin Publishing Group<br />
<br />
Other Publications<br />
"Egyptian Tapestries from the Workshop of Ramses Wissa Wassef: An Experiment in Creativity" by Ceres Wissa Wassef, 1975, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service<br />
"Das Land am Nil" by Arne Eggebrecht, Eva Eggebrecht, Wilfried Seipel, 1979, Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim<br />
"Egyptian Landscapes, 1985" by Yoanna Wissa Wassef and Hilary Weir, 1985, Ramses Wissa Wassef (UK) Exhibition Foundation<br />
"Egyptian Landscapes, 2006" by Suzanne Wissa Wassef, Yoanna Wissa Wassef and Hillary Weir, 2006, Ramses Wissa Wassef (UK) Exhibition Trust

==Awards==

* Egyptian National Award For The Arts - 1961, for his stained-glass window designs for The Egyptian National Assembly building, [[Cairo]]
* The Aga-Khan Architectural Award - 1983, for his achievements and particularly for the art center at Harrania, [[Giza]]

==See also==
* [[List of Egyptian architects]]


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
* Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center official website [http://www.wissawassefartcenter.com]

* ''MIMAR 35: Architecture in Development'' by Taylor, Brian Brace, 1990
* ''MIMAR 35: Architecture in Development'' by Taylor, Brian Brace, 1990
* ''Architecture in Continuity'' by Cantacuzino, Sherban, 1985
* ''Architecture in Continuity'' by Cantacuzino, Sherban, 1985
* ''MIMAR 5: Architecture in Development'' by Noweir, Sawsan, 1985
* ''MIMAR 5: Architecture in Development'' by Noweir, Sawsan, 1985
* ''Egyptian Landscapes Fifty Years of Tapestry Weaving at the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo'', Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center, 2006
* ''Egyptian Landscapes Fifty Years of Tapestry Weaving at the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo'', Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center, 2006

==See also==
* [[Egyptians]]
* [[List of Egyptians]]
* [[Copts]]
* [[Prominent Copts]]


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.artplusradio.org/podcasts/shows/ART+Wissa_Wassef_04252007.mp3 ] 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


===Ramses Wissa Wassef architecture===
[[Category:1911 births|Wassef, Ramses Wissa]]
*[http://digitalcollections.aucegypt.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15795coll5 The Ramses Wissa Wassef Architectural Drawings Digital Collection: online archives of drawings and documents for projects designed by Ramses Wissa Wassef (active 1935 to 1972)] — ''ongoing digitization and annotation of over 800 architectural drawings and plans; for over 60 projects, including villas, schools, churches, apartment buildings, banks, and art museums and centers''.
[[Category:1974 deaths|Wassef, Ramses Wissa]]
*[http://archnet.org/ ArchNet: Ramses Wissa Wassef] — ''digital library about the architect and his works''.
[[Category:Egyptian academics|Wassef]]
*[http://www.akdn.org/architecture/project.asp?id=291 Akdn.org—Aga Khan Development Network: comprehensive Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre project submission to AKDN] — ''resulted in winning the 1983 Aga Khan Development Network Award.''
[[Category:Egyptian architects|Wassef, Ramses Wissa]]
*[http://shelf3d.com/i/Ramses%20Wissa%20Wassef Shelf3d Database: Ramses Wissa Wassef bibliography] — ''extensive links, publications and references, projects and works, new/retrospective exhibits information, and videos.''
[[Category:Architecture award winners|Wassef, Ramses Wissa]]

[[Category:Aga Khan Award for Architecture winners|Wassef, Ramses Wissa]]
===Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre===
[[Category:Coptic Christians|Wassef, Ramses Wissa]]
*[http://www.wissawassefartcenter.com/ Official website]
[[Category:People from Cairo|Wassef, Ramses Wissa]]
*[http://www.wissa-wassef-arts.com/exhibitioncatalogue.htm Wissa Wassef Art Centre: exhibition catalogue for "Egyptian Landscapes: Fifty Years of Tapestry Weaving at the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081003080430/http://www.artplusradio.org/podcasts/shows/ART+Wissa_Wassef_04252007.mp3 Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre 55th Anniversary Celebration (1951-2007)] — ''interviews with Ramses Wissa Wassef Trust's trustees (London), and Wissa Wassef Art Centre's directors (Cairo)''.

{{Authority control}}


[[de:Ramses Wissa Wassef]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wassef, Ramses Wissa}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[fr:Ramsès Wissa Wassef]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[arz:رمسيس ويصا واصف]]
[[Category:Egyptian architects]]
[[ar:رمسيس ويصا واصف]]
[[Category:20th-century Egyptian architects]]
[[Category:Egyptian Copts]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the College of Fine Arts in Cairo]]

Latest revision as of 08:58, 5 October 2023

Ramses Wissa Wassef (1911–1974) was an Egyptian Coptic architect and professor of art and architecture at the College of Fine Arts in Cairo and founder of the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre.[1]

Biography[edit]

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 sculptor 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 "[2]

After Wassef's death, his family donated his original architecture drawings to the Rare Books and Special Collections Library[permanent dead link] at the American University in Cairo.

Architectural and design career[edit]

Banque Misr Building and Hotel at Opera Square - Perspective
Old Cairo Potter's House

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[edit]

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre[edit]

Wedding in the Village — woven in 2007 at the Art Centre by Basima Mohamed.
Collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

Wissa Wassef founded the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre in 1951, located in the Harrania district of Giza, near the Giza pyramids in the Greater Cairo region. He established it to teach young Egyptian villagers how to create art, including tapestries. He believed that children are endowed with creative power and potential.[3] Wissa Wassef wanted to prove that artistic creativity is innate in everyone, and regardless of deadening influences from mass-produced objects, it can flourish within supportive settings such as the Art Centre.[4]

The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture from the Aga Khan Development Network in 1983.[4][5] The Art Centre is open to the public, with an art museum exhibiting its early tapestry works, and a museum shop selling contemporary tapestry works by Art Centre artists. Tours are available, upon contacting the Art Centre in advance to schedule.

The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre has operated continuously since opening in 1951, with its artists creating tapestries there for over 60 years. The Centre's artists create the designs and weave the tapestries directly from their imaginations onto the looms. Pre-designed patterns have never been used, supporting Wissa Wassef's belief that artistic creativity is intrinsic, and can be expressed when a supportive context is available.

The renowned textile artists Ali Selim and Karima Ali, who began as children at the Centre in the 1960s and 1970s, continue to weave tapestry masterworks, now up to 10 feet (3.0 m) in width.

Exhibitions[edit]

The tapestries have been internationally recognized since the late 1950s. Many exhibitions have been held in Europe and the Smithsonian Institution organized a traveling exhibit in the USA in 1975-76. The most recent exhibition was at the Coningsby Gallery in London, UK, during November 2012. A simple paperback catalog was published for the 2006 for an exhibition at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London to mark the center's 50th anniversary.[6] "Egyptian Landscapes" is a book of photographs that highlights the work of the center.

1954 - Organized by the group Amities Francaises,Cairo, Alexandria and Ismallia, Egypt

1954 - Egyptian Art Exhibition,Italy

1956 - The Near East College Association, New York, USA

1958 - Gewerbemuseum, Zurich & Basel, Switzerland

1959 - Bilddteppiche, Krefeild, Germany

1960 - Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden

1961 - Kunstindustrimusset, Germany

1961 - National Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Sweden

1962 - Fodor Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

1963 - Museum Am ost Wall Dortmund, Munich, Germany

1964 - Stedelijk Museum, Groninger Museum Voor Stad en Lande, The Netherlands

1964 - Neue Sammlung Munchen, Munich, Germany

1965 - Musee D’ Arts Decoratifs, Rosenthal Studio-Haus-Delvaux, Paris, France

1966 - Museum of Modern Art, Skovde Konsthall Skovde, Stockholm, Lunds, Sweden

1966 - Congress Mondial, Prague, Czechoslovakia

1967 - Musee D’Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland

1967 - Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden

1969 - Royal College of Art, London, England

1971 - Gallery Brand Strupp, Oslo, Norway

1972 - Ideal Home Exhibition, London, England

1973 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France

1974 - Al Palazzo Dellarejario, Milan, Italy

1975 - New York Natural History Museum, New York City, USA

1975 - Textile Museum, Washington, DC, USA

1975 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France

1977 - Italian Culture Centre, Cairo, Egypt

1978 - Touring exhibition, Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart, Germany

1978 - Gallery La Demeure, Paris, France

1979 - Roemer - und Pelizaeus - Museum, Hildesheim, Germany

1979 - Anneberg Gallery, San Francisco, USA

1979 - Modern Art Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

1981 - University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

1981 - Egyptian Art Academy, Rome, Italy

1985 - The Barbican Centre, London, UK

1985 - Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle, UK

1986 - ArtSpace, Aberdeen, UK

1986 - City of Edinburgh Art Centre, Edinburgh, UK

1986 - Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK

1990 - First Tapestry Triennale, Tournai, Belgium

1991 - Musee Jean Lurcat, Angers, France

1993 - Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris, France

1995 - Culture Centre, Ha, Norway

1995 - Lebanese/ Egyptian Businessmen’s Association, Beirut, Lebanon

1999 - Egyptian Culture week, Tones, Tunisia

2000 - United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

2001 - Conservatoire et Jardin Botanique, Geneva, Switzerland

2003 - Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2004 - Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany

2006 - Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London, London, UK

2009 - Nature in Art Trust, Gloucestershire, UK

2012 - Children's Museum, Take Me There: Egypt!, Indianapolis, USA

2012 - The Coningsby Gallery, London, UK

Publications[edit]

In 1961, renowned photographer Werner Forman discovered the Art Centre by accident while shooting in Egypt. Forman and later his archive staff have been a primary international ambassador for the tapestries. He published two books available online for used book sellers.

"Tapestries from Egypt" by Ramses Wissa Wassef and Werner Forman, 1961, Hamlin Publishing Group
"Woven by Hand" by Ramses Wissa Wassef and Werner Forman, 1972, Hamlin Publishing Group

Other Publications
"Egyptian Tapestries from the Workshop of Ramses Wissa Wassef: An Experiment in Creativity" by Ceres Wissa Wassef, 1975, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
"Das Land am Nil" by Arne Eggebrecht, Eva Eggebrecht, Wilfried Seipel, 1979, Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim
"Egyptian Landscapes, 1985" by Yoanna Wissa Wassef and Hilary Weir, 1985, Ramses Wissa Wassef (UK) Exhibition Foundation
"Egyptian Landscapes, 2006" by Suzanne Wissa Wassef, Yoanna Wissa Wassef and Hillary Weir, 2006, Ramses Wissa Wassef (UK) Exhibition Trust

Awards[edit]

  • Egyptian National Award For The Arts - 1961, for his stained-glass window designs for The Egyptian National Assembly building, Cairo
  • The Aga-Khan Architectural Award - 1983, for his achievements and particularly for the art center at Harrania, Giza

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Egyptvoyager.com, Wissa Wassef Arts Center Bio
  2. ^ "Welcome to the Ramses Wissa Wassef Centre". www.wissawassefartcenter.com. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  3. ^ "Welcome to the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art School". www.wissawassefartcenter.com. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  4. ^ a b "Archnet". archnet.org. Archived from the original on 2006-06-29. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  5. ^ "Ramses Wissa Wassef Arts Centre | Aga Khan Development Network". www.akdn.org. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  6. ^ "report1". www.wissa-wassef-arts.com. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  • Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center official website [1]
  • MIMAR 35: Architecture in Development by Taylor, Brian Brace, 1990
  • Architecture in Continuity by Cantacuzino, Sherban, 1985
  • MIMAR 5: Architecture in Development by Noweir, Sawsan, 1985
  • Egyptian Landscapes Fifty Years of Tapestry Weaving at the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Cairo, Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center, 2006

External links[edit]

Ramses Wissa Wassef architecture[edit]

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre[edit]

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