Hussein Bicar

Hussein Bicar (1913 to 2002) was an Egyptian painter and illustrator, born in Alexandria, who lived and worked in Cairo. He worked in watercolour, tempera and oil, with simple, clear lines that reflect the influence of Pharaonic art, and illustrated the Egyptian press and Arabic children's books.

He graduated from the Higher School of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1933 and taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo for seventeen years; he also taught in Morocco. As a correspondent for Akhbar El Yom he produced illustrated reportage. His paintings include The Semsemia Players, The Green Planet, Palm Trees and the Mountain in Nubia and Trees Die Standing Up, and he painted fifty-four works on the Abu Simbel temple for a documentary film.

His honours include the First Class Medal of Science and Art in 1967, the Gamal Abdel Nasser Prize in 1975, the State Merit Award in 1978 and the Mubarak Prize for the Arts in 2000.