Hussein Bikar

Hussein Amin Bikar (Alexandria, 1912 - November 2002), is one of the most famous Egyptian portrait painters. His career, however, spanned a number of disciplines, notably caricature, teaching, journalism and art criticism.

He was of Turkish extraction and a member of the Bahá'í Faith. In the 1980s, he was arrested by the state security investigation bureau in a clamp-down on Baha'is in Egypt.

Bikar graduated from the Fine Arts College in 1933, and subsequently from the Ahlia for Painting. He taught at, and eventually headed, the Painting Department of the Faculty of Arts at Qena. He was a founder of the Helwan Wax Museum.

He joined the newspaper Akhbar Al-Yom in 1945, doing drawings often accompanied by his own vernacular poems. He was the main cartoonist for the children’s magazine Al-Sinbad, which was first published in January 1952. His books include "Suwar Natiqa" (Speaking Pictures).

His painting "The Eighth Wonder", depicting the transportation of the temple of Ramses II to Abu Simbel is widely regarded as a classic of modern Egyptian painting. Selections from his work can be seen at the Egyptian Modern Art Museum in Gezira, Cairo and the local museum of El-Gouna.

Bikar received the State Merit Award in 1978, the Merit Medal in 1980 and, in 2000, shortly before his death, the Mubarak Award. Despite his numerous contributions to Egyptian society, he died without having access to an Egyptian identity card because of his beliefs in the Bahá'í Faith. [ [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/794/eg6.htm The others- A court ruling providing official recognition to Bahais has done little to ease the debate on this Israeli-based cult] by Gihan Shahine, Al-Ahram Weekly] The Universal House of Justice, the highest governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, paid tribute to his contributions to Egyptian society in [http://news.bahai.org/story/499 its letter] commenting on 16 December 2006 decision of the Egyptian Supreme Court denying Baha'is access to identification cards.

External links

* [http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Pub/magazin/spring2001/110219000000000001.htm Portrait painting in Egypt]
* [http://www.arabthought.org/ATF/English/FirstGeneralConferenceEnPage.htm?tab=9 First Arab Thought Conference]
* [http://www.bahaindex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4659 Bahai connections]
* [http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/000629/2000062953.html Mubarak Award]

References