Lot 173: ABDEL BADIE ABDEL HAY (Egypt, born 1916) Mythologies

Abdel Badie Abdel Hay (Egypt, born 1916)
Mythologies
bronze panel
executed in 1965
45 x 75cm (17 11/16 x 29 1/2in).
FOOTNOTES
In Minya in 1916, Abdel Hay was born to poor parents who could not afford to give him any art education. The young man worked as a cook for a notable family in Minya. It was only later when he worked for Hoda Sharawi, the well known feminist and a patron of arts that Abdel Hay was given the opportunity to mingle and associate with the artistic community.

He then began to create sculptures and participated in the Mokhtar Sculpture Competition winning first prizes in 1944, 1945 and 1948. Eventually Abdel Hay was able to study at the Faculty of Fine Arts and thereafter won a prize that allowed him to further his studies at the Studio of Fine Arts in Luxor where he worked several years.

Abdel Hay is a master sculptor, who specializes in working both large and small pieces, using the hardest material, whether granite, basalt or quartz bringing out such a passion and feel with the raw material, creating figures amazingly bursting with life.

Abdel Hay participated in many collective exhibitions in Egypt and also took apart in shows in France, Holland, Italy Sudan and Syria. The Egyptian government awarded him the State Prize of Support in 1972 and the Order of Sciences and Arts in 1982, when also the Academy of Arts awarded him with a Certificate of Merit.