Abdel-Hady El-Weshahi, awarded the Egyptian state prize for art in 2012, passed away Monday morning at the Qasr El-Aini Hospital in Cairo, where he was being treated for a serious illness, according to visual artist Ahmed Moussa. According to the Egyptian Fine Arts sector website, El-Weshahi, a visual artist and sculptor, was born in November 1936 in Daqahlia. He received his BA from the sculpture department at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1963. He went on to study at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, Spain. El-Weshahi lectured at the sculpture department at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria and in Cairo. The artist participated in group exhibitions in Egypt since as early as the late 1950s, taking part in the Cairo Salon from 1959 until 1966. His artwork was also showcased at international art festivals, including the Paris International Biennale (1961 and 1963) and the Venice Biennale (1980). El-Weshahi's sculptures were also hosted by art fairs and spaces in other European cities, as well as in North America and Latin America. In Egypt, his artwork has been acquired by various cultural institutions, including The Museum of Modern Egyptian Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria, The Military Museum, Al-Ahram Newspaper headquarters, among others. Internationally, his work has been acquired by the Milano Modern Art Open Air Museum and the Contemporary Fine Arts Museum in Ibiza, Spain. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/80011.aspx
