Ramses Wissa Wassef

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.

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.

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.

[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.

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.

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 In 1961, renowned photographer Werner Forman discovered the Art Centre by accident while shooting in Egypt.