Hassan Heshmat – A Decolonial Artist, Then and Now
This project investigates the Werkbiographie of Egyptian sculptor Hassan Heshmat (1920-2006), who rose to national and international recognition in the times of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Hassan Heshmat is considered a pioneer of modern Egyptian art. He was the first Egyptian artist to create artworks in porcelain with local motifs and with the explicit aim that average households could acquire a piece of art.
Born in Menoufiya, Hassan Heshmat was a student of the renowned potter, painter, and sculptor of Palestinian origin, Said el Sadr (1909-1986). Heshmat graduated with a diploma in Ceramics from the Centre for Applied Arts at Cairo University in 1938. To earn his living, he continued with a diploma in Art Education in 1954. Subsequently, he went to West Germany for a year to study at the Artistic Porcelain Academy in Selb, graduating in 1958. As the hometown of two internationally renowned porcelain manufacturers, Rosenthal and Hutschenreuther, Selb was already an international hub for students at the time.
His sculptures often reflect themes from rural Egyptian society, the working class, the arts, or ongoing political events, like the crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973 or the killing of 21 missionaries in Congo – a memorial commissioned by the Order of the Holy Cross in Hasselt, Belgium, in 1970. During the era of Hosni Mubarak, Heshmat received the Egyptian state’s Appreciation Award. After his death, his private home, including his workshop with three ceramic kilns, exhibit space, and garden in Ain Shams, was turned into a public museum. Current tours stress the aspect of love and unity between man and woman and the entity of the family in Heshmat’s works.
Heshmat mastered various materials beyond porcelain, like metal, stone, wood, and clay, and he worked in all sizes between 5cm and ca. 10m. A number of large murals by him can be found in Egypt and around the world. His pieces are sold today on various online platforms (eBay, classified ads, artnet.com, mutualart.com, or etsy), but not much is known about the artist himself. Secondary literature in Arabic is scarce and nearly non-existent in European languages.
The project investigates a history of ideas in his works, including social realism, the democratization of art, neo-pharaonism, and Pop Art. It asks how changing debates about decolonization during his lifetime and today are reflected in his works.
