Mohamed Abdel Moniem Saleh: Art beyond borders
Mohamed Saleh was born in Alexandria in 1940. He completed his initial studies in sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 1963. One year later, he received a scholarship to study sculpture at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HFBK) in Hamburg under the supervision of Gustav Seitz, professor for sculpture between 1958 and 1969.
According to Rana Ahmed, one of his former students, Mohamed Saleh spent one academic year at HFBK thanks to a scholarship which was sponsored by the faculty of fine Arts in Alexandria during the winter semester of 1964/1965. Due to financial reasons, he returned to his native town afterward. He later obtained his Master’s degree in sculpture from Helwan University (near Cairo) in 1972.
After completing his Master’s degree, Saleh became actively involved in international exhibitions. He participated, most likely with sculptural works, in the 9th and 10th Alexandria Biennale – which was founded as early as in 1955 – in the years 1970, 1972 and 1974, respectively, and took part in exhibitions of Egyptian art in Athens, Cyprus, and Yugoslavia. In 1979, Mohamed Saleh received his PhD in Amsterdam, but no information is available as to the relevant university or faculty.
Rana Ahmed stated that Saleh believed art to be an international language that brings people together beyond borders and allows them to feel free.1 She also emphasized that Saleh’s experiences in Hamburg and Amsterdam were particularly significant to him, as they made him more open to working with diverse materials and techniques.
His curriculum vitae from which this text draws is available on the official website of the Egyptian Syndicate of Fine Arts.2
This article was published in February 2026.