Zeinab graduated in 1945 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Alexandria, Egypt. Her graduate work was done at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, Spain with further studies in Mexico in 1964. In 1969, she became a professor at the Academy of Arts in Helwan, Egypt. She is a highly regarded artist, peerless in her field; her work is reminiscent of the first works that paved the way for Cubism: finely crafted Expressionism, where everyday city life imposes a context filled with memories, betraying a world of full relationships between people brought together by pure chance.
Her elements are all subordinate to the service of an architectural nature where the dividing line is what separates one shape from the other, despite her love of crowds that characterizes most of her work. Zeinab has been exhibiting her work since 1949 as a leading woman artist working in oil and watercolor.
One of the founders of the Modern Arts Group in 1947, she has received many Egyptian and international awards and has represented Egypt in numerous international exhibitions since 1950. She was commissioned to paint a large-scale work for the al-Ahram newspaper building. Her art is found in many public locations in Egypt, as well as in private collections in Egypt, Germany, United States, France, Spain, and Mexico. From 1947 to 1948, she took part in Art exhibitions organized by the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo and the Art Museum in Alexandria. She also participated in the “Ten Pioneering Women” that opened in 1975 to mark the Woman Day, The 11th Alexandria Biennale, the 1st Fine Art Syndicate Exhibition that was inaugurated by Egypt’s First Lady in Monsterly Palace in 1979, the General Exhibition held by the Art Administration in 1984 and the General Exhibition inaugurated by President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak on placing the cornerstone of the New Egyptian Opera House Building in 1985.
She participated in international Exhibitions such as the Egypt-France Art exhibition in Paris in 1949, represented Egypt in the 25th Florence International Art Biennale in Italy in 1950, Collective Art Production Exhibition at the Fine Art Club in Madrid in 1952, Art exhibition in Andre Morris Art gallery in Paris in 1954, Budapest and Vienna in 1963, The Egyptian Contemporary Art Exhibition in Greece and Bahrain in 1986 and The Egyptian Contemporary Art Exhibition in Rome in1991. Zeinab was honored during festivities marking the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Art Education in 1993 & 1994 and during festivities marking the 26th National Art Exhibition in 1999.
Courtesy of Safarkhan Gallery, Cairo
