Hussein Amin Bikar

Hussein Amin Bikar
Born	January 2, 1913 Alexandria, Egypt
Died	November 16, 2002 Cairo, Egypt
NSA member	Egypt & Sudan ???? - 1956 North East Africa 1956 - 1960

Hussein Amin Ibrahim Bikar (January 2, 1913 - November 16, 2002) was an Egyptian Bahá’í who served on the National Spiritual Assembly of Egypt and Sudan. In his career he was a notable artist achieving significant critical acclaim.

Biography

Bikar was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1913. He and his mother moved to Cairo in 1928 and he studied at the Higher School of Fine Arts graduating in 1933 then worked as an art teacher. In 1939 he moved to Morocco where he worked as an art teacher until returning to Egypt in 1942 where he began working at the Higher School of Fine Arts. He became aware of the Bahá’í Faith in the 1930's and became a member of the religion, and he was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Egypt and Sudan serving as of 1948.

In 1955 Bikar was appointed the chair of the Higher School of Fine Arts Finer Arts Department serving until 1959 when he began working full time at the Akhbar al Youm newspaper and he was sent to several countries across North Africa in his work for the newspaper. He had been elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of North East Africa which succeeded the Egypt and Sudan Assembly in 1956 and served on the body until 1960 when the Egyptian government issued a decree outlawing all organized Bahá’í activity in the country.

Bikar's artistic accomplishments were recognized by the Egyptian government throughout the 1970's and he was awarded the State Merit award in 1978 and the Merit award in 1980. Despite his artistic reputation in February, 1980, Bikar was arrested because he was a Bahá’í and maintained that the Bahá’í Faith was an independent religion. He painted an acclaimed self-portrait titled The Green Planet or I, The Past and the Present while imprisoned in 1981. Bikar was ultimately acquitted due to old age,

In 2000 Bikar was awarded the Mubarak Award by the Egyptian government in acknowledgment of his art and he donated the entire financial stipend from the award to the Children's Cancer Hospital. In 2002 he passed away in Cairo.