Mounir Kanaan
Like Mahmud Mokhtar, Mounir Kanaan (1919–1999) had no formal art-school degree. He began working as a teenager in commercial sign-making and later for the press. From 1945 he was at Dar Al-Hilal and subsequently at Akhbar Al-Youm. His importance grew considerably after his travel to Warsaw. In the mid-1950s he moved decisively toward abstraction and assemblage.
Mounir Kanaan / Mamdouh Ammar / Youssef Francis
In 1955 Heshmat was invited with a delegation of 10 artists to represent Egypt at the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw. We know that with him were Mounir Kanaan, Mamdouh Ammar and Youssef Francis:
All four - Heshmat, Kanaan, Ammar and Francis - were part of a generation coming to fruition in extremely turbulent times. They were entering Egyptian artistic life around 1938–55, when the question wasn’t simply “How do we make modern art?” or “How can we make independent art?” but how can art be simultaneously modern and recognizably Egyptian and thus original? Everyone found their own answer to this question, which would become a core topic for the development of modern Egyptian art.