Born: Alexandria ,14 March 1943.
Esmat dawestashy is a restless artist who has often changed his style.
He began with abstract forms employing collage techniques from his earlier photographic work.
In this phase his paintings took on surrealism – similar to Dadaism – presented as irrational but symbolic arrays of strongly colored coils and bundles.
In his next phases dawestashy turned first paintings that incorporated SUFI mysticism and then to the use of discarded items from which he created three – dimensional forms of caustic commentary on societal issues
Dawestashy graduated with honors in sculpture from the Alexandria Faculty of Fine Arts in 1967 and two years later established the "Gamaet Eltahawul".
Returning to Egypt in 1973 he was an assistant producer for cultural programs at Egyptian Television, exhibitions supervisor for the Ministry of culture at Mahmoud said Museum in Alexandria.
In 1993 the artist was appointed by ministry of culture to serve as Director of the Alexandria Museum of Fine Arts and Cultural Center in that capacity.
Dawestashy Supervised the organization of eighteenth Alexandria International Mediterranean Art Biennially, he also published a trial issue of the Plastic Art Magazine and several books like Catalogue 67, commemorative book entitled Aalam Dawestashy (Dawestashy s World) – the later to mark his 50th birthday in 1993 – and has supervised the publication of two other volumes – Aklam El sahwa (Pens of the Conscious) and Inesan Wal Tatowor(Man and Development).
Other endeavors have included short story, poetry and script writing as well as art criticism.
He has also executed a series of films using both exposed and unexposed color films to which lines, colors and scratches were added.
Since 1962 Dawestashy has participated in several group exhibits and has held 150 private exhibitions of his paintings.
The Ministry of Culture awarded Dawestashy The State Fellowship for Creative Artists in 1996.
