Kamel Ibrahim
1925–2002 · Alexandria
Kamel Ibrahim was born in Alexandria on 2 April 1925 (9 Ramadan 1343), the younger brother of the calligrapher Muhammad Ibrahim. He studied at the calligraphy-improvement school his brother had founded in Alexandria, learning from him and from visiting masters such as Sayyid Ibrahim, Muhammad Husni and Najib Hawawini, and graduated in its first class in 1941, ranked first in Egypt. He then taught at the school and helped his brother run it. After Muhammad Ibrahim's death he became its director, renamed it after his brother, and in 1978 added a specialist department of calligraphy and illumination. Sources differ on the date of that death: Arabic Wikipedia gives 1970, the Qatari newspaper Al-Watan 1950. Kamel also taught calligraphy and its history at the Faculty of Fine Arts, worked as a handwriting expert for the courts and founded the Muhammad Ibrahim Society for Arabic Calligraphy. His lettering is found across Alexandria and in the Arab League building in Cairo. He died on 2 January 2002 (18 Shawwal 1422); Al-Watan gives 2001.
Achievements
- Graduated in 1941 from the first class of the calligraphy-improvement school in Alexandria, ranked first in Egypt.
- Directed the school after his brother's death, renamed it the Muhammad Ibrahim School of Arabic Calligraphy, and added a specialist department of calligraphy and illumination in 1978.
- Taught calligraphy and its history at the Faculty of Fine Arts, and served the courts as a handwriting expert.
- Wrote Qur'anic panels for the main hall and mosque of the Arab League building, and the lettering of the Saad Zaghloul, Mustafa Kamil and Muhammad Farid museums.
- Founded the Muhammad Ibrahim Society for Arabic Calligraphy and was its first president; held about twenty exhibitions, including in Tunis and at the Egyptian Academy in Rome.
Taught by: Sayyid Ibrahim, Sayyid Ibrahim, Muhammad Husni (Muhammad Kamal Husni al-Baba), Najib Hawawini
Taught: Issam al-Din al-Sharif, Issam al-Din Abd al-Wahid, Abd al-Fattah al-Sawi, Ahmad Sulayman, Ali Hasan, Muhammad Mahmud Rutayl, Sa'id Abd al-Qadir
His work
His calligraphy is still under copyright (he died after 1975), so no works are shown. No freely licensed photograph of him was found on Commons.
Write in the tradition this hand shaped.
Open Mashq Studio →Living calligraphers you can buy from — signed originals on paper, from AED 550: Anwar Alhulwani (Thuluth) · Ahmed Alhawary (Jali Thuluth, Naskh) · Rasha Kasim (Kufi).
Sources
- Arabic Wikipedia: dates, school, posts, exhibitions ar.wikipedia.org
- Al-Watan (Qatar), 5 May 2020, 'Kamel Ibrahim, the last of Alexandria's calligraphers': teachers, students, Arab League and museum lettering web.archive.org
Written by the MASHQ studio · last updated 2026-10-05. Further reading, the standard references in English: Sheila S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh University Press, 2006) · Annemarie Schimmel, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture (New York University Press, 1984) · Yasin Hamid Safadi, Islamic Calligraphy (Thames and Hudson, 1978).