Yousef Toppozada was born in 1909 in “Darb Toppozada (Toppozada Lane)” which branches off that inspiring place Mohamed Ali Street in Abdin, Cairo, Egypt. In the shadows of the palaces that dominated the landscape in those distant times, Yousef grew-up and saw the spark of the 1919 revolution.

In 1923 when he was fourteen he left Egypt for Rome, returning to his homeland in 1932, after a long cultural journey absorbing the beautiful and artistic cities of Florence, Venice, Rome, and Paris.

Between his birth on the 16th February 1909, and his death on the 21st March 1990, Yousef was full of life and fond of travel as an escape from the pain of losing his mother at an early age. This pain chocked him to the end of his life, but he kept it hidden within his heart although it was sometimes reflected in his work.

His father “Ahmad Hafez” inherited from his father “Mokhtar Khairy Toppozada” and his mother “Aisha Yakan Osman”, a huge fortune which he lost-most of it by his extravagance after the death of his young wife who left him with four children “Nusrat, Aisha, Yousef, and Hussein”. Yousef was ten years old when he lost his mother and such a loss at that age had a strong effect that made him roam the streets of Cairo participating in patriotic demonstrations. He loved drawing and took the pencil and paper to express his feelings. Furthermore he abandoned regular tuition as a protest on the restrictive rules of his class where it was not considered respectable to be an artist.

When his uncle “Ibrahim Rashad Pasha” returned back to Cairo from Dublin in 1923, to inspect the well-being of his younger sister’s children whom he dearly missed, he noticed Yousef’s condition and what had become of him, but saw his artistic talent and recommended his father to send him to Rome to study Art. So Yousef traveled to Rome in the same year on board a ship bound for Naples. It was the start of a trip into the unknown yet he knew he would fulfil his artistic dreams, without fear of persecution. His guardian there was “Zayour Pasha” his father’s cousin who at the time was the Egyptian ambassador to Italy, until he became prime minister of Egypt and was then replaced by “Abdel Azeem Rashed Pasha”. In Rome he lived with “Signor Cardi” the Italian language teacher who brought him up with his children as one of his own. Yousef cherished this man and his family to the end of his life and considered them to be his family in Italy.

After mastering Italian he continued with his education, passing with distinction his years in the technical high school, Yousef then enrolled in the Italian Academy of Fine Arts in Rome where he studied for four years, successfully obtaining his Arts Degree. During this time he participated in painting the private quarters of the Pope in the Vatican. He then continued studying for another year to get his Masters in Diversified Arts, then travelled between the beautiful cities of Florence, Venice, Rome, and Paris visiting museums, galleries, and indulging in European artistic culture.

In 1930 his father, “Ahmad Hafez”, died and his family stopped sending funds, so Yousef returned back to Cairo in 1932, and started looking for work. He was not successful due to the global economic turmoil of the 1930’s, then his uncle’s wife invited him to stay in her house, where he did several paintings which were shown in different exhibitions in Cairo, and won him first prizes.

After a few years Yousef finally found a job in the Ministry of Public Works where he met several young architects who later became renowned for their work including: The talented architect and poet “Ali Mahmoud Taha”, Professor “Dr. Farid Shafei”, (designer of the “Agha Khan’s” mausoleum in Aswan), Architect “Ahmad Ibrahim Kamel”, and Architect “Naguib Ramzi Esteno”, whom he participated with in designing, building and restoring several of Cairo’s important buildings such as: The Islamic Art of the Holy Al-Azhar headquarters, the Cairo University great festival hall, the Montaza Palace bridge, and the Parliament mosque. Other important works include two large murals on the main entrance of the Cairo Zoo, the fresco paintings in the royal rest house and the minister’s quarter’s in the Zoo, and several other historical murals in the cultural museum.

In addition he did many different excellent murals and paintings in a number of palaces. Amongst them was a huge mural he was forced to paint in ….Pasha’s palace! which he did not sign as a protest. Later he found out that the Pasha (a Turkish title given to governors, and high military officers) has put a European name on the mural, which made Yousef cry from the injustice.

And so Yousef spent his days peacefully, with his wife and two children.

The artist wife next to her sculpture

He was working in the Egyptian International Fair Organisation, which he participated in its foundation with his friend Eng. “Ismail Nazief”. His work took most of his time where he travelled extensively from Europe to the Far East, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East – staging international exhibitions for Egypt and representing his country. However, Cairo where his family lived, remained his permanent base. His last posting was in Kuwait (1969), where he supervised his final Egyptian International Exhibition.

Yousef then retired on the 16th February 1969 and devoted his time to God, his family, and painting. His Son “Hafez” got married after his graduation from the Faculty of Engineering (Cairo University), and had a son “Karim” (engineer, designer, and producer of this website) and a daughter “Alia”. At the end of 1969 Yousef’s daughter “Zakia” left for Paris to prepare her Ph.D. in Egyptology. For when she returned in 1976, the son “Hafez” left for the UAE to work! And so it was that destiny dictated that members of this family would never be together.

It was during Yousef’s retirement years that he had his most creative period, where he painted his most beautiful paintings and several more in private collections. A few years later his sight was affected and was unable to distinguish colours. Despite this, he completed his last painting “The Light” expressing an idea that may summarise his long life.

On the 21st March 1990 Yousef died, leaving his family a large treasures of paintings, memories and he is greatly missed.

God Bless his soul.