Ahmed Benyahia

Ahmed Benyahia (; born in Constantine, Algeria, on 11 May 1943) is an Algerian artist.

He is a notable alumnus of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris, where as a student in the late 1960s he played an instrumental role in successfully bringing French sculptor César Baldaccini as a Professor there, of whom he was to become a distinguished disciple and protégé.

Ahmed Benyahia is the brother of Algerian-French artist Samta Benyahia. and father of infographic artist and cartoonist Racim Benyahia.

He is also known for his acting roles in Algerian cinematographic works.

Biography

Born on 11 May 1943, in what is today Chelghoum Laïd (formerly known as Châteaudun-du-Rhumel), Ahmed Benyahia received his early education there.

He then grew up at the , for long considered the intellectual hub of the city of Constantine, a short distance from the school of the famous Algerian polymath and reformist Ben Badis.

In 1957, while the apex of the Algerian War of Independence, at age 13, he joined Constantine's École municipale des Beaux-arts, then under French administration, which allowed him to teach painting, drawing, and history at the Hihi El Mekki High School in Kantara for a year. ) in 1964, he moved to Paris, France, in 1966, where he was admitted to the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. In 1972, he was awarded the post of professor at the University of Constantine, and in 1977 exhibited his artworks in the city for the first time. Subsequently, he staged a series of exhibitions in France. While in Constantine, he was commissioned to design a building to commemorate the life of Algerian hero and martyr Zighoud Youcef, who died in 1956 at the age of 35, and the Guelma memorial, which commemorates the victims of the Sétif and Guelma massacre on 8 May 1945. Titled "Ahmed Benyahia, Artist: The Provenance of an Algerian Public Sculpture" , the lecture focused on the long and convoluted story of the artist's 1968 sculpture of Algeria hero and martyr Zighoud Youcef.

Preserving the cultural heritage of Constantine

Ahmed Benyahia is also the founder and president of the Association for the Defense of the Old Rock of Constantine, which boasts a long history of striving for the preservation of the national heritage of the city of Constantine.

Thanks to the intense activism of the association headed by Ahmed Benyahia, a great number of monuments and landmarks dating back to the Phoenician, Roman, Ottoman, French era were saved from destruction, which was planned by the local authorities in order to initiate several new urban projects such as the construction of parking lots and tramway lines.

Cinema Acting Ahmed Benyahia is also known for portraying the role of Algerian nationalist militant Lamine Debaghine in the 2008 biographical movie of Algerian war hero and martyr Mostefa Ben Boulaïd, as well as in the 2014 biographical movie of Algerian independence leader Krim Belkacem, both by Algerian film director and screenwriter Ahmed Rachedi.

Family ties

He is the brother of Samta Benyahia

He is the father of illustrator artist and cartoonist Racim Benyahia.

Notable works

Sculpture of the Emir Abdelkader, Mexico City, 1986 Statue of the Military Academy of Cherchell, commemorating the Algerian Struggle for Independence Sculpture of Algerian national hero Zighoud Youcef, 1968 Co-designer of the César Award trophy, French cinema equivalent of the American Oscar, 1976