Adam Henein

CAIRO (AP) — Acclaimed Egyptian artist Adam Henein, who joined ancient pharaonic themes with sleek modernism in sculptures that often portrayed birds and other animals, died Friday, his family said. He was 91.

Henein recently suffered from age-related health complications and was taken to a hospital in Cairo where he died, said Essam Darwish, deputy director of Henein’s foundation.

Henein was born in 1929 in Cairo to a family of silversmiths and jewelry makers from the southern province of Assiout. He often said that a visit as a child to the Egyptian Museum was a turning point in his life. At the age of 8, he modeled a clay figure of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton, setting himself on the path toward his sculpting career.

He was also entranced by birds and flight, which would become a frequent themes of his work.

“I used to wake up and run to the windows and watch for a long time the birds,” he said in past comments posted on YouTube. “It transports you to another place, another language, another world.”