Hussein Shariffe was born on July 7th, 1934 in Omdurman, Sudan. His ‎father Dr Mamoun Hussein Shariffe was a medical doctor and grandson of ‎alKhalifa Shariffe and his mother was Sayda Shama Abdelrahman ‎AlMahdi, daughter of Al-Imam Abdelrahman ElMahdi. His parents were ‎first cousins and his great grandfather was Al-Imam Muhammed Ahmed ‎El-Mahdi, Sudanese politician and religious leader, the single most ‎influential personality in the history of the modern Sudan. ‎

Sudanese-born Shariffe (1934-2005) was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt. In England he studied modern history at the University of Cambridge, before joining the Slade School of Fine Art. His first solo exhibition, including the painting Angel Pregnant with Moon, opened at Gallery One in July 1959. Shariffe's paintings, using vivid juxtapositions of colour, were seen at Gallery One in North Audley Street in April 1963, shortly before he returned to live in Sudan. There he worked as a lecturer at the School of Fine Arts, Khartoum (1964-6) and founded the literary and arts periodical Twenty One in 1965. Wishing to reach a wider audience, Shariffe turned to film-making in the 1970s.

I am a painter. Each work of art is different. I paint essentially for ‎myself. I see myself essentially as a painter, but I also come to life as a ‎filmmaker.

In 1960, Hussein Shariffe chose to settle in ‎his homeland returned to Sudan. In 1961 he married his first cousin Shama ElMahdi ‎‎(daughter of El Imam ElSiddig), in a traditional Sudanese wedding.‎

Shariffe began working as a lecturer in the Faculty of Art, School of Fine ‎Arts, Khartoum. After 4 years working as a lecturer he realised that his ‎real place was not in teaching art, and that if he continued he would be ‎unfair both to his students and to himself. ‎

[...]
In 1976, Shariffe's family (his wife and four children) went to UK to settle ‎with him. It was a period where he worked enthusiastically finding his new ‎self in the World of Cinema and at the same time painting and exhibiting ‎his works in different galleries and exhibitions. ‎

[...]
On the 21st January 2005, Shariffe passed silently away, leaving behind ‎him his incomplete film, a film which he would have starved himself to ‎complete…. ‎
[...]

Source (read more):
* www.shariffe.org/01bio.html
* www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp88859/hussein-shariffe