Van-Leo is actually the professional name of Levon Alexander Boyadjian.  Born in a railway car in Turkey in 1921, he was the third child of an Armenian family that settled in Egypt in 1924.  He attended Cairo's College de la Salle (1930-1) and later the English Mission College in Faggala (1932-9).  There as well as from his caring but strict parents he acquired a profound sense of purpose, a passion for the best and the discipline required to achieve it.   He attended the American University in Cairo briefly but his interest in photography led to a job and training in a Cairo photographic studio and then starting a studio with his brother Angelo in their family's flat in Avenue Fouad, the present 26 July Street, in 1941. Europe was at war but in Cairo flourished a cosmopolitan society of big spenders and fancy nightclubs.  Soldiers, spies and international celebrities just added to the color.  Cairo already had established photographic studios including some greats like Venus, Armand and Alban but Leon attracted a clientele because his portraits were exceptionally good.  That first studio's real success, however, came when Leon had the clever idea of offering to make free publicity photographs for players in British Army theatre productions for troops stationed in Cairo– in return for credit in the programs.  This inventive advertising technique as well as word of mouth from satisfied customers led to a steady stream of sitters.

In 1947 Mr. Boyadjian ended the partnership with his brother and opened his own studio at 7 Avenue Fouad as Van-Leo, the anagram of his given name Levon.  From the very beginning Van-Leo considered himself to be an artistic photographer.  Not content to just capture a likeness he experimented with lighting and poses to make his portraits dramatic.  He used Hollywood glamour photographers as his inspiration to make local night club performers as glamourous as Joan Crawford and aspiring Egyptian film star Omar Sherif as dashing as Errol Flynn.  Fascinated by the contrast between light and dark  he made dozens of self-portraits using disguises,  shadows and light to make a single picture tell a whole story: a Zorro defending the downtrodden, a pilot in battle, a man facing the three ages of life.  

In 1998 Van-Leo, suffering from failing health, made his last portrait and determined to give his photographs and studio to his alma mater the American University in Cairo.  Since that time the AUC Rare Books and Special Collections Library has been working to preserve and display his photographic legacy.   AUC produced an exhibit in 1998and another is being planned for March, 2001.  The Fondation du Monde Arabe has also published and exhibited his work.   The Rare Books and Special Collections Library also works with scholars and publishers who wish to use Van-Leo photographs in publications, including numerous articles in both the Egyptian and foreign press.