
Noor Soussi
Head of Department
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Head of Department

Group Head
Provenance:
Property from the collection of AbdulMagid Breish, London
Published:
Louisa Macmillan, Mysa Kafil-Hussain et others, In Vested Interests: from Passion to Patronage, The AbdulMagid Breish Collection of Arab Art, Skira, Milan, 2020
This painting, an imagined view overlooking the studio of the late Iraqi artist Jewad Selim, uses warm colours to transport the viewer back to the Arab world, specifically Baghdad. Incorporating sculptural limb-like forms and vibrant colours, Dia Al-Azzawi creates a vision of a hectic but fascinating studio scene, completed poignantly with the image of a slice of watermelon, a motif which Selim associated deeply with Iraqi culture and included in so many of his paintings. An early modernist painter, sculptor and educator, Selim had a huge influence not just on Azzawi, but on all artists in the country, continuing to inspire their work long after his untimely death in 1961. While Azzawi was personally encouraged in his early career by Selim, and was undoubtedly inspired by the movements he pioneered, such as the Baghdad Modern Art Group, Selim's greatest legacy lives on in his extant artwork, as well as later artwork celebrating his memory, such as this painting by Azzawi.
-Mysa Kafil-Hussain