Description
The first Catalogue raisonné of the artist’s paintings and sculptures.
Jewad Selim is remembered as one of the defining figures of twentieth century Middle Eastern visual culture and the key protagonist of Iraqi Modernism. In the 1950’s, Selim forged a distinctive movement which sought to express modern Iraqi identity by combining traditional, local forms of artistic expression with the visual language of the European avant-garde.
Selim honed his artistic instincts across Europe studying in Rome, Paris and England before returning to his native Iraq. He moved equally deftly between media, excelling in sculpture and painting before embarking on his crowning achievement, the monumental public commission, Baghdad’s “Freedom Monument”, during which his life was tragically cut short in 1961.
This volume brings together, for the first time, a comprehensive Catalogue raisonné of the artist’s paintings and sculptures, beginning with his early teenage artistic exercises and culminating in his iconic mature work.
Dr Zaineb Jewad Selim was born in Iraq to Jewad and Lorna Selim and currently resides in Scotland. She manages the estate and archives of both her late parents. Dr Selim is a highly decorated Neuroscientist, and currently serves as Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds Faculty of Biological Sciences, Dr Selim obtained her doctorate from Churchill College Cambridge in 1978 before various prestigious research roles at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Cardiff and Leeds Dr Selim is also currently authoring a comprehensive biography of her father Jewad.
Nima Sagharchi is the Director of Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern, Islamic and South Asian Art at Bonhams Auctioneers. Nima has over fifteen years of experience in his field, and was amongst the first people develop the market for Middle Eastern Modernism at international auction. In 2008, he co-curated his first exhibition, Conference of the Birds, a milestone showcase of Iranian modern and contemporary art in London. He has also lectured extensively on the art of the Middle East, including at the Aga Khan Foundation, SOAS, and Sotheby's Institute of Art, as well as contributing to popular art journals such asCanvas and Harper's Bazaar Art Arabia, and major publications including The Farhad Moshiri Monograph, Skira, 2016, and From Passion to Patronage: The Abdul Magid Breish Collection, Skira 2020. He studied Philosophy and Logic at the London School of Economics
