Salim, Jawad

Born 1920 in Ankara; died 1961 in Baghdad. Iraqi painter and sculptor.

Salim studied in Paris in 1938, in Rome from 1939 to 1940, and in London from 1946 to 1949. In Baghdad he organized the department of sculpture at the Institute of Fine Arts and founded the Modern Art Group (1951). Salim’s paintings and graphic works show the influence of modernist movements. His sculpture, based on the ancient traditions of Iraqi art, reveals the artist’s attempt to create a unique national style characterized by stylized forms and ornamental composition.