Mahmoud Sabri ( ar, محمود صبري) (born 14 July 1927 - died 13 April 2012) was an Iraqi painter who was considered to be one of the pioneers of Iraqi

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

and one of the pillars of

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

Iraqi art Iraqi art is one of the richest art heritages in world and refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical region of what is present day Iraq since ancient Mesopotamian periods. For centuries, the capital, Baghdad was the Med ...

Life and career

Sabri was born on 14 July 1927 in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. He studied social sciences at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

in the late 1940s. While in England, his interest in painting developed and he attended evening art classes there. After a successful career in

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

, he became a full-time painter. In the 1950s he pioneered the painting of social and political issues. Later he studied art formally at the Surikov Institute for Art in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

from 1961 to 1963. In 1963, he moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. In the late 1960s he started working on linking art and science. He was actively involved in Iraq's arts community through his membership of various art groups. He was a foundation member of ''Jum'at al Ruwwad'' (''The Avantgarde Group''; later known as the ''Primitive Group'') in 1950. Led by his contemporary,

Faeq Hassan Faeq Hassan (also known as Faiq Hassan, Fayiq Hassan or Faik Hassan) (1914–1992) was an Iraqi painter noted for founding several 20th century art groups, which collectively were responsible for bridging the gap between Iraqi heritage and tradit ...

(1914-1992), this group was inspired by Mespotamian art, Iraqi folklore and the 12th and 13th-century poets of the

Baghdad School The Baghdad School, also known as the Arab school, was a relatively short-lived yet influential school of Islamic art developed during the late 12th century in the capital Baghdad of the ruling Abbasid Caliphate. The movement had largely died o ...

.Wijdan, A. (ed.), ''Contemporary Art From The Islamic World,'' Scorpion, 1989, p.166 In 1971, he published his ''Manifesto of the New Art of Quantum Realism (QR)-An application of scientific method in the field of art''. QR graphically represents the atomic level of reality using building blocks based on the atomic light spectra of elements in nature. He continued to work on developing QR until his death. He had several publications on art, philosophy and politics in Arabic and English. He died on 13 April 2012 in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

, England.

References

* Examples of M.Sabri's painintings on different websites: Department of Art at the Ministry of Culture in Ira
"Algeria" painted in 1956Quantum Realism website
* Mahmoud Sabri's retrospective exhibition in London 2013 o
Global/Local Art website

A selection of articles
by different Iraqi artists and art critics about Mahmoud Sabri and his work published after his death in April 2012. * "The Institution of Aesthetic Discourse, rooting references in modern Iraqi art]" Al Kasab, Saad, in Arabic, Beirut-2012, . The book contains three essays about 3 leading Iraqi artists Jewad Selim, Mahmoud Sabri, and Shakir Hassan Al Said.
"Between 2 Worlds", a film about Mahmoud Sabri's work
directed by Bahjat Sabri, 2008. * Intersections of Art, Technology, Science & Culture - Links. Comprehensive list of links between art and research compiled by Prof Stephen Wilson, Art Dept, San Francisco State University. (Refer to the Atomic Level Physics section). http://userwww.sfsu.edu/infoarts/links/wilson.artlinks2.physics.html . * Sabri, Mahmoud(1971). ''Manifesto of the New Art of Quantum Realism'' (in English). * Sabri, Mahmoud(1975). ''Quantum Realism - an art of the techno-nuclear age'' (in English), Baghdad-Iraq:Ramzi Publishing. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabri, Mahmoud 1927 births 2012 deaths Iraqi painters Iraqi expatriates in the United Kingdom Iraqi expatriates in the Soviet Union Iraqi expatriates in Czechoslovakia

Life and career

See also

References

Further reading