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Today, Google honours Iraqi modern artist Naziha Salim with a doodle. On this day in 2020, the painter-professor, regarded as “one of the most significant artists in Iraq’s modern art scene,” was featured in the Barjeel Art Foundation’s collection of female painters, according to Google.
“Through bold brush strokes and vibrant colours, her art typically depicts rural Iraqi women and peasant life,” the publication reported. “Today’s Doodle artwork is an ode to Salim’s painting style, as well as a recognition of her long-standing contributions to the art community!”
Salim was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1927 into a family of Iraqi painters. Her father was a painter, while her mother was an embroiderer. She has three brothers, all of whom were involved in the arts. Jawad Salim, one of the brothers, is regarded as one of Iraq’s most prominent sculptors.
Naziha Salim received a scholarship to study at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris after graduating with honours from the Baghdad Fine Arts Institute. In Paris, she specialised in fresco and mural painting.
After spending several years abroad, she returned to Baghdad and taught at the Fine Arts Institute until her retirement. Salim was also a founder of Al-Ruwwad, an artists’ group that studies overseas and incorporates art skills into the Iraqi aesthetic.
She wrote “Iraq: Contemporary Art,” a book about the early years of Iraq’s modern art movement. Her work can be seen at the Sharjah Art Museum and the Iraqi Archive of Modern Art.
