Naziha Salim Paid Tribute By Google, Here's All You Need To Know About Her

Famous Iraqi painter Naziha Salim was remembered by search engine Google with a doodle on April 23. It was for Salim's invaluable contributions to contemporary art. The painter used to depict rural women in her work and their lives. Naziha Salim was also a professor and one of many influencial artists of the world. Most importantly, she helped put Iraq on the contemporary art map.

The reason why Google chose April 23 to celebrate Salim is that on the same day in 2020, her work was displayed by the Barjeel Art Foundation along with other female artists in their collection. The same artwork is still displayed at the Sharjah Art Museum and Modern Art Iraqi Archive.

Google in its tribute to Naziha Salim wrote, "There you can see the magic she created from dripping brushes and brimmed canvases. Today's Doodle artwork is an ode to Salim's painting style and a celebration of her long standing contributions to the art world."

Suggested Reading: Meet The Women Carpenters Of Pakistan’s Hunza Valley

What You Should Know About Naziha Salim:

The artist was born to a artist family in Turkey, her parents were from Iraq. Salim's father was a painter and her mother was a embroidery artist. Salim had three brothers and all of them reportedly worked in arts.

One of her brothers, Jawad was a well-known sculptor in the country. Naziha Salim started young and used to enjoy making art from a young age. She got herself enrolled at the Baghdad Fine Arts Institute where she studied painting. She reportedly graduated with a distinction. Salim went on to become to the first woman to get a scholarship at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Is was there that she continued learning art.

Expanding her knowledge, Salim started making fresco and mural painting and specialised in it. She eventually returned to Baghdad after many years and started working at the Fine Arts Institute. She worked as a teacher at the same institute and retired. She helped in creating a community for artists who had studied European art techniques and wanted to incorporate it with Iraqi aesthetics.

Naziha Salim also wrote a book titled Iraq: Contemporary Art. The book went on to became one of the most important piece of work for the development of Iraqi modern art.

Feature Image Credit: Google