Jewad Selim
Girl with Coffee Pot, 1957
Oil on canvas
50 x 70 cm
Copyright The Artist
Reserved
Further images
Jewad Selim, a forerunner of Iraqi modernism, was born to a middle-class military family. He was influenced by his officer father, who had trained as a landscape painter in the...
Jewad Selim, a forerunner of Iraqi modernism, was born to a middle-class military family. He was influenced by his officer father, who had trained as a landscape painter in the Ottoman Military Academy. In Woman and a Jug (1957), Selim demonstrates the confluence of modern geometric abstraction at the intersection of Islamic, ancient Mesopotamian, and Western styles. In this work, the curved circular outlines of the figure’s face, arms, a coffee pot, and adjacent plant leaves convey the waxing stages of the moon from crescent to full, alluding to traditions associated with the Sumerian moon god Nanna, an important deity connected to fertility. In Islam, the moon represents spiritual wayfinding, and it is the system upon which the Muslim lunar calendar is based. Furthermore, in Islamic scriptures, the moon, or Qamar, references the miracle of the moon splitting performed by Prophet Muhammad, which foreshadows the day of judgement and division between believers and nonbelievers. Correspondingly, the angular properties of the dresser, atop which the figure and coffee pot rest, equate to 360 degrees, symbolising the concept of a complete circle.
—Sara Raza
—Sara Raza
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by Khaled Al Rahal, Baghdad;
Acquired from Orafali Gallery, Baghdad in 1987 by Fadhil Chalabi. Fadhil J. Chalabi Collection Vienna (Executive Director of the Centre for Global Energy Studies, a London-based think-tank he co-chaired alongside H.E. Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani).
Acquired by a Private Collector in 2013 from Fadhil Chalabi, brokered by Meem Gallery
Acquired by Meem Gallery in 2017.
Sold by Meem Gallery to Private Collector 2023.
Exhibitions
Modern Masters: Iraqi works from the modernist era, 2018, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAEhttps://www.meemartgallery.com/exhibitions/8-modern-masters-iraqi-works-from-the-modernist-era/works/
'That Feverish Leap into the Fierceness of Life' A look at five artist groups in five Arab Cities across five decades. Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. 19-13.03.2018 Art Dubai.
https://www.artdubai.ae/that-feverish-leap-into-the-fierceness-of-life/
Modern Masters, 2020, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE
https://www.meemartgallery.com/exhibitions/67-modern-masters/overview/
International Pavilion, Giardini curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Venice Biennale 2024
https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2024/portraits/jewad-selim
Literature
Ahl Al Naft (Iraqi Oil Journal) 1959profusely illustrated in colour & b/w photographs & illustrations, minor dampness affecting edges of few pages, There are few damages as follows: Top corner of one page in issue 19, cut without loss/ Edges of issue number 42, damaged especially the first few pages without loss (some dampness affecting the edges)/ First page of issue number 42, cut without loss./ First page of issue no. 43, at the corner, cut with some loss/ one whole page cut in year 1958 with loss (hand written text replaces it)/ corner of one page in year 1953 cut with some loss on one side (as per pic)/ please ask for photographs; contemporary hard back binding, title gilt on raised spine, 1951-1959. A VERY RARE and interesting monthly magazine published by the I.P.C (Iraq Petroleum Company). It covers political, cultural, economic and artistic activities in Iraq and the Arab World. The magazine ceased publication after the 1958 revolution. Ahl al-Naft or Al ?Amiloon Fil Naft became a very popular magazine in the Arab World in a short period of time; it is estimated that its circulation was about 8000 copies. Its editorial was based in Baghdad, while its former version was based in Beirut. Readers? letters were answered in the magazines first pages and lists of accepted and rejected literary submissions were also indexed. Though privately published, it nevertheless operated under the supervision of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and Metals. Images of the oil workers and oil fields appeared also on its covers. Leading Iraqi and Arab scholars and poets contributed to this magazine including Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Ahmad al-Safi al-Najafi, Saadi Yusuf, Fadwa Tuqan, Baland al-Haidari, Maroun Abboud and Said Aql among others. In addition to an extensive coverage of modern Iraqi artists exhibitions held in Baghdad and the Arab World, it also covered interviews with Iraqi artists. In 1954, a narrative of a journey in the Arabian Gulf was published in the October issue, and a study on falcon hunting in Qatar appeared in the November issue.
Modern Art in Iraq, Communication and Differentiation, 2015 May Muzaffar
'That Feverish Leap into the Fierceness of Life' A look at five artist groups in five Arab Cities across five decades. Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. 19-13.03.2018 Art Dubai Publication
Catalogue for International Pavilion, Giardini curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Venice Biennale 2024
https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2024/portraits/jewad-selim
Jewad Selim, Catalogue Raisonnee. Skira 2025
Publications
Ahl Al Naft 1959Modern Art in Iraq, Communication and Differentiation, 2015 May Muzaffar
'That Feverish Leap into the Fierceness of Life' A look at five artist groups in five Arab Cities across five decades. Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. 19-13.03.2018 Art Dubai Publication
Catalogue for International Pavilion, Giardini curated by Adriano Pedrosa. Venice Biennale 2024
Jewad Selim, Catalogue Raisonne. Skira 2025