Google Doodle celebrates Naziha Salim, one of Iraq’s most influential artists

Google on Saturday (April 23, 2022) paid a tribute to renowned Iraqi artist and author Naziha Salim through a beautiful doodle artwork which is an ode to her painting style. On this day in the year 2020, Naziha was recognized by the Barjeel Art Foundation, a non-profit arts organisation based in Sharjah, UAE, in their collection of female artists. (Also read: Earth Day 2022: Google Doodle shows impact of climate change at 4 locations)

Born in 1927, Naziha Salim hailed from a family of Iraqi artists in Turkey and was drawn to art from a very early age. While her father was a painter and her mother was a skilled embroidery artist, all three of her brothers worked in the arts. Her brother Jawad Salim is considered one of Iraq’s most influential sculptors. Her brothers Rashid and Su’ad Salim worked as political cartoonist and painter and designer respectively

Naziha’s hard work at Baghdad Fine Arts Institute reaped rewards as she became one of the first women to be awarded a scholarship for studying art abroad. At École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Salim specialized in fresco and mural painting. Even after graduation, the talented artist spent many years abroad, immersing herself in her passion.

Naziha was an active participant in Iraq’s arts community and a foundation member of the arts group Al-Ruwwad, the first group of Iraqi artists to study abroad and who sought to incorporate modern European art techniques within a distinctly Iraqi aesthetic. This group brought in modern European art techniques within a distinctly Iraqi aesthetic and inspired later generations of Iraqi artists.

Salim eventually returned to Baghdad to work at the Fine Arts Institute where she taught till retirement. Salim was also author of Iraq: Contemporary Art, which was an important resource for the early development of Iraq’s modern art movement.

In 2003, Naziha Salim suffered a stroke which left her paralyzed. She died on February 15, 2008 in Baghdad at the age of 81.

Naziha Salim’s artwork hangs at the Sharjah Art Museum and the Modern Art Iraqi Archive.