List of Iraqi artists

The following is a list of important artists, including visual arts, poets and musicians, who were born in Iraq, active in Iraq or whose body of work is primarily concerned with Iraqi themes or subject matter.

Note: This article uses Arabic naming customs: the name "al" (which means 'from a certain place') or "ibn" or "ben" (which means 'son of') are not used for alphabetical indexing. Artists are listed alphabetically by their paternal family name. For example, the Iraqi artist Hashem Muhammad al-Baghdadi, is listed under "B" for Baghdadi, the paternal family name while the artist Zigi Ben-Haim, is listed under "H" for Haim.

A
Salman Abbas (b. 1945)
Faraj Abbo (1921-1984)  artist, theatre director, designer, author and educator
Ibrahim Al-Abdali (b. 1965) 
Adel Abidin (b. 1973)  :fi:Adel Abidin multi-media artist and painter
Shinyar Abdullah 20th-century ceramicist   
Firyal Al-Adhamy (also known as Ferial al-Althami) (b. 1950) hurufiyya artist, calligrapher
 Iyad Almosawi (b. 1955) Canadian-Iraqi artist 
 Asmaa al-Agha (b. ?) 
 Kajal Ahmad  (b. 1967 Kirkuk) Kurdish-Iraqi poet 
 Mahmoud Ahmad (b.?) painter  
Najiba Ahmad (b. 1954) poet
Modhir Ahmed (born 1956), visual artist
 Ghani Alani (b. 1930 Baghdad) calligrapher 
 Sadik Kwaish Alfraji (b. Baghdad, 1960) 
M.J. Alhabeeb (born 1954), calligrapher and painter 
Ayad Alkadhi (born 1971), visual artist
Rheim Alkadhi (b. 1973) multidisciplinary artist
 Halim Alkarim (b. 1963) photographer 
Sama Alshaibi (b. 1973) Media artist (video, photography)  and installation artist
Usama Alshaibi (b. 1969) visual media artist (video, photography)
 Jaber Alwan (b. 1948 Baghdad) Italian-Iraqi painter 
 Hamid al-Attar (b. 1935) (alternative: Hameed al Attar) painter 
Jananne Al-Ani (b. 1966) Iraqi-Irish photographer and film-maker
Latif al-Ani (b. 1932) photographer, known as the 'father of Iraqi photography'  
 Hassan Abd Alwan 20th-century painter 
Sinan Antoon (b. 1967) poet 
 Mohamed Arif  (1937-2009) 
Layla Al-Attar, artist and painter
Suad al-Attar (born 1942), painter  
 Basim al-Ansar 20th-century poet
Halla Ayla (born 1957), photographer, painter
 Abla al-Azzawi  ceramicist 
Apo Avedissian (b. 1990) filmmaker, painter, photographer, and writer
Dia Azzawi (b. 1939) painter active in Iraq and London
Fadhil Al Azzawi 20th century poet 
 Qasim al-Azzawi 
 Taleb Abd al-Aziz 20th-century poet

B
  Fātima al-Baghdādī bt. Hasan b. ‘Alī b. ‘Abdullāh Attar (d. 480/1087) 11th-century calligrapher 
 Hashem Muhammad al-Baghdadi (1917-1973) calligrapher 
 Niazi Mawlawi Baghdadi  - nineteenth century painter, decorator and calligrapher <ref>Al-Said, S.H., Chapters from the History of Plastic Art Movement in Iraq,, 1988, p. 47; Ali, W., Islamic Art: Development and Continuity, Florida University Press, 1997, p. 46</ref>
Ahmed Al Bahrani (b. 1965) sculptor
 Abdul Jabar al-Banna (b. 1924) sculptor
Ala Bashir (born 1939), painter, sculptor and plastic surgeon
 Salman Al Basri (born 1939) 
 Yahya Zaki Batat (b. 1958) poet, journalist, writer and painter  
 Ibn al-Bawwāb 10th/11th-century calligrapher 
 Abdul Waha al-Bayati 91926-1999) poet 
Basil Al Bayati (b. 1946) architect and designer
 Azzam Al-Bazzaz  (b. 1948 Mosul) sculptor 
Wafaa Bilal (b. 1966), performance artist, author and educator

C
Wasma'a Khalid Chorbachi (born 1944), Iraqi-American ceramist, calligrapher, painter
 Kamil Chadirji (1897-1968),  photographer 
Rifa'at Chadirchi (b. 1924) Iraqi architect (son of photographer, Kamil Chardirji)

D
 Rakan Dabdoub (b. 1941), painter 
 Issa Hanna Dabish (1919-2009) pioneer painter
 Murad al-Daghistani (b. 1917 Mosul, Iraq - 1984) pioneering photographer
 Sat'aar Darweesh 
 Salim al-Dabbagh (b. 1941) artist and print-maker 
Bassem Hamad al-Dawiri (died 2007), sculptor and artist
 Samarkand Al Djabiri, 20th-century poet  
 Hafidh al-Droubi (1914-1991) (also given as Hafid or Hafez Drubi) (1914-1991) painter and educator 

E
Enheduanna 23rd century BCE poetess, wrote on Cuneiform tablets 
 Khalid Ezzat (b. circa 1937) sculptor

F
 Mulla Muhammad 'Ali Al-Fadli (d. 1948) master calligrapher		
Lisa Fattah (1941–1992), German-born painter, wife of Ismail Fatah al-Turk, active in Iraq
 Zaynab Shāhdā bt. Ahmad b. Al-Faraj b. ‘Omar Al-Abrī (d. 547/1178) 12th-century female calligrapher 
 Mayasalom Faraj (b. ?) US born of Iraqi parents 
Fuzûlî (Muhammad bin Suleyman)  15th century poet
Mun'im Furat (1900-1972) sculptor 

G
Ghassan Ghaib (or Gassan Ghaeb) (b. 1964) painter 

H
Abdulameer Yousef Habeeb (b. ?) calligrapher
Mohammed Saeed Al-Habboubi (1849- 1915)   poet
 Murtadha Haddad (b. ?) sculptor  
Zaha Hadid (1950-2016), Iraqi-British architect
 Assim Abdul Hafid (1886 - ?)
 Bahija Al-Hakim (b. 1937) artist 
 Wihad al-Halem (b? )  
 Dareh Hamassy (alternative: Dar Hama Si) (b. 1938) sculptor 
 Asim Hafez (1886- 1978) pioneer painter  
 Kadhim Hayder (alternatives: Kazem Haider, Kadhim Haydar) (1932- 1985) 
 Ahli in Haidarkhana 19th-century photographer, active in Baghdad
Zigi Ben-Haim (b. 1945) sculptor and painter
Mansur Al-Hallaj 9th century Sufi poet and mystic 
 Mohammed Hussein al Hamdany 20th-century painter 
Jamil Hamoudi, (1924-2003), sculptor, painter and author
Choman Hardi (born 1974), poet, translator and painter
Faeq Hassan (1914–1990), painter  
Mohammed Ghani Hikmat (1929–2011), sculptor 
 Souhail al-Hindawy (b.1948)  sculptor 
 Mohammed al-Husni  (b.?) 

I
 Tarik Ibrahim 20th-century ceramicist
 Ghareeb Iskander 20th-century poet 

J
 Sinan Jabar 20th-century poet 
Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (1920-1994) painter, art historian, art critic and author
Khalid al-Jader (1922-1988) painter, educator, art historian and author
 Akram Shukri (1910-1986)  painter 
Vian Sora (born 1976), painter
 Mahmodd Shubbar (b. 1965 Babel) 
 Akram Shukri (1910-1986)  pioneer painter 
 Ahmad al-Suhrawardi 12th/13th century calligrapher 

T
 Abdul Karim Ibrahim Tiouti late 9th-century-early 20th-century photographer active in Basra, said to have introduced the camera to Iraq 
 Saad al-Ta'i  20th-century painter
 Ali Talib (b. 1944) 
 Aatqall Taúaa (b. ?) sculptor and author
Ismail Fatah Al Turk (1934–2004), painter and sculptor
 Hashim Al-Tawil (b. 1952) painter, print-maker and art historian

U/V/W
 Abdelrahim Al-Wakil (b. ?) sculptor 
 Iman Al Waili 20th-century poet 
Yahya Al-Wasiti, 13th century illustrator
 Khalil al Warid (c.1923-1984) sculptor

Y
Nazar Yahya, Iraqi-American etcher, sculptor (in metal), installation artist and photographer
 Abdul Raheem Yassir (b. 1951, Qadisiyah, Iraq), cartoonist 
Saadi Yousef (b. 1934, near Basra), poet, author and journalist
 Najib Yunes (1930-2007)
 Yaqut al-Musta'simi 13th-century calligrapher

Z
Khalil al-Zahawi (1946-2007), calligrapher 
Muqbil Al-Zahawi (b. 1935), ceramicistPocock, C., "The Reason for the Project: Art in Iraq Today", in: Azzawi, D. (ed.), Art in Iraq Today, Abu Dhabi, Skira and Meem, 2011, p. 101
 Hajj Salim Mohammed Saleh Zaki (1888-1974) 
Haifa Zangana (born 1950), novelist, author and artist
 Abdulzahra Zeki 
 Hashim Zidan (b.?) sculptor 

See also

 Baghdad School
 Hurufiyya movement
 Iraqi art
 Islamic art
 Islamic architecture
 Islamic calligraphy
 List of Iraqi women artists

Major Iraqi public artworks
 Al-Shaheed Monument. Baghdad
 The Monument to the Unknown Soldier, Baghdad
 Victory Arch, Baghdad

References

Further readingBenezit Dictionary of Asian Artists, Oxford University Press, 2017 
Bloom, J. and Blair, S.S. (eds), Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture, Vols 1-3, Oxford University Press, 2009
Davis, B., "The Iraqi Century of Art," Artnet Magazine, July, 2008, Online
Dougherty, B.K. and Ghareeb, E.A., Historical Dictionary of Iraq, Scarecrow Press, 2013
Farhat, Maymanah, "Iraqi Artists in Exile," Selections magazine, no. 30, 2015 Online
Hann, G., Dabrowska, K. and Greaves, T.T., Iraq: The Ancient Sites and Iraqi Kurdistan, Bradt Travel Guides, 2015, pp 29–32
Jabra, I.J., The Grass Roots of Art in Iraq, Waisit Graphic and Publishing, 1983, Online: 
Khalil, S. and Makiya, K., The Monument: Art, Vulgarity, and Responsibility in Iraq; University of California Press, 1991
Lindgren, A. and Ross, S., The Modernist World, Routledge, 2015
Sabrah, S.A. and Ali, M., Iraqi Artwork Red List: A Partial List of the Artworks Missing from the National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq, 2010
Salīm, N., Iraq: Contemporary Art, Volume 1, Sartec, 1977; Mathaf Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Islamic World, Online:
Shabout, N., "Ghosts of Futures Past: Iraqi Culture in a State of Suspension," in Denise Robinson, Through the Roadbloacks: Realities in Raw Motion, [Conference Reader], School of Fine Arts, Cyprus University, (23-25 November 2012), 2015
Shabout, N., "The Preservation of Iraq's Modern Heritage in the Aftermath of the US Invasion of 2003," in: Elaine A. King and Gail Levin (eds), Ethics And the Visual Arts, New York, Allworth, 2006, pp 105 –120
Tuohy, A. and Masters, C., A-Z Great Modern Artists, Hachette UK, 2015; Al-Ali, N. and Al-Najjar, D., We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War,'' Syracuse University Press, 2013;

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Category:Iraqi women artists
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