Google Doodle pays tribute to Naziha Salim, Iraq’s one of the 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.

On this day in 2020, Naziha’s work was highlighted by the Barjeel Art Foundation in their collection of female artists.

“Her work often depicts rural Iraqi women and peasant life through bold brush strokes and vivid colors,” Google said.

Salim was born into a family of Iraqi artists in Istanbul, Turkey in 1927. Her father was a painter and her mother was an embroidery artist. She had three brothers all of whom worked in the arts. Jawad Salim, one of the brothers, is considered one of Iraq’s most influential sculptors.

She returned to Baghdad after spending several years abroad and taught at the Fine Arts Institute until she retired. Salim was also one of the founding members of Al-Ruwwad, an artists’ community that study abroad and incorporates art techniques into the Iraqi aesthetic.

She authored “Iraq: Contemporary Art” which focuses on the early development of Iraq’s modern art movement. Her artwork hangs at the Sharjah Art Museum and the Modern Art Iraqi Archive.