Written by Yacoub Rubai & Liam Sibai Born in Tikrit, Iraq, in 1940, Rafa Nasiri was the beneficiary of extensive international art education. He received his first diploma in painting from...
RAFA NASIRI, Iraq (1940 - 2013)
Bio
Written by Yacoub Rubai & Liam Sibai
Born in Tikrit, Iraq, in 1940, Rafa Nasiri was the beneficiary of extensive international art education. He received his first diploma in painting from the Baghdad College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad in 1959, where he studied under the tutelage of Faik Hassan and Jewad Selim. The young artist then secured a scholarship to study printmaking at the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts in China, from which he graduated in 1963.
After returning to Baghdad in 1965, he journeyed with his two brothers on a road trip to twenty-four Arab and European countries, where he became acquainted with gems of Western art history in person. He visited well-esteemed museums like the Louvre, the British Museum, the Museo del Prado, Rome’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. On this trip, he eagerly absorbed the works of such European masters as Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Rubens, and Rembrandt, and drew inspiration from Impressionist paintings.
In 1967, Nasiri received a Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship to attend the Gravura in Lisbon, Portugal, where he earned another diploma in printmaking in 1969. He then taught at his alma mater in Baghdad for twenty-five years, and a decade into his tenure there, he established the Department of Graphic Art. During the aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991, Nasiri moved to Jordan with his wife, May Muzaffar, who was a poet, writer, and visual artist in her own right. In Amman, he lectured at the Yarmouk University and became involved with the Darat al Funun Center for the Arts, which he directed from 1993 to 1995. During this time, he developed its art studio and taught courses. Following a six-year stint at the University of Bahrain (1997-2003), Nasiri settled permanently in Amman, where he lived and practiced until his death in 2013. Nasiri was also the author of numerous articles and books on graphic engravings, printmaking, and Arab calligraphy.
Rafa Nasiri is considered one of the most influential Iraqi artists of the twentieth century, due in part to his central role in the foundation of numerous artists’ groups. Alongside several of his eminent peers, including Ismail Fattah al-Turk and Dia Azzawi, Nasiri founded al-Ru’yya al-Jadidah, “the New Vision” group, in 1968. Al-Ru’yya al-Jadidah was an art collective that united culturally and ideologically like-minded artists after the dissolution of its predecessor, the Baghdad Group, and championed a more progressive version of the Baghdad Group’s commitment to cultural heritage. According to the New Vision manifesto, the group believed “that heritage is not a prison, a static phenomenon or a force capable of repressing creativity so long as we have the freedom to accept or challenge its norms.” Art, claimed the manifesto, “stands in opposition to stasis. Art is continually creative. It is a mirror to the present moment and the soul of the future.”
In addition to New Vision, Nasiri co-founded with the prominent Baghdadi artist Shakir Hassan Al Said the notable Jama’t Al-Bu’d al Wahad (One Dimension Group), whose deep philosophical underpinnings stressed the continuity of Arab-Islamic visual traditions and modern abstraction. Through his active involvement in art groups, as well as his teachings and writings, Nasiri played a pivotal role in the development of a strong tradition of Iraqi printmaking and influenced the subsequent generation of artists, including Nedim Kufi and Hanaa Malallah. Virtually all of Nasiri’s career in Iraq took place during the Baathist period (1968-2003), during which the regime placed great emphasis on art’s importance and dedicated significant resources to fostering its development. Like all artists operating in Iraq at the time, Nasiri faced both the unrealized promises of government funding and the threat of its censorship.
Stylistically and philosophically, Nasiri’s practice drew inspiration from his time in China. Exposure to the works of Chinese artists, such as the ink paintings of Qi Baishi, was highly influential in the artist’s development, as were the printmaking techniques espoused by Huang Yongyu and Li Hua, two of his teachers at the Beijing Central Academy. During his years abroad, Nasiri’s encounter with Chinese calligraphy sparked an interest he would soon carry into his own culture; he began to devise ways to include Arabic calligraphic forms in his paintings and prints, becoming an early practitioner of a set of stylistic principles presently known as Hurufiyya. The artist made use of Arabic calligraphy in his prints, later combining it with painterly abstraction, often mediated by acrylics. His practice became an important example of the tenets upheld by members of New Visions and One Dimension; the mix of modernist abstraction with visual signifiers of Arabic heritage, brought together by means of mass production, helped construct a narrative of Arab modernism that privileged local influences over foreign ones. Importantly, Nasiri’s work suggests that Iraqi modernity developed directly from its heritage, rejecting the belief in the modern as an invasive category either gifted to or forced upon the Middle East by European imperialism.
Nasiri’s interest in language and poetry extended to his artbooks, a medium he explored until the end of his career with works like Andalusia (1990) and Rain Song (2012). Many of the books were inspired by giants of Arabic verse from throughout history, with sources as temporally varied as Al-Moutanabbi (915-965 CE) and Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008). Nasiri also produced a small collection of drawings in the 1960s and 1970s, and again in the 2000s and 2010s. Some of these drawings were mimetic portraits, depicting subjects such as the artist’s mother and Dia Azzawi, while others were works of abstraction, some of which included calligraphy.
Rafa Nasiri died in Amman in 2013, away from the country whose arts culture he had worked so hard to develop. In 2014, May Muzaffar established the Nasiri Printmaking Award for young Arab artists, honoring her husband’s memory by investing in future generations.
Sources
"About." DIA AZZAWI. Accessed June 12, 2019. http://www.azzawiart.com/about.
Nasiri, Rafa. "C.V." Rafa Nasiri. Accessed June 12, 2019. http://www.rafanasiri.com/CV.aspx.
Shabout, Nada. “A Dream We Call Baghdad in Modernism”.30
Vivero, Joseph. "Rafa Al Nasiri: 50 Years Retrospective." ArtBahrainorg. Accessed June 12, 2019. http://artbahrain.org/web/?p=5498.
Villarreal, Ignacio. Barjeel Art Foundation Presents "Hurufiyya: Art & Identity" at Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Accessed June 12, 2019. http://artdaily.com/news/92071/Barjeel-Art-Foundation-presents--Hurufiyya--Art---Identity--at-Bibliotheca-Alexandrina#.XQC2cXozZBw.
"A TRIBUTE TO RAFA NASIRI | Nabad - Pulse of the Art Scene." Nabad. Accessed June 12, 2019. http://www.nabadartgallery.com/?q=node/112.
"RAFA AL-NASIRI." Station Museum of Contemporary Art. Accessed June 12, 2019. http://stationmuseum.com/?page_id=2925.
+–
1990-
CV
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013
50 Years of Painting and Printmaking, retrospective exhibition Jordan National Gallery for Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
The Financial Harbour Art Gallery, Manama, Bahrain
2010
Beyond Time, Nabad Gallery, Amman, Jordan
2008
Green Art Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2007
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait
2006
Al-Riwaq Gallery, Manama, Bahrain
2005
Green Art Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2004
Atassi Gallery, Damascus, Syria
4 Walls Gallery, Amman, Jordan
2002
4 Walls Gallery, Amman, Jordan
Al-Riwaq Gallery, Manama, Jordan
2001
Rochan Gallery, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
1999
Atelierhaus Eglau, Kampen, Germany
Bahrain National Museum, Manama, Bahrain
1997
Sharjah Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
1996
Arts Centre, Manama, Bahrain
1994
French Cultural Centre, Amman, Jordan
1993
Galerie 50x70, Beirut, Lebanon
1990-
1992
Nasiri Graphic Studio, Baghdad, Iraq
1989
Central Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1986
Al-Rewaq Gallery, Baghdad, Iraq
1985
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait
1984
Al-Rewaq Gallery, Baghdad, Iraq
1983
Galerie Faris, Paris, France
1981
Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
1980
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait
1979
Al-Rewaq Gallery, Baghdad, Iraq
1977
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait
1976
Gallery Nadhar, Casablanca, Morocco
1975
Graphics Paintings,The National Gallery of Modern Art, Baghdad
1974
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait
1973
Contact Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
1971
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait
1970
Sultan Gallery, Kuwait, Kuwait
1969
Society of Iraqi Artists, Baghdad, Iraq
1966
Gallery IA, Baghdad, Iraq
1965
Czechoslovakian Cultural Center, Baghdad, Iraq
1963
ITU Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Arab Presences: Modern Art And Decolonisation: Paris 1908-1988, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France
2023
UNTITLED Abstractions, Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), Beirut, Lebanon
2022
58th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s, The Block Museum Evanston, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2020
Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950-1980s, Grey Art Gallery, New York University; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Illinois; Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, New York; McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College; University of Michigan Museum of Art; US
2018
Summer Collection 2018, Albareh Art Gallery, Adliya, Bahrain
2017
Modern Art from the Middle East, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
2016
The Sea Suspended: Arab Modernism from the Barjeel Collection, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran
2013
Tajreed, CAP Kuwait, Kuwait
Paintings, Sculptures & Projects Garden, Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
2012
Art in Iraq Today, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon
2011
Art in Iraq Today: Part IV, Meem Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Art in Iraq Today: Conclusion, Meem Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2010
Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
My Home Land, Art Sawa Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2009
Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, United States of America
2008
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraq Book Art, Denison University, Granville, Ohio, United States of America
Iraqi Artists in Exile, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, USA
The First Group Exhibition for Nabad Gallery, Nabad Gallery, Amman, Jordan
2007
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art,
The Centre for Book Arts, New York, USA
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, Minneapolis Athenaeum, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, NIU Art Museum, DeKalb, Illinois, USA
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, The Jaffe Centre for Book Arts, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
2006
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, University of Texas, El Paso, Texas, USA
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, Daura Gallery, Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
World Into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, British Museum, London, UK
2005
Improvisation: Seven Iraqi Artists, Bissan Gallery, Doha, Qatar
Improvisation: Seven Iraqi Artists, Al-Riwaq Gallery, Bahrain
Improvisation: Seven Iraqi Artists, 4 Walls Gallery, Amman, Jordan
Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, University of North Texas, Houston, Texas, USA
2000
Exhibition of Contemporary Artists from Mesopotamia, Darat Al-Funun, Amman, Jordan
1999
Fifty Years of Iraqi Graphic Art, Darat Al-Funun, Amman, Jordan
L'Estampe Arabe Contemporaine, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
1998
Azzawi & Nasiri, Galerie La Teinturerie, Paris, France
Suad Al-Attar & Rafa Nasiri,
Al-Riwaq Art Gallery- Manama, Bahrain
1997
Three Graphic Arab Artists, Darat Al-Funun, Amman, Jordan
Five Iraqi Artists, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
1994
Four Iraqi Artists, Alif Gallery, Washington DC, United States of America
1993
Four Iraqi Artists, Al-Wasiti Art Gallery, Casablanca, Morocco
1992
Exhibition with Ali Talib, Darat Al-Funun, Amman, Jordan
1991
Contemporary Iraqi Art, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, United States of America
1990
Seven Iraqi Artists, Nasiri Graphic Studio, Baghdad, Iraq
1989
Between Tigris and Euphrates, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
The Arab Contemporary Graphic Exhibition, The National Council for Culture and Arts, Kuwait, Kuwait
1988
Azzawi, Jumaie, Nasiri, Kufa Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1986
Contemporary Arab Art, The Mall Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1985
Contemporary Arab Art, Blackman & Harvey Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1984
Contemporary Arab Art, Al-Seiaha Gallery, Tunisia.
1983
Second Contemporary Arab Graphic Art Exhibition, Graffiti Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Iraqi Graphic Exhibition, Iraqi Cultural Centre, London, United Kingdom
Twelve Arab Artists, Galerie Faris, Paris, France
1982
Contemporary Arab Graphic Art, Graffiti Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1980
Third World Graphic Biennial, Iraqi Cultural Center, London and Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
1979
Baghdad 1st International Poster Exhibition (Palestine& the 3rd World)”, Iraqi Cultural Center, London, and Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad
Contemporary Iraqi Art Exhibition, Messina, Italy
1978
Arab Graphic Exhibition, The Mall Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Iraqi Graphic Exhibition, Iraqi Cultural Centre, London, United Kingdom
World Art Exhibition for Palestine, Beirut, Lebanon
1977
Seven Iraqi Artists, Iraqi Cultural Centre, London, United Kingdom
1976
Iraqi Contemporary Art, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
1975
Graphic exhibition for three Iraqi Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
Iraqi Graphic Artists, Iraqi Cultural Centre, Beirut, Lebanon
1974
Seven Iraqi Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
1973
Joint Exhibition of Six Iraqi and Syrian Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
Joint Exhibition of Six Iraqi and Syrian Artists, Arab Cultural Centre and Archaeological Museum, Damascus, Syria
1972
Arab Art, National Museum, Nicosia, Cyprus
Four Iraqi Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
Three Iraqi Artists, Gallery One, Beirut, Lebanon
1971
One Dimensional, Museum of Arab Art, Baghdad, Iraq
Four Iraqi Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
1970
Seven Iraqi Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
1969
Three Iraqi Artists, Gallery One, Beirut, Lebanon
1968
Three Iraqi Artists, Gravura Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
1967
Three Iraqi Artists, Gallery of the World Geographical Society, Lisbon, Portugal
1966
Iraqi Graphic Art, Berliner Galerie, Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany
1965
Iraqi Artists Society, National Gallery of Modern art (Gulbenkian), Eighth Annual Art, Iraq
Awards and Honors
1986
First Prize, Baghdad International Festival of Art, Baghdad, Iraq
1978
Honors Prize, International Graphic Biennial, Fredrikstad, Norway
1977
The Jury Prize, International Painting Exhibition, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France
1974
Honors Prize, International Summer Academy, Austria
Art Residency
2010
Asila, Morocco
2008
The International City of Arts, Paris, France
2004
The International City of Arts, Paris, France
1992
Asila, Morocco
1989
Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid, Spain
Printing Center, London, UK
1985
Asila, Morocco
1982
Printing Center, London, UK
1981
Printing Center, London, UK
1979
Asila, Morocco
1976
Printing Center, London, UK
Publications
2012
My Journey to China, The Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, Beirut. ISBN: 978 6144 191071.
2005
Book (Horizons and Mirrors) Articles in the art, The Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, Beirut. ISBN: 9953-36-798-1
1997
Contemporary Graphic Art, The Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, Beirut.
Collections
Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad
Museum of Modern Art, Damascus
Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
Khalid Shuman Foundation: Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
Mathaf: Museum of Arab Art, Doha, Qatar
Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Kinda Foundation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Al Mansourya Foundation, Saudi Arabia
Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
Sao Paolo Biennial Foundation, Brazil
Modern Art Museum, Madrid, Spain
Museum of contemporary Graphic Art, Norway
Collection of the International Academy, Salzburg, Austria
Collection of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Assila Museum, Morocco
Museum of Modern Art, Tunisia
Collection of Beit Al-Quran, Manama,Bahrain
Gulbenkian Foundation, Gravura, Lisbon, Portugal
The British Museum, London, UK
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Station Museum, Huston, USA
Biblioteque Nationale de France, Paris
The international collection of UNESCO, Paris.
Museum of Contemporary Arab Art, Sharjah, UAE
+–
Documents
West Asia: Between Tradition and Modernity
Salwa Mikdadi
metmuseum.org, English, 2004
Essay
Modern Iraqi Graphic Art
Rafa Nasiri
English, 1986
Essay, Translated by May Muzaffar
+–
Press
رافع الناصري وتشكيل المشاهد الكونية
أ. د. سيّار الجميل
baytalmosul.com, Arabic, 2013
النهر وأنا" كتاب في حضور التشكيلي الراحل رافع الناصري"
علي إبراهـيم الدليمي
alarab.co.uk, Arabic, 2015
IRAQI ARTISTS IN EXILE RAFA AL-NASIRI
stationmuseum.com, English, 2015
The Iraqi Artist Rafa Al-Nasiri Creativity as Resistance
Martina Sabra
en.qantara.de, English, 2008
رافع الناصري.. جدلية العتمة والضوء
د. رسول محمد رسول
alittihad.ae, Arabic, 2013
رافع الناصري يرسم لوحة الغياب الأخيرة ويرحل في عمّان
جواد الحطاب
alarabiya.net, Arabic, 2013
رافع الناصري مبعوثا إلى الآخرة بأسرارنا
فاروق يوسف
alarab.co.uk, Arabic, 2014
رافع الناصري يتوقف عند المحطة النهائية لمسيرة عنوانها الأناقة
meo.news, Arabic, 2013
رافع الناصري... الساحر العراقي
صلاح حسن
al-akhbar.com, Arabic, 2011
راﻓﻊ اﻟﻨﺎﺻﺮي… ﻣﺎت ﺑﻌﯿﺪاً ﻋﻦ ﺑﻐﺪاد
ﺑﯿﺎر أﺑﻲ ﺻﻌﺐ
al-akhbar.com, Arabic
لوحات رافع الناصري تجمع جماليات الحداثة بروحانية الأصالة
مجدي عثمان
alittihad.ae, Arabic, 2014
في الذكرى الخامسة لرحيل رافع الناصري
علي إبراهـيم الدليمي
azzaman.com, Arabic, 2018
5 سنوات على رحيل رافع الناصري:جماليّات الحروفيّ والحفّار
عمر شبانة
alaraby.co.uk, Arabic, 2018
مساحات منتظمة تتخللها الحروف الحركة عند ألفنان رافع الناصري
د. ماضي حسن نعمة
elsada.net, Arabic, 2017
Arab Identity and international art
George Sorley Whittet
English, 1985
Magazine Article
معرض استعادي لمسيرة الفنان التشكيلي العراقي رافع الناصري
almadenahnews.com, Arabic, 2013
رافع الناصري.. فنان الجمال والحرية
توفيق عابد عّمان
aljazeera.net, Arabic, 2014
.تحية الى المتنبي" معرض ينطلق من البحرين . رافع الناصري يعيد سحر الشرق الى اللوحة الحديثة"
مي مظفر
Al-Hayat, Arabic, 2002
RAFA NASIRI Artwork
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