Cock fight

Painted in 1967, Hafidh al-Droubi’s Cock fight is an astonishing portrayal of the powerful sport of the same title, regarded as an entertaining pastime since prehistoric times. In this painting, the two facing-off roosters are depicted with condensed, multicoloured shapes, blending into the background of overlapping rectangular planes. The bodies of roosters are composed of elongated and jagged forms, each possessing a distinct identity contributing to the animated composition of the work. Inspired by the altering perspective, tonal gradations, and fragmentation of space in Cubism, this artwork is a synthetic composition of the transformation of everyday sight into a medley of three-dimensional forms. Much like his predecessors and fellow artists in the Arab world, al-Droubi travelled to Rome in 1937 for training. He returned to Baghdad in 1940 before graduating from Goldsmiths College in London in 1950. Throughout his career, al-Droubi made immense contributions to the evolution of modern art in Iraq. He established Iraq’s first free art studio in 1942 and founded the artist collective ‘The Impressionists’ in 1953, which shared art education and embraced artists working across different media and styles. Al Droubi actively engaged with the burgeoning art scene in the city, taking on multiple roles. He was the chairperson of the society Iraqi Plastic Artists for six years and served as the Dean of the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad.