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Lot Essay
Growing up, Kadhim Haider loved to draw and his talent was noticed by his teachers and artist Mohammad Saleh Zaki (1888-1974) who was visiting the elementary school Haider was attending. Haider studied literature at the Higher Institute of Teachers in Baghdad, while simultaneously enrolling in night classes at the Institute of Fine Arts. He graduated from both in 1957 and in 1959 went to London to study at the Central College of the Arts (now Central St. Martins), where he received degrees in painting, lithography and theater design. Upon his graduation, he returned to Baghdad in 1962 where he founded the department of design and was appointed a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts. During the late 1950’s, Haidar became associated with an Iraqi group known as the Pioneers, a group that consisted of artists who pursued the 'abandoning of the restricting and artificial atmosphere of their studios [to] paint directly within and from their outdoor environment.’ (M. Faraj, Strokes of Genius: Contemporary Iraqi Art. London: Saqi Books, 2001. Pg. 24)
In the aftershock of the first Ba'th coup in February 1963, Haider began work on a series of paintings based on imagery from the street performances that annually mourn the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn. Utilizing modern design techniques as well as aesthetic principles, Haider’s subjects ranged wide from ancient Mesopotamian art to horses that animate the demonstrations and reenactments of the Battle of Karbala. The imagery neither depicted the ritual performances nor did it depict the historical events of the battle; instead, Haider gave it an abstraction make over where his aesthetic adjustments defused their ritualistic and historical meanings. Through these adjustments, Haider made the imagery from the mourning celebrations available through a narrated vocabulary to depict the struggle of an unnamed martyr. The paintings came to be immersed with the pathos and witness of the ritual remembrance of the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn. However, that pathos and testimony had nothing to do with the death of the Imam Husayn, rather with the experience of the first Ba'th coup in 1963.
In lot 16, And A Horse is Selling painted in 1965, Haider depicts an abstracted horse, a motif recurring in much of his oeuvre accompanied by a figure that seems to be guiding the horse as well as a group of figures behind the horse. In this piece, along with many of his works, he is exploring the mythological space created by those acts of remembrance. Because of his involvement in stage design in the late 1950’s, we can always see certain theatrical elements throughout his work.
Through these elements, Haider also has the ability to render landscapes in a way that was obviously inspired by his involvement in the Pioneers group. Employing color plains to instigate light and shadow as opposed to smaller brushstrokes, Haider seemed to push figurative forms into a particular kind of abstraction. Lot 15, A View of Palm Trees in Taarimiyah Baghdad, is a prime example of how Haider combines different elements to create an affixed painterly narrative.
In the aftershock of the first Ba'th coup in February 1963, Haider began work on a series of paintings based on imagery from the street performances that annually mourn the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn. Utilizing modern design techniques as well as aesthetic principles, Haider’s subjects ranged wide from ancient Mesopotamian art to horses that animate the demonstrations and reenactments of the Battle of Karbala. The imagery neither depicted the ritual performances nor did it depict the historical events of the battle; instead, Haider gave it an abstraction make over where his aesthetic adjustments defused their ritualistic and historical meanings. Through these adjustments, Haider made the imagery from the mourning celebrations available through a narrated vocabulary to depict the struggle of an unnamed martyr. The paintings came to be immersed with the pathos and witness of the ritual remembrance of the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn. However, that pathos and testimony had nothing to do with the death of the Imam Husayn, rather with the experience of the first Ba'th coup in 1963.
In lot 16, And A Horse is Selling painted in 1965, Haider depicts an abstracted horse, a motif recurring in much of his oeuvre accompanied by a figure that seems to be guiding the horse as well as a group of figures behind the horse. In this piece, along with many of his works, he is exploring the mythological space created by those acts of remembrance. Because of his involvement in stage design in the late 1950’s, we can always see certain theatrical elements throughout his work.
Through these elements, Haider also has the ability to render landscapes in a way that was obviously inspired by his involvement in the Pioneers group. Employing color plains to instigate light and shadow as opposed to smaller brushstrokes, Haider seemed to push figurative forms into a particular kind of abstraction. Lot 15, A View of Palm Trees in Taarimiyah Baghdad, is a prime example of how Haider combines different elements to create an affixed painterly narrative.