Biography
The sculptor Mohammed Ghani Hikmat is justly regarded as one of Iraq's most important and beloved artists. The numerous public monuments dotting the country's cityscapes attest to this distinction. Hikmat's monumental sculptures act as memory markers for those who were exiled from Iraq during the turbulent years of sanctions and war. They also serve as comforting reminders for those who stayed behind. As the sculptor worked within the spirit of tradition, drawing inspiration from Iraq's multifaceted heritage, his pieces have become emblematic of the nation itself. Indeed, Iraq, specifically Baghdad, was significant in Hikmat's art practice. As a result, Hikmat himself has become a signifier of the historic city and is remembered as one of its greatest treasures.
In 1953, Mohammed Ghani Hikmat graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He then travelled to Rome to train at the Accademia di Belle Arti, graduating in 1959. While in Italy, he also studied metals at the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (La Zecca Italiana) in Rome and bronze casting at a foundry in Pistoia, near Florence. He subsequently taught sculpture at the Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts and the College of Architectural Engineering at the University of Baghdad.
During his career, Hikmat was a prolific creator, exhibitor, and active participant in the growing Iraqi art scene. He held several solo shows in Rome, San Remo, London, Beirut, and Baghdad. He also participated in most major national exhibitions in Iraq. He was a member of the Jam’iat Asdiqaa Al Fann (Friends of Art Society) and later the al-Zawiya (the Angle) group headed by Faiq Hassan (1914–1992). Notably, Hikmat was also a member of the influential Baghdad Group of Modern Art (BGMA, Jamaat Baghdad Lil Fan al-Hadith). Founded by his teachers and friends, Jewad Selim (1919–1961) and Shakir Hassan Al-Said (1925–2004), the BGMA was arguably modern Iraq's most important artist society. It was dedicated to the idea that Iraq's heritage was preeminent in its modern art practice. Hikmat embraced these ideals within his work, drawing subject matter and stylistic inspiration from medieval Islamic art and literature, as well as from Mesopotamian figuration. A number of his most famous works represent subjects from the well-known collection of Arab folktales, known collectively as One Thousand and One Nights. One such work is The Fountain of Kahramana (inaugurated in 1971), which depicts the heroine pouring oil into jars Ali Baba's forty thieves hid. Another is the sculptural duet of Scheherazade and Shahrayar (1971). In this representation of the main characters of 1001 Nights, the figures are rendered with robust monumentality and strong, sinuous forms that hark back to Assyrian statuary.
The sculptor is also known for his smaller statues carved in wood. The people of Baghdad were a central theme of these carvings. Many of these renderings featured women in traditional Iraqi abayas clutching children, indicative of Hikmat's exploration of motherhood as an artistic theme. Yet others were low-relief scenes of Iraqi daily life. All of these were executed in a simplified, abstract manner that referenced the shapes of Baghdadi graves and tombstones. He continued to explore these shapes in wood for the remainder of his long career. His fascination with the human form also endured as the artist's homage to Renaissance humanism.
Hikmat also assisted in major public works initiated by other prominent members of the artistic community. Among them was Jewad Selim's Monument of Freedom, for which Hikmat assisted and supervised the casting process in Florence. He also took over the project when Selim died prematurely in 1961. Another project was the much-contested Arch of Victory (1989), which was built to commemorate the Iraq-Iran War but also stood for decades as a symbol of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. Hikmat completed the massive installation when its original sculptor, Khalid al-Rahal (19267–1987), died.
In 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, Hikmat left for Amman, Jordan, where he continued to work. In Amman, the sculptor often hosted prominent musicians, writers, and artists. Although the Jordanian capital provided him with a haven, as it did for many other Iraqi cultural figures, Hikmat always felt a strong pull towards his birthplace, often referring to Baghdad as a beautiful woman. He returned to Baghdad briefly after the invasion to find that his home had undergone significant changes. Typical of the cultural destruction sustained in Baghdad was the defacement of Hikmat's prized monument, Scheherazade and Shahrayar, as looters cut off the king's left hand. The sculptor mourned over the destruction of other public sculptures that he had worked so diligently to complete. These were statues that could not be replaced. He also had to come to terms with the disappearance of nearly 150 of his works, representing the breadth of his career, after the National Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad (Al-Mathaf Al-Watani lil-Fann Al-Hadith) was looted.
Acutely aware of his role as a protector of Iraq's cultural past and present, Hikmat began a campaign to recover looted artworks. He founded the Committee for Recovering Iraq's Culture with the aim of buying back works that had surfaced on the underground market. Through these efforts, he recovered over 100 works, including Jewad Selim's Motherhood in 2003. In this, Hikmat became a mobilising force amongst his students and colleagues in the preservation of Iraq's cultural heritage.
His second return to Iraq in 2010 was at the mayor of Baghdad's behest, who wished to commission the sculptor to complete a series of monuments for the city. Hikmat agreed and began work on the sculpture Save the Iraqi Culture, which was located in the al-Mansour area of Baghdad and opened to the public in 2013. This was to be Hikmat's last project, yet the sculptor would not live to see it come to fruition. The artist passed away on September 12th, 2011, after suffering from kidney failure at the age of 82. When Pope Francis visited Iraq ten years later, in 2021, he was presented with a replica plaque from Hikmat’s Passion of Christ series (1990) as a gift from the Iraqi people.
Hikmat's strict work ethic reflected his dedication to art-making. To a far greater extent than most Iraqi artists, Hikmat was a public figure who completed work on a large scale for urban communities to appreciate. The tireless sculptor has been described by his friends and critics as vibrant and dynamic, with unending energy and enthusiasm. He is regarded as an icon of Iraqi modern art and a significant advocate for its preservation.
