Biography
Suad al-Attar is a pivotal figure in a generation of artists shaped by the educational groundwork laid by influential art educators like Hafidh al-Droubi (1914–1991) and Faiq Hassan (1914–1992). She is one of Iraq's leading artists and a trailblazer with a career spanning more than six decades. In 1957, at the Adamiya School for Girls in Baghdad, Al Attar, despite her young age, mounted a large exhibition of her paintings that garnered admiration from many older and more established artists, including Jewad Selim. After graduating high school, Al-Attar and her new husband moved to San Luis Obispo, California, where she enrolled in art classes at California State University. In the early 1960s, her family relocated to Baghdad, where al-Attar continued her art studies at the University of Baghdad, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She then held a teaching position at the University of Baghdad until 1975. After moving to London in 1976, al-Attar completed graduate work in printmaking at Wimbledon College of Arts and the London Central School of Art and Design.
The 1960s in Baghdad were a period of prolific creativity for al-Attar, who exhibited regularly and sold works consistently, gaining wide recognition. In 1964, the artist staged a major exhibition at the Red Crescent Hall Gallery in Baghdad, becoming the first woman to hold a solo show in the Baghdadi art scene where group shows were more prominent. Following this landmark exhibition, al-Attar mounted shows at the Al-Wasiti Art Gallery in Baghdad (1966) and the Alwiyah Club in Baghdad (1970). She also participated in several group shows both in Iraq and abroad. Al-Attar’s artistic output matured in the 1970s when Iraqi art gained unprecedented international exposure. The government frequently sponsored artists to travel to international art events, and foreign artists were invited to participate in domestic art festivals and exhibitions. Al-Attar played a significant role during this time, exhibiting extensively in international biennials, where she won several awards, specifically at biennials in London (1978), Cairo (1984), São Paulo (1985), and Valetta, Malta (1995). Al-Attar also participated in the London-based Third World Biennial of Graphic Art in 1980, which brought together printmakers from various nations in a collective exploration of the media.
Al-Attar has lived in London since 1976. Her work draws inspiration from Iraq's folkloric past, embracing Arab poetry, history, and mythology. Winged and composite creatures regularly appear as subject matter for the artist, recalling Assyrian and Sumerian visual culture. Other common motifs, such as palm trees, horses, and peacocks, are also indicative of Mesopotamian and medieval Islamic influence. In the popular imagination, these subjects have become powerful symbols for Iraq, whether referring to the state proper or a nostalgia-laden understanding of home. In addition, classical and contemporary poetry of the region has been a constant source of inspiration for the artist. For example, the ancient Mesopotamian “Epic of Gilgamesh” provided a literary backdrop for al-Attar's visual interpretations of the story's setting and characters. The artist draws more direct textual parallels by weaving calligraphic poetry in and around her landscapes and figures.
Al-Attar's vision of Iraq's past and present is imbued with fantastical properties. Her oeuvre comprises surreal landscapes, mythical creatures, and epic characters. Even her portraits are infused with a dreamlike quality. The phantasmagoric nature of al-Attar's canvases conjure imaginative tales of days past and transports the viewer to an otherworldly space. Oftentimes utilising a monochromatic colour scheme, her characters emerge from fantastic landscapes or ethereal architectural backdrops. They gaze at the viewer, inviting them to participate in an emotive and epic narrative as if the audience is the ultimate interpreter of the enigmatic scene.
Encouraged by her graphic sensitivity, much of her work is flat, linear, and emblematic, featuring cartouche designs that hover among and frame human and animal figures. Pattern and ornamentation play a central role in her compositions, lending credence to the suggestion that her style was influenced by Islamic miniature painting. Al-Attar’s high horizon lines, layered architectural spaces, vibrant colour schemes, and reductive, tapestry-like natural elements speak to this influence.
Al-Attar's interpretations of poetry and folklore are profoundly personal and evocative of an inner world of imagination and emotion. Although al-Attar's oeuvre can and should be viewed within the tradition of modern Iraqi art inaugurated by figures such as Faiq Hassan (1914–1992) and Jewad Selim (1919–1961), her art also possesses introspective qualities. She has developed a personalised set of symbols that disclose an intimate engagement with her subjects through self-exploration and remembrance. Derived from her childhood memories, these symbols include gold for the city's domes, a fish for the Tigris, and a rooster for life in Baghdad, all reminders of home. Indeed, Al-Attar's blending of dreamscape and reality is transformative, contributing to a metaphysical understanding of Iraq’s artistic heritage as interpreted through the artist’s private emotive lens. Al-Attar's more recent works continue to employ this imaginative quality yet engage more directly with current national realities, exploring and expressing the trauma that Iraq has suffered since the 1990s.
Al-Attar's work is in private and public collections, including the British Museum and the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. Unfortunately, her work is also featured on the Iraqi National Museum of Modern Art's Red List, as her work was looted from the museum in the wake of the US-led invasion in 2003.
