Jewad Selim (1919–1961) () was an Iraqi painter and sculptor born in Ankara, Ottoman Empire in 1919. He became an influential artist through his involvement with the Iraqi Baghdad Modern Art Group, which encouraged artists to explore techniques that combined both Arab heritage and modern art forms. He is considered to be one of Iraq's greatest 20th-century sculptors. Life and career Jawad Saleem was born in Ankara, Ottoman Empire into a middle-class family. His parents were both originally from Mosul in Northern Iraq, and his father, Mohammed Hajji Selim was a military officer who had been stationed in Ankara at the time of Saleem's birth, but returned to Baghdad in the 1920s, when the children were relatively young. His father was an amateur artist, his mother was an artist and a skilled embroiderer and his brothers, Saud and Nizarre along with his sister, Naziha Salim all became artists. Jawad Saleem studied sculpture in Paris (1938-1939) on a scholarship, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of war. He relocated to Rome (1939-1940), but again his studies were interrupted by war, forcing him to return to Baghdad. At war's end, he enrolled at the Slade School, London (1946-1948), where he was heavily influenced by Western artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore. In England, he met an artist, Lorna, a native of Sheffield, and the pair were married in 1950. During the hiatus in his studies, Saleem was employed at the Directorate of Antiquities in Baghdad between 1940–1945 and was appointed head of the Sculpture Department at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, a position he retained until his death in 1961. His work exposed him to Iraq's ancient art traditions, and he consciously sought to discover the possibilities of combining ancient motifs with within the modern abstract art he had observed in Europe. His wife, Lorna Saleem, noted that he was fascinated with ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculptures. She explained: He is generally credited with being the first Iraqi artist to draw on his heritage and guide local artists towards a distinctly Iraqi style. Iraq in the 1930s had few art museums or galleries. Accordingly, Saleem's first solo exhibition was held in the private home of prominent Iraqi architect, Mohamed Makiya. In 1944, he was invited to work with historical masterpieces and to assist archaeologists in any restoration work that was necessary. These encounters with ancient heritage